Material Selection

in
Design
Material Selection
in
Design
Material Selection: Basics
 Composite fabrication methods
• These make polymer–matrix composites reinforced with
continuous or chopped fibers
• Large components are fabricated by filament winding
or by laying-up pre-impregnated mats of carbon, glass
or Kevlar fiber to the required thickness, pressing and
curing
• Parts of the process can be automated, but it remains a
slow manufacturing route
• If the component is a critical one, extensive ultrasonic
testing may be necessary to confirm its integrity
 Composite fabrication methods
• Higher integrity is given by vacuum- or pressure-bag
molding, which squeezes bubbles out of the matrix before
it polymerizes
• The flow pattern is critical in aligning the fibers, so that
the designer must work closely with the manufacturer
to exploit the composite properties fully
Composite fabrication methods
 Rapid prototyping systems
• The RPS allow single examples of complex shapes to be
made from numerical data generated by CAD solid-
modeling software
• The motive may be
– visualization: the aesthetics of an object may be evident only
when viewed as a prototype
– pattern-making: the prototype becomes the master from
which molds for conventional processing, such as casting
– validating intricate geometry , ensuring that parts fit, can be
assembled, and are accessible
 Rapid prototyping systems
• All RPS can create shapes of great complexity
with internal cavities, overhangs and transverse
features, though the precision, at present, is
limited to 0.3mm at best
• All RP methods build shapes layer-by-layer,
rather like three-dimensional (3D) printing, and
are slow (typically 4–40 h per unit)
 Rapid prototyping systems
• There are at least six broad classes of RPs:
– The shape is built up from a thermoplastic fed to a
single scanning head that extrudes it like a thin layer
of toothpaste (‘‘fused deposition modeling’’ or
FDM), exudes it as tiny droplets (‘‘ballistic particle
manufacture’’, BPM), or ejects it in a patterned array
like a bubble-jet printer (‘‘3D printing’’)
 Rapid prototyping systems
• There are at least six broad classes of RPs:
– Scanned-laser induced polymerization of a photo-
sensitive monomer (‘‘stereo-lithography’’ or SLA).
After each scan, the work piece is incrementally
lowered, allowing fresh monomer to cover the
surface. Selected laser sintering (SLS) uses similar
laser-based technology to sinter polymeric powders
to give a final product. Systems that extend this to
the sintering of metals are under development
 Rapid prototyping systems
• There are at least six broad classes of RPs:
– Scanned laser cutting of bondable paper elements.
Each paper-thin layer is cut by a laser beam and heat
bonded to the one below
– Screen-based technology like that used to produce
microcircuits (‘‘solid ground curing’’ or SGC). A
succession of screens admits UV light to polymerize
a photo-sensitive monomer, building shapes layer by
layer
 Rapid prototyping systems
• There are at least six broad classes of RPs:
– SLS allows components to be fabricated directly in
thermoplastic, metal or ceramic. A laser, as in SLA,
scans a bed of particles, sintering a thin surface layer
where the beam strikes. A new layer of particles is
swept across the surface and the laser-sintering step
is repeated, building up a 3-dimensional body
 Rapid prototyping systems
• There are at least six broad classes of RPs:
– Bonded sand molding offers the ability to make large
complex metal parts easily. Here a multi-jet print-
head squirts a binder onto a bed of loose casting
sand, building up the mold shape much as selected
laser sintering does, but more quickly. When
complete the mold is lifted from the remaining loose
sand and used in a conventional casting process
Rapid prototyping systems
 Rapid prototyping systems
• To be useful, the prototypes made by RPS are
used as masters for silicone molding, allowing a
number of replicas to be cast using high-
temperature resins or metals