<Emphasis Type="Italic">Rapid Moulding Using Epoxy Tooling Resin</Emphasis>

Rapid prototyping (RP) is fast becoming a standard tool in today’s product design and manufacturing environment. Significant benefits in terms of lead time and cost savings have been reported with the use of RP technology. However, these benefits can be derived only during the design and planning stages of a new product where RP parts are produced in small quantities for design evaluation, form fitting, and marketing analysis. The high cost of raw material stock used in current RP systems makes them economically unsuitable even for small-batch production during the product evaluation and manufacturing stages. Further to this, the difference between the mechanical and physical properties of RP and traditional manufacturing materials limits the functionality of RP end products. Rapid tooling (RT) technology has opened up new cost-effective solutions for small-batch production. In this paper, a technique using a rapid soft-tooling approach, namely, aluminium filled epoxy resin tooling for injection mould preparation is successfully explored. An aluminium filled epoxy resin mould is evaluated and the characteristics of the injection-moulded end products are presented.     

Rapid Sheet Metal Manufacturing. Part 2: Direct Rapid Tooling

The traditional methods adopted for tool design and production in the sheet metal forming industry usually carry a high cost and long lead time resulting in cost justification problems for short production runs. Rapid tooling (RT) technology is capable of justifying the cost of tooling suitable for short production runs or design evaluation purposes. In Part 1 of this work, a new process termed rapid sheet metal manufacturing (RSMM) for the production of soft tooling suitable for prototyping, tool development, and short production runs was introduced. In addition, an indirect RT method employing rapid prototyping (RP), rapid soft tooling, and casting for the fabrication of non-ferrous tools was presented. The current work, Part 2, presents an alternative technique for RSMM whereby metal forming tools are fabricated directly from the RP system via selective laser sintering (SLS).     

Instant tools [rapid tooling]

Rapid prototyping (RP) technology has attracted a lot of attention as an effective tool to compress the new product development process and hence decrease the time to market. As RP technology continues to develop, other systems and processes, such as computer integrated manufacturing and metal injection moulding, are becoming available to industry. One such technology, driven by RP, is rapid tooling (RT) which has the potential to reduce product lead times. RT can be broken into two broad classifications: indirect and direct tooling. In producing a mould tool, for example, indirect tooling would use a master pattern, such as an RP model, to produce the mould cavity, whereas direct tooling would build the mould tool directly from CAD data. The paper reviews the prospects of creating a mould tool directly from a computer model     

快速成形集成制造系统的开发与研究

快速成形制造系统以快速成形技术的核心技术,实现ＣＡＤ／ＲＥ、ＲＰ、ＲＴ的技术集成。西北ＲＰＭ应用服务中心以西安交通大学为技术依托,在工艺集成、系统精度、数据集成、远程网络化服务等方面进行研究与开发。以实际案例说明快速成形技术及以其为基础的快速模具技术在企业新产品的快速开发中的重要作用。     

Rapid Prototyping and Tooling of Custom-Made Tracheobronchial Stents

Rapid prototyping (RP) and rapid tooling (RT) techniques can be applied to the field of medicine primarily because of their ability to produce customised profiles and geometries in relatively short lead times. In this paper, the process by which these techniques can be applied for the production of customised tracheobronchial stents for the purpose of maintaining patency in an occluded respiratory tract is described. A comparison of RP systems was carried out to establish the preferred RP method to produce the master model. The vacuum casting RT process was then used to produce the stent.     

Rapid tooling technology. Part 1. A comparative study

Rapid tooling (RT) is the technology that adopts rapid prototyping (RP) techniques and applies them to tool and die making. Research into RT techniques has shown that it is gaining more importance and is starting to pose a serious threat to conventional machining. In this paper, several popular RT techniques are discussed and then classified. A comparison is also made on these techniques based on tool life, tool development time and cost of tool development.     

Implementation of rapid Prototyping technology — A Hong Kong manufacturing industry's perspective

Rapid Prototyping (RP) is a technology for rapid computerised building of 3D physical parts. It can be defined as an automated and patternless process which allows solid physical parts to be made directly from computer data in a short time. RP acts as the manufacturing middle to link up the computer-aided design (CAD) process and manufacturing processes. It includes the making of prototypes for design verification and even the making of tooling for production. With the trend towards concurrent engineering and the widespread use of CAD, RP has quickly become a booming business in the past few years. This paper presents an overview of the implementation of RP technology in Hong Kong and the critical decision factors in implementing RP in the Hong Kong manufacturing industry.     

快速制造模具技术

由新产品设计迅速形成高效、低成本、优质的批量生产并抢占市场，能否快速制模(RT)尤其是快速制造金属模具(RMT)是关键。RT技术在硅肢、树脂等软模快速制造方面已取得长足进步，目前正向快速制造金属硬模尤其是直接快速制造金属模具(DRMT)方向迅速发展。介绍了快速制模尤其是快速制造金属模具技术在材料、工艺、设备方面的研究进展，以及RMT技术与高速铣削技术(HSM)各自的优势，并探讨了与其竞争中面临的关键问题。     

Rapid investment casting: direct and indirect approaches via fused deposition modelling

Investment casting (IC) offers an economical method for mass producing complex, shaped metal parts. However, high tooling cost and lead times associated with the fabrication of metal moulds for producing IC wax (sacrificial) patterns result in cost justification problems for customised single casting, small- and medium-quantity production. Rapid prototyping (RP) techniques can reduce the costs associated with single-part or small-quantity production as they can be applied to the fabrication of sacrificial IC patterns containing complex and intricate designs with significant cost and lead-time savings. In this project, a benchmark model is designed to assess the fused deposition modelling (FDM) process for creating sacrificial IC patterns. In addition, an indirect approach toward producing wax patterns via silicone rubber moulding is investigated. Cost and lead time comparisons between the two IC pattern production methods were carried out and presented. The dimensional accuracies of metal castings generated from the RP-produced patterns are also presented.     

Rapid prototyping in the development of optical pickup unit

Rapid prototyping (RP) has already proven itself in the electronics industry as a method for shortening the product development time cycle. In the development of the optical pickup unit (OPU), extremely high precision is needed to make a functional model. Very often, in the design phase of the product development cycle, the prototype of the OPU is machined from a single piece of aluminium block to make the working sample. In this project, a comparison of the machined aluminium sample, RP samples from various RP processes and that moulded out from the injection moulding machine is made on surface finishing as well as dimensional accuracy. Finally, a comparison of tooling cost, piece part cost and lead time of obtaining the parts is also discussed on the different prototyping and manufacturing processes.     

Optimization of stereolithography process parameters for part strength using design of experiments

Rapid prototyping (RP) is an emerging technology that has been implemented in many spheres of industry – particularly in the area of new product development. Growth of this field has been rapid in recent years. Stereolithography (SL) is one of the most popular RP process used for rapid tooling applications. There are several process parameters contributing to the strength of an SL product. The contribution of three parameters; namely, layer thickness, post curing time and orientation are most significant. In light of this concern, an attempt has been made to study and optimize these process parameters for maximum part strength, and develop an empirical relationship between process parameters and part strength through design of experiments (DOE). The proposed DOE is verified with the data of experiments conducted under standard conditions.     

Rapid prototyping and tooling techniques: a review of applications for rapid investment casting

Investment casting (IC) has benefited numerous industries as an economical means for mass producing quality near net shape metal parts with high geometric complexity and acceptable tolerances. The economic benefits of IC are limited to mass production. The high costs and long lead-time associated with the development of hard tooling for wax pattern moulding renders IC uneconomical for low-volume production. The outstanding manufacturing capabilities of rapid prototyping (RP) and rapid tooling (RT) technologies (RP&T) are exploited to provide cost-effective solutions for low-volume IC runs. RP parts substitute traditional wax patterns for IC or serve as production moulds for wax injection moulding. This paper reviews the application and potential application of state-of-the-art RP&T techniques in IC. The techniques are examined by introducing their concepts, strengths and weaknesses. Related research carried out worldwide by different organisations and academic institutions are discussed.     

A cost-effective approach for rapid manufacturing wax injection molds with complex geometrical shapes of cooling channels

Rapid tooling techniques can reduce the time to market compared to conventional machining approaches. The aluminum-filled epoxy resin mold is a promising choice for short production runs because it can be a useful alternative of conventional steel mold and employed in wax injection mold or plastic injection mold. However, the cycle time is significantly longer because of the poorer thermal conductivity of the material compared to conventional mold steels. In this study, a new technique to produce wax injection molds with complex geometrical shapes of cooling channels was presented. The main advantages of this technique include low production cost, simple manufacturing processes, and short processing time.     

Rapid Sheet Metal Manufacturing. Part 1: Indirect Rapid Tooling

Rapid sheet metal manufacturing (RSMM) is a closed loop process for making sheet metal products which uses advanced computer-aided techniques and computer-controlled machines to produce non-ferrous tooling directly or indirectly. The tooling would be suitable for short-run production or design evaluation of sheet metal products for which prototyping cost and lead time are greatly reduced. The key aspect of this closed-loop process is the method used to fabricate and modify the sheet metal forming tool. Various approaches are adopted in the preparation of the tooling for onward embossing on a sheet metal. The three indirect approaches use selective laser sintering (SLS), stereolithography (SLA), and high-speed computer numerical controlled (CNC) milling to build the masters from computer data models. The masters are used in the vacuum casting process to generate the non-ferrous tooling. Comparisons on quality, lead time and cost are presented.     

Experimental analysis of properties of materials for rapid prototyping

Rapid prototyping (RP) can substantially shorten the time and reduce the cost of developing a new product from the initial idea to production. Rapid prototyping can help in recognizing the basic defects whose subsequent correction may prove very expensive, especially if they have already been made when the product is ready for production. There are also many restrictions of RP procedures, primarily in the number of available materials and their properties, which may differ significantly from the properties of end product materials. In this work, based on the stipulated standards of the 3D printing machines (ZPrinter 310 Plus) and the hybrid Polyjet technique (Objet Eden 330), adequate test specimens were made. Furthermore, with adequate equipment, we carried out the analysis of the dimensions, roughness of surfaces, and mechanical properties of prototype test specimens. Then, based on the data obtained by testing of properties, we provided a critical commentary regarding the data stipulated by their producers.     

快速原型技术研究综述

在研究快速原型技术发展历史和现状的基础上，介绍了快速原型制造的基本原理，重点介绍几种发展较成熟的RP技术的基本原理，分析RP技术的特点，并探讨其应用价值和发展前景，提出了目前发展快速成型的基本观点和未来发展趋势。     

复杂薄壁零件的硅胶模制作技术

通过对复杂薄壁零件硅胶模的制作工艺流程和技术特点进行分析,论述了如何选择合理的方法快速制作出复杂零件的原型件,介绍了对原型件进行后处理并以原型件为母模制造出硅橡胶模具的关键技术.通过对复杂零件的硅胶模具快速制作的研究与实践,可以更好地理解和掌握快速模具制造技术,快速地制作出符合要求的复杂零件的硅胶模具.在工业生产中,由于生产成本低,开发周期短,快速模具技术获得了广泛的应用.     

基于激光快速成型技术的快速模具CAD

针对基于激光快速成型技术的快速模具制造的特点,介绍了快速模具ＣＡＤ技术的有关方面,提出了一个基于激光快速成型技术的快速模具设计系统的框架,以实现面向制造的快速模具的设计。     

反求工程与连杆的快速成形

对数字化测量技术和快速成形技术进行了概述,并对研究中所采用的便携式三维照相测量仪、立体彩色打印快速成形机及光固化激光快速成形机从原理和技术参数上进行了介绍。结合连杆成形工艺特点和要求。对连杆实物模型进行了反向造型研究,提出了一套适合于连杆逆向造型的方法;分别采用两种快速成形工艺制作了连杆的原型,并对其成形工艺、精度及材料性能进行了对比研究,获得了各自的技术特点和适用范围,讨论了反求工程和快速成形集成中的数据流和接口格式。此外,还提出了下一步连杆成形新的研究方向及其快速制造方法。     

一种特殊水冷板的工艺设计与实施

根据水冷板生产任务的要求,结合某公司车间现有的设备,对水冷板工艺流程和相应工装进行了详细设计,经过车间的生产验证,水冷板工艺流程和工装设计合理可行,具有指导性,对保证产品精度和质量起到了关键作用,使车间在现有条件下具有了水冷板批量生产的能力