INTRODUCTION

 The competition in the world market for manufactured product

has intensified tremendously in recent years.

 In order to stay competitive in the high- tech electronics

consumer market, companies must continue to offer new
products with superior capabilities, higher power efficiency, and
smaller form factors at accelerated design schedules.
INTRODUCTION
 To bring product to the market quickly, many of the processes
involved in the design, test , manufacture and market of the
products has been managed ,both in terms of time and material
resources.

 They are mainly technology driven , usually involving the

computer.
PROTOTYPE
 A prototype is an important and vital part of the
product development process.
 It is a model or preliminary version.
ROLES OF THE PROTOTYPES
 Experimentation and learning
 Testing and Proofing
 Communication and interaction
 Synthesis and integration
 Scheduling and markers
PROTOTYPING
 It is the process of realizing the prototypes.
 The intention of having a physical prototype is to realize the
conceptualization of a design.
 It is required before the start of the full production of the
product.
THREE PHASES OF
DEVELOPMENT LEADING TO RPT
 First Phase :Manual Prototyping
The techniques used in making these prototypes tend
to be craft based and are extremely labor intensive.
 Second phase :Soft or Virtual Prototyping
It involves using computer aided design (CAD)
and computer aided engineering (CAE) software to
validate a design
 Third Phase :Rapid Prototyping
It is called Desktop manufacturing Layer
manufacturing
THE FATHERS OF RAPID
PROTOTYPING
 In the early 1980’s Charles Hall developed the liquid
polymerization based Stereolithograpy apparatus (SLA)
 Granted the original patent
 Considered to be “ the founder” of RP
 In the late 1987, Carl Deckard developed the powder
based Selective Layer Sintering process (SLS)
RAPID PROTOTYPING
 Group of techniques used to quickly fabricate a
scale model of a part or assembly using three
dimensional computer aided design data.
 Rapid Prototyping ,also referred to as solid free-form
manufacturing, computer automated manufacturing,
and layered manufacturing.
 RP has obvious use as a vehicle for visualization.
RAPID PROTOTYPING
Technology which considerably speeds the iterative product
development process

Fig: a) Examples of parts made by rapid prototyping b) cellular phone

RAPID PROTOTYPING
 Rapid Prototyping (RP) techniques are methods that allow
designers to produce physical prototypes quickly.
 It consists of various manufacturing processes by which a solid
physical model of part is made directly from 3D CAD model data
without any special tooling.
 The first commercial rapid prototyping process was brought on the
market in 1987.
 Nowadays, more than 30 different processes (not all
commercialized) with high accuracy and a large choice of materials
exist.
 These processes are classified in different ways: by materials
used, by energy used, by lighting of photopolymers, or by typical
application range.
WHY RP ?
 To decrease development time
 To decrease costly mistakes
 Increasing product complexity
 More organic , sculptured shapes for functional or
aesthetic reasons can be accommodated.
 Designers can optimize part design to meet
customer requirements with little manufacturing
restrictions.
WHY RP ?
 They can minimize time consuming discussions and
evaluations of manufacturing possibilities.
 They can reduce parts count by combining features
in one piece part.
 They can minimize material and optimize
strength/weight ratio without regard to the cost of
machining.
 The manufacturing engineer can minimize design,
manufacturing and verification of tooling.
WHY RP
 The manufacturer can reduce labor content of
manufacturing.
 To minimize sustaining engineering changes.
 Reduces capital equipment.
 Reducing material waste, waste disposal costs,
material transportation costs ,inventory costs for raw
stock and finished parts .
 Less effort in scheduling production
 One can reduce inspection rejection rate.
KEY ASPECTS OF RPT
 INPUT
 METHOD
 MATERIAL
 APPLICATIONS
FUNDAMENTAL AUTOMATED
PROCESSES
 Subtractive
 Additive
 Formative
• In subtractive we start with stock and remove material to
get the net shape (traditional machining)

• In additive we start with nothing and add material to get

the net shape
Methodology Or Process chain
• CAD solid (surface) model
• ‘.STL’ file
• Slicing the file
• Final build data
• Building (3D printing) the part
• Supports removal
• Post processing
The Rapid Prototyping
Technique
 CAD Model Creation:
 First, the object to be built is modeled using a Computer-
Aided Design (CAD) software package.

 Solid modelers, such as Pro/ENGINEER, tend to represent 3-

D objects more accurately than wire-frame modelers such as
AutoCAD, and will therefore yield better results.

 This process is identical for all of the RP build techniques.

The Rapid Prototyping
Technique
 Conversion to STL Format:
 To establish consistency, the STL (stereolithography, the first
RP technique) format has been adopted as the standard of
the rapid prototyping industry.

 The second step, therefore, is to convert the CAD file into

STL format. This format represents a three-dimensional
surface as an assembly of planar triangles

 STL files use planar elements, they cannot represent curved

surfaces exactly. Increasing the number of triangles improves
the approximation
The Rapid Prototyping
Technique
 The parameters used to generate this file will directly
influence the quality of the model.
 STL is the standard file type used by all Rapid Prototyping
systems.
• Software generates a tessellated object description
• File consists of the X, Y, Z coordinates of the three vertices
of each surface triangle, with an index to describe the
orientation of the surface normal
The Rapid Prototyping
Technique
 Slice the STL File:
 In the third step, a pre-processing program prepares the STL
file to be built.

 The pre-processing software slices the STL model into a

number of layers from 0.01 mm to 0.7 mm thick, depending
on the build technique.

 The program may also generate an auxiliary structure to

support the model during the build. Supports are useful for
delicate features such as overhangs, internal cavities, and
thin-walled sections.
The Rapid Prototyping
Technique
 Layer by Layer Construction:
 The fourth step is the actual construction of the part.

 RP machines build one layer at a time from polymers,

paper, or powdered metal.

 Most machines are fairly autonomous, needing little

human intervention.
The Rapid Prototyping
Technique
 Clean and Finish:
 The final step is post-processing. This involves removing the
prototype from the machine and detaching any supports.

 Some photosensitive materials need to be fully cured before

use

 Prototypes may also require minor cleaning and surface

treatment.

 Sanding, sealing, and/or painting the model will improve its

appearance and durability.
CAD Solid Model
CAD TO STL
Slicing the model –contour line
RP MODEL
RP USERS
What is Rapid Manufacturing?
 We try to take the customer feedback or requirements
converted it into a digital form; and that digital form is
given directly to the machine the parts are produced and
directly moved towards an application.
 So, we are not going to go into a field called as
prototyping, we make a prototype for that prototype then
we make tools and from that tools we try to go for the
final product.
 So, Rapid Manufacturing is more towards mass
customization where cost is not to be compromised, but
things have to be produced to the customers satisfaction
with the highest integrity, that is Rapid Manufacturing.
DEFINITIONS