Principle of Rapid Prototyping

Introduction

Rapid prototyping is an advanced manufacturing technology developed rapidly in recent years. This technology can quickly produce solid parts or models with arbitrary complex shapes from CAD data without any dies, cutters and tools, thus realizing the "die-less manufacturing" of new product development. It greatly shortens the development cycle, reduces costs and improves quality. It can automatically and quickly materialize the idea of ignorance into prototype or directly manufacture parts with certain structure and function, so as to evaluate and modify the product design quickly in response to market demand and improve the competitiveness of enterprises.

Principle of Rapid Prototyping Technology

Rapid prototyping is a digital prototyping technology based on discrete stacking forming. It uses discrete/stacking principle (such as solidification, bonding, welding, sintering, polymerization or other chemical reactions) to produce parts. Its working process is to obtain the path, restriction and mode of accumulation by discretization, and to "superimpose" materials to form three-dimensional entities by accumulation. First, in the CAD software system, the chieftain obtains the three-dimensional model plough or the surface data of the part entity through the measuring instrument, and then transforms the model into three-dimensional model. Secondly, the model is processed by data processing, and the CAD model is discretized along a certain direction (usually Z direction), and the plane slice is stratified.

Then the discrete layered information is combined with the information of forming process parameters and converted into the NC code to control the work of the forming machine. A three-dimensional solid part can be obtained by regularly and accurately stacking the materials controlled by a special CAM system.

Typical Rapid Prototyping Process

At present, there are more than ten methods of rapid prototyping technology, such as light curing, laminated manufacturing, laser sintering, fused deposition, mask curing, three-dimensional printing, spraying and so on. Mainstream forming methods are the first four.