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RAPID PROTOTYPING AND

MANUFACTURING
TECHNOLOGIES
GROUP 3:
AMRIT KARKI (MEDM/03)
KAMAL POKHAREL (MEDM/08)
PALLAB SHRESTHA (MEDM/13)
SUSHANT RAJ GIRI (MEDM/18)
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Introduction

What is prototyping?
Prototyping is process of creating a product for the first time which could
be tested against different conditions and constraints like looks, feel,
safety, assembly, ergonomics, vibration etc. during product development
cycle.
In the prototyping development cycle, initial prototypes are built, tested,
and then reworked as necessary until an acceptable prototype is finally
achieved from which the complete system or product can be developed.
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Difference between traditional and
rapid prototyping

Rapid Prototyping: Traditional manufacturing:

additive material subtractive material
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Basic processes of Rapid prototyping

There are basically three stages of building physical models based on the
CAD data, namely

Pre-processing
Building
Post processing.
The pre-processing stage is to generate the RP machine controlling codes
based on the CAD output data. The CAD model is converted to STL format
for the pre-processing.
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Benefits of Rapid Prototyping

Prototypes with the characteristics of finished products allow detailed evaluation and
analysis to help avoid costly design iterations. Additional, physical prototypes can be used
as masters and patterns for a wide range.
The cost of changing the basic design of a product increases rapidly as the design
advances through the development cycle. With rapid prototyping (RP) systems,
companies may produce functional parts in days instead of weeks or months.
In recent years, RP has had a dramatic effect on reducing the time needed to move the
design from the digital and paper phase of development, to prototyping and testing.
RP enables more design iterations in a given time thus facilitating better quality in design.
Hands-on prototypes ensure that customers have a clear understanding of new and
innovative concepts.
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Technologies being used in Rapid
Prototyping

Stereo Lithography (SLA)

Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM)

Selective Laser Sintering (SLS)

Laminated Object Manufacturing (LOM)

3D Printing (3DP)
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Stereo Lithography

The Blade sweep across the vat, apply an even layer Scanning Laser
of resin on top of the part. Mirror
As the laser beam strikes the resin surface, the liquid Re-coating
resin is hardened to a solid plastic. Blade
The elevator lowered by 1 layer deep. Cured resin
to form model
Loop restarts to cure a new layer.

videos\(1) Stereolithography (SLA) Technology - YouTube.MKV

Liquid Resin
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Materials used for SLA

Poly 1500
Tusk XC 2700T
Tusk Somes Solid grey 3000
NeXt.
Others
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Advantages of stereo lithography

Unattended building process - The system is very stable. Once started the
process is fully automatic and can be unattended until the process is
completed.
Good dimensional accuracy.
Good surface.
The process is of high resolution and capable to build parts with complex
details.
It is the most widely used process in the Rapid Prototyping field.
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Disadvantages

Curling and warping - The resin absorb water as time goes by resulting curling
and warping especially in the relatively thin areas.
Relatively high cost - However, it is anticipated that the cost will be coming
down shortly.
Narrow range of materials - The material available is only photo sensitive resin.
Post curing - The parts in most cases have not been fully cured by the laser
inside the vat. A post curing process is normally required.
High running and maintenance cost - The cost of the resin and the laser gun
are very expensive. Furthermore, the optical sensor requires periodical fine
tuning in order to maintain its optimal operating condition which will be
considerable expensive.
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Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM

Extrusion head and elevator move to

start position. Model & Support Filaments
The nozzles on the head extrude layer of
support and layer of model.
Heated extrusion
Elevator moves down after making of head
one layer making space for another
layer.

Part
Cycle repeats to build the next layer.

videos\(1) Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) Technology - YouTube.MKV

Elevator & Platform

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Materials used in FDM

ABS
Different types of ABS according to need
Nylon-6
Nylon-12
ULTEM 9085
ULTEM 1010
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Advantages

True desktop manufacturing system that can be run in office environment.

There is no worry of exposure to toxic fume and chemicals.
The process is clean, simple, easy to operate and produces no waste.
Fast building for bottle like structure or hollow parts.
Material is supplied in spool form which is easy to handle and can be
changed in minute.
Materials used are very cost effective.
A good variety of material is available.
Mid range performance/cost Rapid Prototyping system.
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Disadvantages

Accuracy is relatively low and is difficult to build parts with complicated

details.
Poor strength in vertical direction.
Slow for building a mass part.
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Selective Laser Sintering (SLS)

Piston of powder cartridges raise up.

Roller spread powder evenly over the built
surface.
Laser beam scan over the top of the part,
melting the powder and fuse it to the previous
layer.
Piston of the part built chamber lower by one
layer.
Loop through the four steps to build the next
layer.
1. Vertically movable building platform with embedded
model 2. Powder depot 3.horizontally movable roller for
videos\(1) Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) Technology - YouTube.MKV powder distribution 4. laser 5.Optical system allowing for
scanning of powder surface with the laser-beam.
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Materials used for SLS

The material available for SLS are:

Nylon for prototypes
Polycarbonate
Wax for investment casting
Cast Form PS. Polystyrene powder for investment casting
Metals
Ceramics
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Advantages

Capable of producing the tougher part compared with other process.

Large variety of material can be used, including most engineering plastic,
wax, metal, ceramic, etc.
Parts can be produced in short time, normally at a rate of up to 1 inch per
hour.
No post curing of parts is required .
During the building process, the part is fully supported by the powder and
no additional support is required.
Parts can be built on top of others.
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Disadvantages

The powder material requires to heat up to the temperature below the melting point
before the building process which takes about 2 hours. After building the parts, it also
takes 5 to 10 hours to cool down before removing the parts from the powder cylinder.
The smoothness of the surface is restricted to the size of the powder particles and the laser
spot resulting that the surface of the part is always porous.
The process chamber requires continuous supply of nitrogen to provide a safe
environment for the sintering process to be taken place resulting expensive running cost
of the process.
Toxic gases will be generated from the process which leads to an environmental issue.
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Laminated Object Manufacturing
(LOM)
The sheet material is stretched from the
supply roller to the take-up roller.
The heated laminated roller passes over the
sheet bonding it to the previous layer.
Laser cuts the profile of that layer and
hatching the excess material for later
removal.
Loop through the three steps to form a new
layer.
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Advantages

It is a relatively high speed process as the laser is only required to trace the
contour and no need to scan the entire cross section.
Parts can be used immediately after the process and no post curing is
required.
No support structure is required as the part is supported by its own material.
Simple to use and no environmental concern.
Because of the wooden-like characteristic of the built parts and the large
machine working envelop, this process is most suitable for building pattern
for sand casting.
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Disadvantages

Although there is some choice of materials including paper, plastic,

ceramic and composite, the most commonly used material is only paper.
Others are still under development.
The built parts absorb moisture quickly resulting that the built parts must be
post processed immediately and impregnating with epoxy that is specially
designed for LOM technology.
Process is restricted to build complex parts.
Fire hazard is occasionally happened when the working chamber
becomes too hot.
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3D Printing (3DP)

Prior to layer solidification, a suitable proportion of powder is released and

uniformly distributed by moving the powder dispenser horizontally across
the building platform.
In the next step of the cycle, the ink-jet head travels across the applied
powder layer, depositing binder to enable gluing of particles to form the
solid model layer.
As soon as the ink-jet process has been carried out, the building platform is
moved downwards by one layer thickness to allow for sequential
solidification of further layers until the model under construction is
completed.
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3D Printing

Loose powder particles remain on the building platform, thus supporting

overhanging structures until the current process is finished.
After completion, they are collected by hovering and transported back
into the powder depot to be reused in subsequent building procedures.
Parts are cleaned from adhering powder particles with pressurized air
directly within the RP system and can be treated further by post-processing
operations like in filtration with reinforcing resins or sintering.
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videos\(1) PolyJet Technology - YouTube.MKV

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Application of Rapid Prototyping and
manufacturing
Design
concept models
Marketing
models for tenders, customer feedback, presentations and brochures
Test & Analysis
functional testing; strong models for wind
tunnel and stress analysis
Tooling
masters and patterns for a broad range of manufacturing processes
Medicine
artificial limbs, tools and instruments
Relevance of Rapid Prototype 26

Commercial relevance of RP technologies. Revenues made with respect to

(a) industry and (b) field of application.
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Thank you!