Lecture :Rapid prototyping

Rapid prototyping Basics and process chain By

06-09-2019 1
Dr. Pawan Sharma
 Prototyping

A general definition of a prototype

 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 age-old
practice for many centuries.
Rapid prototyping Basics and process chain By
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Dr. Pawan Sharma
 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.

Rapid prototyping Basics and process chain By

06-09-2019 3
Dr. Pawan Sharma
 Types of Prototypes
The general definition of the
prototype contains three aspects
of interests:
(1) the implementation of the
prototype; from the entire
product (or system) itself to its
subassemblies and
components,
(2) The form of the prototype;
from a virtual prototype to a
physical prototype and
(3) The degree of the
approximation of the
prototype; from very rough
representation to exact
replication of the product.
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Dr. Pawan Sharma
 What is rapid prototyping?
 Rapid prototyping (RP) is a term encompassing a variety of
processes used to fabricate models and prototype parts for
products using CAD data from computer models.
 RP most commonly refers to a set of processes that utilize 3D
CAD data to create three-dimensional prototype parts, but the
term can also refer to automated processes that utilize 2D CAD
data to create prototype parts from sheet materials.

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Dr. Pawan Sharma
 The importance of being Rapid
The term ‘rapid’ is used to describe these processes for several
reasons:
 They are able to fabricate prototype parts in hours, rather than the
days or weeks required using traditional processes.
 They facilitate the rapid production of prototyping tooling for use
with more traditional prototype-making processes.
 For certain applications, they can also be used for the
manufacture of parts, bypassing the tooling processes required
for some conventional manufacturing processes.
 The benefits of RP include potential cost and time savings during
product development, the physical evaluation of parts, improved
quality control, earlier discovery of errors during product
development, reduced requirement for changes to production
tooling and, for certain materials and applications, even the
potential to remove the need for tooling altogether.
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 The RP wheel depicting the four major aspects of RP
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 Time-Compression technique
 Time-Compression Engineering (TCE) is also known as
Concurrent Engineering.
 The main enabling technology behind TCE is 3D CAD
modelling.
 Concurrency in performing different design and
manufacturing activities presents an opportunity to compress
the overall product development time whilst opening up
possibilities to be creative by providing more time for design
iterations
 Concurrent engineering environments have evolved
considerably during the last few years to integrate 3-D
modelling with computer-aided manufacturing (CAM),
computer-aided engineering (CAE), rapid prototyping and
manufacturing, and a number of other applications.
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 The 3-D model becomes a central component of the whole
product or project information base, so that in all design, analysis
and manufacturing activities the same data are utilized.
 There is no duplication or possibility for misunderstanding.
Product information captured in this way can be copied and re-
used; it is readily available for different downstream applications.
 Three-dimensional models and virtual prototypes allow most
problems with fitting to become obvious early in the product
development process.
 Assemblies can be verified for interference.
 Structural and thermal analysis can be performed on the same
models, employing CAE applications as well as simulating
downstream manufacturing processes.
 Ultimately, these very accurate and data-rich models can be taken
directly to RP and CAM applications, speeding up process
planning and in some cases eliminating the need for drawings.
Rapid prototyping Basics and process chain By
06-09-2019 9
Dr. Pawan Sharma
 Rapid prototyping Basics and process chain By
06-09-2019 10
Dr. Pawan Sharma