While consensus exists among manufacturers
Feature
Rapid prototyping or
rapid production?
3D printing processes
move industry towards
the latter
David Bak
The author
David Bak is based at Presse Professionnelle SARL,
34 Boardman Street, Newburyport, Massachusetts
01950, USA. Tel: +1 978 463 3336; Fax: +1 978 463 2063;
E-mail: dbak@pressepro.com
Keywords
Rapid prototypes, Advanced manufacturing,
Mass customization
Abstract
Rapid manufacturing – defined as the direct production of
finished goods from a rapid prototyping device – remains
at present more a goal than reality for industry.
The application of 3D printing technologies, however,
promises to merge rapid prototyping capabilities with the
high-volume throughput of conventional manufacturing.
Proponents believe that these processes may soon lead to
the tooless production of finished goods and the mass
production of individually customized parts.
Electronic access
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available at
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The current issue and full text archive of this journal is
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Assembly Automation
Volume 23 · Number 4 · 2003 · pp. 340–345
q MCB UP Limited · ISSN 0144-5154
DOI 10.1108/01445150310501190
340
regarding the term “rapid prototyping” –
despite the disparate technologies RP
comprises – “rapid manufacturing” lacks
clear definition. So says industry
spokesperson Terry Wohlers. In his annual
Wohlers Report 2003, a 270-page market
study, he attempts to correct this ambiguity
with a definition clear and precise: “Rapid
manufacturing,” Wohlers states, “is the direct
production of finished goods from a rapid
prototyping device.”
This definition suggests that true rapid
manufacturing systems are those that employ
additive processes to deliver finished goods
directly from digital data, eliminating all
tooling. Such systems, Wohlers says, do not
currently exist, although he acknowledges that
conventional RP systems are being
successfully applied to produce low-volume
end use parts. The challenge, he notes, is to
merge RP capabilities with the high-volume
throughput traditionally associated with
manufacturing applications.
“For RP to better penetrate new markets,”
Wohlers states, “a number of changes must
occur. Machines must become less expensive
to buy and easier to use and maintain. System
prices and the overall cost of ownership must
drop further and materials must improve.
Furthermore, new machines and applications
must develop that support the production of
finished manufactured parts, versus models
and prototypes.”
Meeting this challenge involves the proper
implementation of rapid production
economics, mass customization, and agile
manufacturing, responds Rick Dove,
President of Extrude Hone Corp.’s
ProMetalw division (www.prometal-rt.com).
“In order to provide mass customization
capability,” he explains, “the prime
production metrics must be satisfied, and
these are cost, cycle time, and quality.”
Improved economics
Dove claims that recent developments in
metal solid free form (SFF) technology enable
the move from prototype to production
economics. This, in turn, permits the mass
production of individually customized
products, generally referred to as mass
customization. The production economics,
which permit virtually unlimited design
 Rapid prototyping or rapid production? Assembly Automation
David Bak Volume 23 · Number 4 · 2003 · 340–345

flexibility without tooling costs, encompass Proprietary formulations of metal powders

several cost advantages.
.
Waste. Unlike subtractive machining
processes that generate waste in the form
of chips and unused stock, additive SSF
processes use little more material than the
object requires. In addition, disposal or
recycling costs are avoided.
.
Inventory. Generation of objects of various
sizes from a common pool of powdered
material as opposed to a diverse inventory
of pre-sized stock cuts cost.
.
Labor. Near net shape eliminates the skills
and time needed for multi-part design,
machining, and assembly.
.
Quality control. As production is driven
by digital information, there is less
opportunity for human error.
.
Set-up. If a single material is used, set-up
costs are principally focused on CAD file
preparation and verification. These,
however, are done off-line, and do not
impact machine production utilization.
Many current machines employ technologies
suitable for low-volume prototyping, but not
for rapid production. ProMetal’s approach,
therefore, involves 3D printing. Unlike a laser
that draws a single line to convert material,
3D printers leverage their raster scan print
head architecture to greatly increase the
amount of converted material. In simple
terms, this is accomplished simply by adding
more print jets.
“With 3D printing, we can generate more
pounds per hour,” Dove explains, “because
raster scan technology allows us to run a
virtually unlimited number of parallel
conversion streams.”
plus patented binders, Dove claims, produce
consistent hardness readings of 30-35
Rockwell-C for stainless steel and bronze
composites, with porosity below 1.5 percent.
Resulting parts are crack and stress free.
Based on the cost model for ProMetal’s
largest 3D printing machine – the R10 with a
build volume of 40 £ 20 £ 10 in: – Dove says
owners of ProMetal systems can generate near
net shape metal parts and tools for as little as
$30 US per pound – with production quality
material properties (Figure 1). The model
assumes that the machine is employed in a
true production environment. Operation
averages 20 h per day, 5 days per week,
50 weeks per year. The model also assumes a
33 percent density conversion of steel powder
in the build box into production parts or tools.
This represents a production rate of 9 pounds
per hour of infiltrated composite material
using a 64-jet print head.
Two beta R10s were sold last year with
production units scheduled to ship third
quarter 2003. ProMetal’s smaller R2 machine
features an 8 £ 8 £ 6 in: build box and can
produce parts for as little as $60 US per
pound operating under similar conditions.
Direct metal casting
Though not targeted for high-volume
manufacturing directly, a new metal casting
process from Z Corporation
(www.zcorp.com) gives manufacturers the
Figure 1 Cost model for ProMetal’s R10 3D printer includes machine and
furnace capital depreciation, labor, overhead, utilities, maintenance, and
materials

Fully-functional parts
ProMetal’s 3D printing process produces
fully-functional, near net shape metal
workpieces directly from CAD files, printing
the workpiece one layer at a time from metal
powder. Once complete, parts are sent to a
vacuum furnace which burns away the binder
agent and sinters (fuses) the metal powder
particles together. If a light sintering is done,
a subsequent infiltration of bronze fills the
voids left from binder burn-off, resulting in
a 60 percent stainless steel and 40 percent
bronze composite. A heavy sintering, on the
other hand, can produce a 100 percent dense
stainless steel.
341
 Rapid prototyping or rapid production?
David Bak
ability to produce aluminum and other
non-ferrous castings at high speed and low
cost. This capability, in turn, enables users to
produce tooling locally – either for onsite
casting or at a local partner foundry – to
facilitate short run rapid production needs.
The ZCaste Direct Metal Casting process
relies on 3D printing to produce molds or
mold inserts from digital data, eliminating the
patterns and core box production steps of
traditional sand casting processes (Figure 2).
Customers cast metal into these 3D printed
molds for prototype evaluation or fully
functional parts. Tolerances and surface
finishes are consistent with sand casting;
accuracy is ^ 0.38 mm (0.015 in.) while
surface finish measures 200-300 microns
untreated, or 100 microns with a mold wash.
Minimum wall thickness is 3.0 mm; minimum
core size, 3.5-4.0 mm.
“When a company is producing a relatively
low-volume part that exhibits a good degree of
complexity,” explains Z Corporation
President Tom Clay, “the
geometry-independent ZCast process
becomes very attractive”. Clay points to the
example of a dispensing manifold, where the
customer required less than 50 units.
“Because the manifold presented a complex
tooling challenge, it was more cost-effective
for them to produce production parts using
the ZCast process.”
Figure 2 ZCast molds and cores can be printed on a range of Z Corporation’s
3D printers including the ZPrinterTM 310 System, ZWR 406 printer, and Z810
large format 3D printer
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Volume 23 · Number 4 · 2003 · 340–345
Three casting methods make up the ZCast
process: direct pour, the shell method, and
production intent casting. With the direct
pour method, users design cavities, cores,
and gating directly into a mold set that will
be 3D printed as an entire mold assembly.
After drying, the user casts metal directly into
the 3D printed mold set.
The shell method involves designing
and printing mold inserts to be used in
conjunction with traditional foundry tools
and processes to create a mold. Typically, the
user positions mold inserts into air set sand
and then adds gates and venting via
conventional process. These mold insert
shells are generally 1 cm thick, ensuring
processing consistency, adequate strength,
and gas permeability. Although the shell
method requires more processing than direct
pour, it can be more cost-effective on a
material cost basis and fits naturally into the
traditional foundry process.
Production intent casting, the third
ZCast method, uses printed parts as patterns
to create sand molds in combination with
ZCast printed parts for mold cores (Figure 3).
Users design foundry tooling in 3D CAD
and print the pattern on a Z Corporation
3D Printer. Next, they infiltrate and backfill
the pattern with epoxy to provide high
strength for multiple purposes. The pattern
with gating mounts on a foundry plate,
Figure 3 Able to create cast metal tools from CAD data in
as little as 2-3 days with mold/core printing times of
3-15 h, Z Corporation’s ZCast direct metal casting system
allows cost-effective low-volume manufacture of complex
parts such as this dispensing manifold
 Rapid prototyping or rapid production?
David Bak
the sand mold is poured, and the pattern
removed.
When necessary, the user next prints the
cores for the mold in ZCast casting powder.
Mold and core are assembled and the metal is
poured. Standard finishing practices remove
flash.
An example of combining traditional sand
cast methods with the ZCast process is the
production of a hydraulic valve body. In this
case, says Clay, the customer applied
traditional tooling to produce the valve
enclosure’s relatively simple geometry, and
ZCast for the more complex core, allowing
the cost-efficient production of hundreds of
parts.
Offering a powder/binder material set good
for ferrous applications the fourth quarter
2003, ZCast is presently under trial operation
at more than 50 sites globally – verifying an
observation made by industry analyst Wohlers
for the rapid prototyping industry, “3D
printing was a bright spot in 2002”. It also
bolsters his prediction that while “rapid
manufacturing systems with the desired
speed, cost, and quality do not exit at present,
they will in the future.”
Sidebar A
Rapid prototype primer
Digitally-driven additive processes define the
term “rapid prototyping”. Applying
downloaded cross-sectional data from CAD,
CT, MRI, or handheld digitizers, rapid
prototyping systems build three-dimensional
objects layer-by-layer. Results, as the name
implies, are fast as well as accurate.
Applications vary from conceptual
visualization to the functional analysis,
depending on the system type and material
used. The following are the best known
examples of additive rapid prototyping.
.
Stereolithography (SLA). Widely used for
visualizing design concepts, SLA enables
users to construct complex,
three-dimensional models one layer at a
time. During operation, an ultraviolet
laser, driven by successive slices of the
CAD model, systematically solidifies a
photopolymer resin. Developed by 3D
Systems, Inc. (www.3dsystems.com),
SLA accommodates a wide range of
photopolymer materials to approximate
the characteristics of thermoplastics like
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Volume 23 · Number 4 · 2003 · 340–345
polypropylene, polyethylene, nylon, and
ABS.
.
Selective laser sintering (SLS). SLS creates
three-dimensional objects from powdered
materials, including plastics and metals
for a wide latitude in material properties.
Heat from a CO2 laser – also driven by
the part’s CAD data – fuses or sinters the
powder layer-by-layer within a precisely
controlled process chamber. Introduced
by DTM Corp., which is now owned by
3D Systems, SLS offers parts suitable for
functional analysis and application.
.
Fused deposition modeling (FDM).
Developed and manufactured by
Stratasys, Inc. (www.stratasys.com),
FDM offers functional plastic prototypes
with ABS, polycarbonate,
polyphenylsulfone (PPSF) and other
materials. Extruded as a semi-molten
filament, these thermoplastics are
deposited on a layer-by-layer basis to
construct the prototype from 3D CAD
data. FDM materials are produced from
custom blends of commercially available
thermoplastic resins, making material
properties one of this technology’s strong
points.
Other additive RP systems such as laminated
object modeling (LOM) and 3D printing can
be used to process paper, ceramic, metal, and
composites. LOM, originally brought to
market by Helysis Corp., laser cuts the
periphery of successive paper or plastic film
layers. Because it does not scan the entire
surface of each cross section, LOM offers
relatively fast build times. The build material
features a thermo-setting resin glue on its
underside. During operation, a heated roller
passes over each layer, bonding it to the
previous one. LOM objects are machinable
structures that can be sanded, polished, and
painted.
The 3D printing process, patented at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology in
1989, takes advantage of raster-scan
ink-jet-like technology to form objects from
layers of powder and a jetted binder. Running
a large number of jets in parallel allows for
high production rates. One example: The
ProMetal division of Extrude Hone Corp.
(www.prometal-rt.com) produces fully
functional metal and ceramic objects directly
from CAD files. As a result, the company
claims that customers can generate near-net
shape metal parts and tools with
 Rapid prototyping or rapid production?
David Bak
production-quality material properties for
significantly less cost than with competing RP
methods.
Advances in such systems illustrate why
industry analyst and consultant Terry Wohlers
predicts “a dramatic increase in the
application of 3D printing technology,
possibly at the expense of conventional RP
systems”, as the industry develops and
matures (Figure 4). Wohlers also notes that
while rapid prototyping has had a big impact
on the production of models, prototype parts,
and tooling, “companies are now extending
the application of the technology to the
production of finished goods, eliminating all
tooling”. He believes that this practice,
termed rapid manufacturing, may ultimately
overshadow present rapid prototyping
markets[1].
Sidebar B
Material properties promote “rapid
manufacturing”
For the past few years, the trend in rapid
prototyping has been a steady improvement of
existing methods like SLA, SLS, and FDM.
In particular, the industry has focused on new
materials development for expanded
performance capabilities. Such
advancements, in turn, are helping users move
from rapid prototyping applications only, to
Figure 4 RP model use. Each bar reflects the relative number of responses received from those surveyed
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short run production and even mass
customization. The following materials
illustrating this trend were featured at this
year’s Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing
Conference/Exposition, sponsored by the
Society of Manufacturing Engineers
(www.sme.org), Chicago, 12-15 May.
ABS-like parts
When prototyping the functional model of a
28-piece hairdryer designed for the consumer
market, Taiwan’s Rapid Tech International
Company Ltd opted for a new
stereolithographic material: RenShapew SL
7560 photopolymer from Vantico Ltd
(www.vantico.com). Offering the appearance,
surface finish, and physical characteristics of
injection-molded ABS thermoplastic, the
rapid-build material also helped Rapid Tech
meet a very tight project deadline (Figure 5).
“We had considered producing the
required model from polyurethane that had
been cast in a silicone rubber mold, or from
CNC-machined ABS sheet” explains Ernest
Yen, Rapid Tech’s General Manager.
“A polyurethane model would have taken
3 weeks to produce and a CNC-machined
model 2 weeks. We built the functional SL
model directly from CAD data in 3 days.”
Claimed to be the only SL photopolymer
on the market that looks and feels like ABS,
RenShape SL 7560 combines rigidity with
durability and heat resistance. Material
properties include a flexural modulus of
 Rapid prototyping or rapid production?
David Bak
Figure 5 Hairdryer’s functional prototype features
RenShape SL 7560 parts
350,000 psi, 15 percent elongation, a
0.7 ft lb/in. notched Izod impact strength, and
heat deflection temperature of 1878F (868C)
with a postcure or 1408F (608C) without a
postcure. Yen adds that the new product is
easy to process, offering a low viscosity, fast
photo speed, and high green strength.
Because of these material properties,
RenShape SL photopolymers are also being
used to make production parts such as
custom-molded hearing aid shells.
Chemical- and heat-resistant components
Claimed to have the highest operating
temperature and toughness of any rapid
prototyping material except metals, PPSF
from Statasys, Inc. (www.stratasys.com) is
currently available to aerospace, automotive,
and medical equipment makers. The
aerospace industry will likely welcome the
material’s flammability properties while
automobile manufacturers are expected to
take advantage of its petroleum resistance
and its ability to function at temperatures
exceeding 4008F (2048C). Medical
equipment designers should be interested
in PPSF’s capacity to withstand sterilization
in an autoclave.
Recently used to model a crankcase vapor
coalescer, the PPSF material withstood 40 h
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of engine testing by Parker Hannifin’s Racor
Division Beta-test site. Mounted onto a V8
automobile engine, the PPSF filter collected
gasses containing 1608F oil, fuel, soot, and
other combustion by-products.
“The assembly didn’t leak,” reports Parker
Hannifin’s Senior Development Engineer
Russ Jensen, “and it appeared to have the
same strength and properties as when first
assembled”.
Featuring a glass-transition temperature of
4508F (2328C), PPSF is specially developed
for the Stratasys FDM Titan system.
Composite SL resins
Since the first rapid prototyping systems were
sold more than 15 years back, manufacturers
have wished for prototypes with the accuracy
and material properties of injection molded
parts. Not only would such RP systems allow
the creation of production equivalent
components without a large investment in
tooling, they would significantly improve
turn-around times.
A composite SLA resin called ProtoTool
20Le, available from DSM Somos
(www.dsmsomos.com), moves manufacturers
in this direction. Filled with tiny ceramic
beads, ProtoTool closely approximates the
stiffness of a 33 percent glass-filled Nylon 6/6,
while offering high accuracy and surface
finish. In addition, a heat deflection
temperature of 5168F (2698C) is well above
the melting temperature of nearly all injection
molded plastics and even most common
plastics.
Availability of an RP material offering the
material properties of engineered plastics plus
the surface finish and accuracy associated
with SLA may, predicts Charles Kaufmann,
Manager of new business development for
DSM Somos USA, enable RP systems to be
used as low-volume and custom
manufacturing systems. Potential ProtoTool
high-heat applications include under-hood
automotive components, electronic housings,
and home appliances. High stiffness
applications include power tool housings and
structural components.
Note
1 Credit: T.A. Grimm and Associates
(www.tagrimm.com), and Wohlers Associates
(www.wohlersassociates.com).