Rapid Prototyping

M. Murali Mohan, Asst. Professor,

Dept. of ME, GPREC, Kurnool.
 Phases of Development
• First Phase : Manual (or Hard) Prototyping
• Second Phase: Soft (or Virtual) Prototyping
• Third Phase : Rapid Prototyping

M. Murali Mohan, Asst. Professor, Dept. of

ME, GPREC, Kurnool
First Phase: Manual (or Hard) Prototyping
• Traditional practice for many centuries.
• Prototyping as a skilled craft is:
– Traditional and manual,
– Based on material of prototype.
• Natural prototyping technique.

M. Murali Mohan, Asst. Professor, Dept. of

ME, GPREC, Kurnool
Second Phase: Soft (or Virtual) Prototyping
• Mid 1970’s.
• Increasing complexity.
• It can be stressed, simulated and tested with
exact mechanical and other properties.

M. Murali Mohan, Asst. Professor, Dept. of

ME, GPREC, Kurnool
Third Phase: Rapid Prototyping
• Mid 1980’s.
• Hard prototype can be made in a very short turnaround time (relies
on CAD modeling).
• Prototype can be used for limited testing.
• Prototype can also assist in the manufacturing of the products.
• 3 times complex as soft prototyping.
• Rapid Prototyping of physical parts, is also known as:
– Solid freeform fabrication or
– Desktop manufacturing or
– Layer manufacturing technology [represents the third phase in the
evolution of prototyping].
M. Murali Mohan, Asst. Professor, Dept. of
ME, GPREC, Kurnool
 Fundamentals of Rapid Prototyping

The development of RP systems can be seen in

four primary areas. They are:
• Input,
• Method,
• Material and
• Applications.

M. Murali Mohan, Asst. Professor, Dept. of

ME, GPREC, Kurnool
 The Rapid Prototyping Wheel
depicting the four major aspects of RP

M. Murali Mohan, Asst. Professor, Dept. of

ME, GPREC, Kurnool
Input
• It refers to the electronic information required
to describe the physical object with 3D data.
There are two possible starting points:
1. A computer model or
2. A physical model.

M. Murali Mohan, Asst. Professor, Dept. of

ME, GPREC, Kurnool
Method
• While they are currently more than 20 vendors for RP
systems, the method employed by each vendor can be
generally classified into the following categories:
• Photo-curing,
– Single laser beam,
– Double laser beams and
– Masked lamp.
• Cutting and gluing/joining,
• Melting and solidifying/fusing and joining/binding.
M. Murali Mohan, Asst. Professor, Dept. of
ME, GPREC, Kurnool
Material
• The initial state of material can come in either
solid, liquid or powder state.
• In solid state, it can come in various forms
such as pellets, wire or laminates.
• The current range materials include paper,
nylon, wax, resins, metals and ceramics.

M. Murali Mohan, Asst. Professor, Dept. of

ME, GPREC, Kurnool
Applications
• Most of the RP parts are finished or touched
up before they are used for their intended
applications. Applications can be grouped into
• Design
• Engineering, Analysis, and Planning and
• Tooling and Manufacturing.

M. Murali Mohan, Asst. Professor, Dept. of

ME, GPREC, Kurnool
A wide range of industries are benefited from RP
which include
• Aerospace,
• Automotive,
• Biomedical,
• Consumer,
• Electrical and electronics products etc.

M. Murali Mohan, Asst. Professor, Dept. of

ME, GPREC, Kurnool
 Applications of Rapid Prototyping

Applications of rapid prototyping can be

classified into three categories. They are:
• Design,
• Engineering analysis and planning,
• Tooling and manufacturing.

M. Murali Mohan, Asst. Professor, Dept. of

ME, GPREC, Kurnool
Design Applications
• Designers are able to confirm their design by
building a real physical model in minimum time
using Rapid Prototyping.
• Design benefits of Rapid Prototyping include:
1. Reduced lead times to produce prototypes,
2. Improved ability to visualize part geometry,
3. Early detection of design errors,
4. Increased capability to compute mass properties.
M. Murali Mohan, Asst. Professor, Dept. of
ME, GPREC, Kurnool
Engineering Analysis and Planning
• Existence of part allows certain engineering analysis and
planning activities to be accomplished that would be
more difficult without the physical entity
• Comparison of different shapes and styles to determine
aesthetic appeal.
• Wind tunnels testing of streamline shapes.
• Stress analysis of physical model.
• Fabrication of pre-production parts for process planning
and tool design.
M. Murali Mohan, Asst. Professor, Dept. of
ME, GPREC, Kurnool
Tooling Applications
• When Rapid Prototyping is used to fabricate
production tooling, it is called rapid tool
making (RTM). There are two approaches for
tool making.
1. Indirect RTM method.
2. Direct RTM method.

M. Murali Mohan, Asst. Professor, Dept. of

ME, GPREC, Kurnool
Indirect RTM method.
• Pattern is created by RP and the pattern is used to
fabricate the tool
 
Examples:
• Patterns for sand casting and investment casting,
• Electrodes for EDM.
 
Direct RTM method.
• RP is used to make the tool itself.
M. Murali Mohan, Asst. Professor, Dept. of
ME, GPREC, Kurnool
 Advantages of Rapid Prototyping

• Any complex geometry can be easily produced.

• Errors and flaws can be detected at an early stage.
• Process is Fast and accurate.
• Superior Quality surface finish is obtained.
• Separate material can be used for component and support.
• No need to design jigs and fixtures.
• No need of mould or other tools.
• Post processing includes only finishing and cleaning.
• Harder materials can be easily used.
• Minimum material wastage.
• Reduces product development time considerably.
• Minimizes cost (waste disposal cost, material transportation cost, inventory cost for
raw stock and finished parts.
• New products being tested and marketed economically.

M. Murali Mohan, Asst. Professor, Dept. of

ME, GPREC, Kurnool
 Limitations of Rapid Prototyping

• Sometimes staircase effect is observed.

• Many times component get distorted.
• Limited range of materials.
• Cost of operating.

M. Murali Mohan, Asst. Professor, Dept. of

ME, GPREC, Kurnool
 Classification of RP Systems
RP systems can be easily categorized under
three headings:
1. Liquid-based,
2. Solid-based and
3. Powder based.

M. Murali Mohan, Asst. Professor, Dept. of

ME, GPREC, Kurnool
M. Murali Mohan, Asst. Professor, Dept. of
ME, GPREC, Kurnool
 Liquid-Based RP Systems
1. 3D Systems’ Stereo lithography Apparatus (SLA)
2. Cubital’s Solid Ground Curing (SGC)
3. Sony’s Solid Creation System (SCS)
4. CMET’s Solid Object Ultraviolet-Laser Printer (SOUP)
5. Autostrade’s E-Darts
6. Teijin Seiki’s Soliform System
7. Meiko’s Rapid Prototyping System for the Jewelry Industry
8. Denken’s SLP
9. Mitsui’s COLAMM
10.Fockele & Schwarze’s LMS
11.Light Sculpting
12.Aaroflex
13.Rapid Freeze (Droplet deposition manufacturing)
14.Two Laser Beams
15.Microfabrication

M. Murali Mohan, Asst. Professor, Dept. of

ME, GPREC, Kurnool
 Solid-Based RP Systems
1. Cubic Technologies’ Laminated Object Manufacturing (LOM)
2. Stratasys’ Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM)
3. Kira Corporation’s Paper Lamination Technology (PLT)
4. 3D Systems’ Multi-Jet Modeling System (MJM)
5. Solidscape’s ModelMaker and PatternMaster
6. Beijing Yinhua’s Slicing Solid Manufacturing (SSM), Melted
Extrusion Modeling (MEM) and Multi-Functional RPM
Systems (M-RPM)
7. CAM-LEM’s CL 100
8. Ennex Corporation’s Offset Fabbers

M. Murali Mohan, Asst. Professor, Dept. of

ME, GPREC, Kurnool
 Powder-Based RP Systems
1. 3D System’s Selective Laser Sintering (SLS)
2. Z Corporation’s Three-Dimensional Printing (3DP)
3. Optomec’s Laser Engineered Net Shaping (LENS)
4. EOS’s EOSINT Systems
5. Soligen’s Direct Shell Production Casting (DSPC)
6. Fraunhofer’s Multiphase Jet Solidification (MJS)
7. Acram’s Electron Beam Melting (EBM)
8. Aeromet Corporation’s Lasform Technology
9. Precision Optical Manufacturing’s Direct Metal Deposition (DMDTM)
10. Generis’ RP Systems (GS)
11. Therics Inc.’s Theriform Technology
12. Extrude Hone’s PrometalTM 3D Printing Process

M. Murali Mohan, Asst. Professor, Dept. of

ME, GPREC, Kurnool
M. Murali Mohan, Asst. Professor, Dept. of
ME, GPREC, Kurnool