Rapid Prototyping

October 03, 10, 2011

Introduction
Product Design and Development Phase Engineering Activities 3 distinct phases Design Phase Prototyping Phase Manufacturing Phase

Major obstacles for mass manufacturing

Long lead time
Shoe industry Garment industry Car Industry Airspace Industry Indian airspace Submarine Arjun MBT 6 months 6 months 3-4 years 4-5 years (Boeing, Airbus) 10-15 years (India) 10-15 years 25 years

Art to Part:

As less as possible

Why Rapid Prototyping?

Because product designers would like to have a physical model of a new part or product design rather than just a computer model or line drawing
Creating a prototype is an integral step in design A virtual prototype (a computer model of the part design on a CAD system) may not be sufficient for the designer to visualize the part adequately Using RP to make the prototype, the designer can visually examine and physically feel the part and assess its merits and shortcomings

Advantages and Disadvantages of RP

Cost Accuracy Materials limited Time

Introduction
Design 3 types of checks: Form Check Fitness Check Function Check Manufacturing aesthetic, assembly, etc.

Product Design & Development Cycle Block Diagram

Conceptual Design
Set of sketches e.g. styling

Preliminary Design

Specifications of the product Dimensions, materials, Factor of safety, Performance Indices Total Design Activity Drawings, BOM, Tolerances, etc.

Engineering Analysis
Conceptual Design: Scanning also, as very rarely the Design is started from blue

Detailed Design

Block Diagram contd.

Prototyping
Parts

Testing (Inspection)

Test Reports

Tooling

Tooling - Molds, Dies, etc.

Optimization
Iterations, etc. are missing in the block diagram

Release to Manufacture

Conventional Prototyping
Prototype is the first or original example of an artifact that has been designed that is a model or a preliminary version that needs to be developed (evolving model, developed, tested & so on several iterations) that will be manufactured on a mass scale

Prototyping Methods
3 different methods Manual Prototyping Virtual Prototyping Rapid Prototyping 4 aspects Inputs Methods Materials Applications
Design Engineering Analysis Tooling and Manufacturing

Tooling
(A) Material Removal Processes (Subtractive Type) Traditional Methods
Turning Shaping, Planing Drilling, Boring Milling, Hobbing Broaching, Tapping Reaming, Grinding Requires tools and fixtures

Non-traditional Methods: ECM, EDM, USM, EBM, IBM,

PAM, LBM, WJM, AJM, etc.

Both processes require tools and are subtractive in nature

Tooling
(B) Net Shape or Material Forming Processes Traditional Methods
Forging Casting Deep drawing Bending Extruding Die casting Rolling

Non-traditional Methods: 3D Laser Forming, Laser

Bending, etc.

Tools are required in the form of moulds or tool and die

Tooling
(C) Material Addition Processes Traditional Methods
Welding Soldering, Brazing Tools required in the form of holding fixtures

Non-traditional Methods:
Rapid Prototyping Processes SLA, SLS, FDM, LOM, 3DP, BPM, etc

RP processes do not require tools and fixtures

Rapid Tooling Processes

To have multiple copies RT processes Basically of the type casting, forging, etc. i.e. Formative traditional processes RT Processes:
RT Silicone Molding Vacuum Casting / Forming Spray Metal Tooling (TAFA) Resin Transfer (Epoxy Tool) Molding Investment Flask Casting Investment Shell Casting Special Sand Casting

RT batch size 50-1000, ,10,000 parts replica of RP processes

Terminology
Rapid Prototyping (RP) Solid Freeform Fabrication (SFF) Desktop Manufacturing (DTM) Analogous to Laser Printer Freeform Fabrication (FFF) As it requires CAD geometry Direct CAD Manufacturing essentially unlike other processes Instant Manufacturing Layer Manufacturing Techniques (LMT) Material Deposition Manufacturing Material Addition Manufacturing Material Accretion Manufacturing Generative Processes / Generative Manufacturing Processes (GMP) Time Compression Technologies (TCT)

Classification
Liquid-Based Solid-Based Powder-Based Solid Based FDM LOM MJM (Multi Jet Modeling) Selective Laser Adhesive Liquid Based & Hot Press (SAHP) SLA Powder Based SGC SLS Solid Object Ultraviolet 3DP Laser Plotter (SOUP) BPM Light Sculpting Multiphase Jet Solidification (MJS) Two Laser Beam Plotter Direct Shell Production Casting (DSPC)

RP Processes
Thermal

Photopolymer Photopolymer resin sensitive to light cross linking takes place Monomer to Polymer

RP Processes
Information

Controls

RP

Materials

Physical & Chemical

Historical Perspective
1. 3D Maps / Topography (Topographical Maps)
Blanther 1892 used wax Pareira 1940 cardboard Zang 1964 transparent plastic sheet Gaskin 1973 Matsubara 1974 thin layer of powder / refractory particles (graphite) coated with photopolymeric materials (acrylate) his goal to make a casting mold DiMatteo 1976 sheet metal plates edges smoothened Nakagawa 1979 blanking dies, press forming dies, injection molding dies

2. Photo sculpture

RP Methodology
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. To create a solid Model Create RP Model Evaluate form, fit & modify solid model Create revised RP Model (Tested for form & fit) Create tooling for functional part Evaluate the part for the function Modify CAD solid model & repeat Steps 1, , 6 Finalize the design

Overview

Prototyping
Prototyping or model making is one of the important steps to finalize a product design. It helps in conceptualization of a design. Before the start of full production a prototype is usually fabricated and tested. Manual prototyping by a skilled craftsman has been an ageold practice for many centuries. Second phase of prototyping started around mid - 1970s, when a soft prototype modeled by 3D curves and surfaces could be stressed in virtual environment, simulated and tested with exact material and other properties. Third and the latest trend of prototyping i.e. Rapid Prototyping (RP) by layer-by-layer material deposition, started during early 1980s with the enormous growth in Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing (CAD/ CAM) technologies.

Product Fabrication Approaches

Joining

Machining Layer Deposition or Rapid Prototyping

Forming

 RP uses layer by layer additive approach to build shapes RP systems use liquid, powder or sheet materials to form physical objects

[Courtesy: Kai & Fai]

Basic Principles of Rapid Prototyping

[Courtesy: Kai & Fai]

Step 1: Solid Modeling and Tessellation

Surfaces of the CAD model are tessellated and STL file is exported Tessellation is piecewise approximation of surfaces of CAD model by using series of triangles

[Courtesy: Zeid]

Step 2: Slicing
After selecting part deposition orientation, tessellated model is sliced This information is saved in standard formats like SLC or CLI etc.

[Courtesy: Kai & Fai]

Step 3
Generation of Laser Scanning Paths or Material Deposition Paths Deposition of Layers: various technologies for layer deposition are used

Liquid based : Stereolithography Powder based : Selective Laser Sintering Solid based : Fused Deposition Modeling, Laminated Object Manufacturing, etc.

Step 4: Post Processing

Post Curing Removal of Support Structures Finishing by Sanding, Polishing or Painting

Generalized Illustration of Data Flow in RP

3D CAD
2D CAD Drawing / Manual Outline / Lattice Data

Point Cloud Data

Reverse Engineering

Data acquired from MRI / CT Scan 3D Reconstruction 2.5D Reconstruction

3D CAD STL (3D) Layer Information, SLC or CLI

Auxiliary Geometry, Supports, etc. Geometric Data Specification of Machine Layer Information Machine Data Set Process Parameters Machine Parameters

Classification of RP Processes
Generative Manufacturing Process / Rapid Prototyping / Solid Freeform Fabrication Solid
One or multiWire Component powder

Paste Polymerization Foil

Paste Polymerization Process

Liquid
Polymerization

Gaseous

Chemical Reaction LCVD

Melting & Re-solidification

Fused Layer Modeling Ballistic Part Manufacturing

Cutting & Gluing

Layer Laminated Manufacturing

Cutting & Polymerization

Solid Form Polymerization

Solidification by binder
3D Printing

Melting & Re-solidification

Selective Laser Sintering

Heat
Thermal Polymerization

Lamp
Solid Ground Curing

Light of One Frequency

Holography
Holographic Interference Solidification

Laser Beam
Stereolithography

Stereolithography

[Courtesy: Kai & Fai]

Rapid Prototyping Applications

Design

CAD Model Verification Visualization Object Proof-of-Concept

Engineering, Analysis and Planning

Form and Fit Models Flow Analysis Stress Distribution Mock-up Diagnostic and Surgical Operation Planning Design and Analysis of Custom Prosthesis and Implants

Rapid Prototyping Applications

Manufacturing

Plastic Mold Parts

Vacuum Casting Metal Spraying

Casting
Sand Casting Investment Casting Die Casting

EDM Electrodes Master Models

Rapid Prototyping Products

Engine Manifold

Valve

Medical Implant

Electronic Packaging

Rapid Prototyping Products

Complexity of Object to be manufactured is not a limitation in Rapid Prototyping

Rapid Prototyping Products

SL Model for resection template

Silicon Implant molded from a tool