RAPID PROTOTYPING

TECHNIQUES
AAE 2272 MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY

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 In the development of a new product, there is a
need to produce a single example, prototype, of a
designed part or system before allocating large
amount of capital to new production facilities or
assembly lines.
Introduction
The main reasons for this need:
Capital cost is very high
Production tooling takes considerable time to prepare
Design evaluation and evolution
Troubleshooting

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•Rapid Prototyping (RP) is also called as
Desktop manufacturing
Digital manufacturing
Solid free-form manufacturing

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 WHAT IS RAPID PROTOTYPING

Experimentation and Learning

Testing and Proofing
Communication and Interaction
Synthesis and Integration
Scheduling and Decision making
Prototypes enable the product development team to think, plan,
experiment, and learn the processes while designing the product.

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 Classification of R P Technology

 Subtractive: Material removal from a work-piece that is

larger than the final part
 Additive: Built-up a part by adding material

incrementally to produce the part

 Virtual: Uses advanced computer-based visualization

technologies
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•
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 Almost all materials can be used through one or more
RP operations.
 However, polymers are the most commonly used
material today, followed by metals and ceramics.

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 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIbHpVcphQI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TDn25K-Jh4
Watch this video for better understanding

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 Subtractive Processes
 Making a prototype traditionally has involved a
series of processes using a variety of tooling and
machines.
 This approach requires skilled operators using
material removal by machining and finishing
operations until the prototype is completed.
 To speed up the process, subtractive processes
increasingly use computer-based technologies
such as:

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Computer-based drafting
Manufacturing software: planning the operations
required to produce the desired shape
Computer-numerical-control (CNC) machinery
For the purpose of shape verification, a soft (polymer or
wax) is used in order to reduce or avoid any machining
difficulties

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 Additive Processes
 Additive rapid-prototyping operations all build part in layers.
 All of the processes to be described build parts slice by slice.

 The main difference between the various additive processes lies

in the method of producing the individual slices, which are
typically 0.1 to 0.5 mm thick and can be thicker for some
systems.
All additive operations require elaborate (complicated) software

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  The first step is to obtain a CAD file description of the
part. The computer then constructs slices of the 3D
part.
 Each slice is analyzed separately, and a set of

instructions is compiled in order to provide the RP

machine with detailed information regarding the
manufacture of the part.

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 RP Technologies (AP)
Prototyping technologies Base materials
Selective laser sintering (SLS) Thermoplastics, metals powders
Direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) Almost any alloy metal
Fused deposition modeling (FDM) Thermoplastics, eutectic metals
Stereo lithography (SLA) Photopolymer
Laminated object manufacturing (LOM) Paper
Electron beam melting (EBM) Titanium alloys
3D printing (3DP) Various materials

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 Fused-Deposition Modelling (FDM)

 In FDM process, a gantry robot-controlled extruder head

moves in two principal directions over a table, which can
be raised and lowered as needed.
 A thermoplastic filament is extruded through the small
orifice of a heated die.
 The initial layer is placed on a foam foundation by
extruding the filament at a constant rate while the extruder
head follows a predetermined path.
 When the first layer is completed, the table is lowered so
that subsequent layers can be superimposed.

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 In some parts, the filament is required to support the slice where no
material exists beneath to support it.
 The solution is to extrude a support material separately from the
modelling material.
 The use of such support structures allows all of the layers to be
supported by the material directly beneath them.
 The support material is produced with a less dense filament spacing on a
layer, so it is weaker than the model material and can be broken off easily
after the part is completed.

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 The layers in an FDM model
are determined by the
extrusion-die diameter, which
typically ranges from 0.050 to
0.12mm.
 This thickness represents the
best achievable in the vertical
direction.
 In the x-y plane, dimensional
accuracy can be as fine as
0.025mm as long as a filament
can be extruded into the feature

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 A variety of polymers are available for different applications.
 Flat wire metal deposition uses a metal wire instead of a
polymer filament, but also needs a laser to heat and bond the
deposited wire to build parts.
• Materials for FDM
 Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene
 ABS-M30: 25-70% stronger than Standard ABS and with a greater tensile, impact
and flexural strength.
 Polycarbonate : Arguably the strongest plastic rapid prototyping material
available. Its strength is 60 to 80% that of injection molded polycarbonate plastic.

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 Parameters to be considered for better efficiency

Steady nozzle
Material extrusion rates
Addition of support structures for overhanging features
Speed of the nozzle head, which affects the slice thickness.

Note: The build material is heated slightly above

(approximately 0.5 0 C) its melting temperature so that it
solidifies within a very short time (approximately 0.1 s) after
extrusion and cold-welds to the previous layer.
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 Support material

FDM systems include two nozzles, one for part material and other
for support material.
The support material is relatively of poor quality and can be broken
easily once the complete part is deposited and is removed from
substrate.
In more recent FDM technology, water-soluble support structure
material is used. Support structure can be deposited with lesser
density as compared to part density by providing air gaps between
two consecutive roads.

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 Advantages and Disadvantages
 The main advantage of using FDM is the very durable
parts that can be made using waxes and various
engineering plastics.
The drawback of using the FDM method is that the parts
generally take much longer time to build and the layering
is clearly visible because of the extrusion type process

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 Stereo Lithography

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 A common RP process developed prior to FDM is stereo
lithography (SLA).

 This process is based on the principle of curing (hardening) a

liquid photopolymer into a specific shape.

A vat containing a mechanism whereby a platform can be lowered

and raised is filled with a photo curable liquid-acrylate polymer.

 The liquid is a mixture of acrylic monomers, oligomers (polymer

intermediates), and a photo initiator (a compound that undergoes
a reaction upon absorbing light).

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In this process photosensitive liquid resin which forms a solid
polymer when exposed to ultraviolet light is used as a
fundamental concept.
Due to the absorption and scattering of beam, the reaction only
takes place near the surface and voxels of solid polymeric resin
are formed.
SL machine consists of a build platform (substrate), which is
mounted in a vat of resin and a UV Helium-Cadmium or Argon
ion laser is used for solidification.

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 Process details
 At its highest position (depth a), a
shallow layer of liquid exists above
the platform.
 A laser generating an ultraviolet
(UV) beam is focused upon a
selected surface area of the
photopolymer and then moved
around in the x-y plane.
 The beam cures that portion of the
photopolymer and thereby
produces a solid body.

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  The platform is then lowered sufficiently to cover the cured polymer with
another layer of liquid polymer, and the sequence is repeated.

 The process is repeated until level b is reached.

 Note that the platform is now lowered by a vertical distance ab.

 At level b, the x-y movements of the beam define a wider geometry, so

now have a flange-shaped portion that is being produced over the
previously formed part.

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 After the proper thickness of the liquid has been cured, the
process is repeated, producing another cylindrical section
between levels b and c.

Note that the surrounding liquid polymer is still fluid (because it has not
been exposed to the ultraviolet beam) and that the part has been
produced from the bottom up in individual ‘slices’. The unused portion of
the liquid polymer can be used again to make another part or another
prototype

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 The smallest tolerance that can be achieved in SLA
depends on the sharpness of the focus of the laser;
typically, it is around 0.0125mm.

 Oblique surfaces can also be of very high quality.

 Total cycle times in SLA range from a few hours to a

day – without post processing such as sanding and
painting.

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Factors affects the performance of the
process
Photosensitive material (curing time, layer thickness)
Laser beam control mechanism ( scan speed)

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Advantages and disadvantages
It has a high accuracy of ±0.1 mm and produces a good surface finish.
It produces semitransparent materials that can be processed for optical
clarity.
The process is fully automated.
There is a limited range of materials that can be used.
It has relatively high cost compared to other RP methods.
Working with liquids can be messy.
Parts often require post curing operation.

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Solid Base Curing Cycle

Conversion of a solid model of an object into layers (only one layer is shown

Solid Base curing process for each layer:

(1) mask preparation
(2) applying liquid photopolymer layer,
(3) mask positioning and exposure of layer,
(4) uncured polymer removed from surface,
(5) Wax filling,
(6) milling for flatness and thickness.

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Process details
Like stereo lithography, solid ground curing (SBC) works by
curing a photosensitive polymer layer by layer to create a solid
model based on CAD geometric data.
 Instead of using a scanning laser beam to accomplish the
curing of a given layer, the entire layer is exposed to an
ultraviolet light source through a mask that is positioned above
the surface of the liquid polymer.
The hardening process takes 2 to 3 seconds for each layer.

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 The starting data in SBC is similar to that used in stereo
lithography: a CAD geometric model of the part that has
been sliced into layers. For each layer, the step-by-step
procedure in SBC is illustrated in Figure and described here:
(1) A mask is created on a glass plate by electrostatically
charging a negative image of the layer onto the surface.
The imaging technology is basically the same as that used in
photocopiers.
(2) A thin flat layer of liquid photopolymer is distributed over
the surface of the work platform.

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(3) The mask is positioned above the liquid polymer surface
and exposed by a high powered (e.g., 2000 W) ultraviolet lamp.
The portions of the liquid polymer layer that are unprotected by
the mask are solidified in about 2 seconds. The shaded areas of
the layer remain in the liquid state.
(4) The mask is removed, the glass plate is cleaned and made
ready for a subsequent layer in step (1). Meanwhile, the liquid
polymer remaining on the surface is removed in a wiping and
vacuuming procedure.

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(5) The now-open areas of the layer are filled in with hot wax.
When hardened, the wax acts to support overhanging sections
of the part.
(6) When the wax has cooled and solidified, the polymer-wax
surface is milled to form a flat layer of specified thickness, ready
to receive the next application of liquid photopolymer in step (2).
Once all layers are completed, the wax is removed, and any
finishing operations such as sanding, etc. can be performed.
No post-cure is necessary

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Wax replaces the cavities left by vacuuming the liquid resin.
The wax is hardened by cooling to provide continuous, solid
support for the model as it is fabricated. Extra supports are not
needed.
The wax/resin surface is milled flat to an accurate, reliable
finish for the next layer.

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