Use of Rapid Prototyping

Rapid Prototyping Manufacturing is also known as Rapid Prototyping(RP).

English name: RAPID PROTOTYPING(RP) or RAPID PROTOTYPING MANUFACTUREING(RPM).Rapid prototyping (RP) technology is an advanced manufacturing technology developed in the 1990s. It is a key common technology serving the development of new products for manufacturing enterprises. RP technology plays a positive role in promoting product innovation, shortening the development cycle of new products and improving product competitiveness. Since the advent of this technology, it has been widely used in the manufacturing industry of developed countries, bringing a new technology field.

RP technology is developed on the basis of modern CAD/CAM technology, laser technology, computer numerical control technology, precision servo drive technology and new material technology. Different kinds of rapid prototyping systems have different forming principles and system characteristics because of different forming materials. But the basic principles are the same. It is "layered manufacturing, layered superposition", and it is similar to the mathematical integration process. Imaginally speaking, rapid prototyping system is like a "three-dimensional printer".

The advantages of RP technology are obvious.

It can directly accept the data of product design (CAD) without preparing any mould, cutter and fixture, and quickly produce samples, dies or models of new products. Therefore, the popularization and application of RP technology can greatly shorten the development cycle of new products, reduce the development cost and improve the development quality. It is from the traditional "removal method" to "growth method" today, and from molded manufacturing to non-molded manufacturing. It is the revolutionary significance of RP technology to manufacturing industry.

How did it come into being?

Image analogy: Rapid prototyping system is equivalent to a "three-dimensional printer".

It can quickly and directly realize the production of parts without any cutting tools, dies and fixtures. According to the complexity of the parts, the process usually takes 1 to 7 days. In other words, RP technology is a fast and direct manufacturing technology for single parts.

Basic working principle of RP system

According to the shape of parts, RP system can produce a section with a certain thickness and a specific shape each time, and then bond them layer by layer to obtain the required three-dimensional parts. Of course, the whole process is automatically completed by rapid prototyping system under the control of computer. RP systems manufactured by different companies use different forming materials, and the working principle of the system is different. But the basic principle is the same. It is "layered manufacturing, layer by layer overlay". This process can be visually called "growth" or "addition".

Each cross-sectional data is equivalent to a medical CT image; the whole manufacturing process can be compared to a "integral" process.

RP technology is developed on the basis of modern CAD/CAM technology, laser technology, computer numerical control technology, precision servo drive technology and new material technology. The basic principle of RP technology: The three-dimensional data model in the computer is sliced to obtain the contour data of each section. Based on this information, the computer controls the laser (or nozzle) to selectively sinter layer by layer of powder material (or solidify layer by layer of liquid photosensitive resin, or cut layer by layer of sheet material, or spray layer by layer of hot-melt material or adhesives). It forms forms a series of flaky entities with a tiny thickness. By means of melting, aggregation and bonding, the new product samples, models or moulds can be manufactured. Since the first commercial SLA rapid prototyping machine was introduced by American 3D company in 1988, there have been more than ten different forming systems, including SLA, SLS, LOM and FDM. Its forming principle is introduced as follows:

(1) Forming principle of rapid prototyping system based on SLA:

Forming material: liquid photosensitive resin;

Parts performance: equivalent to engineering plastics or wax molds;

Main Applications: High-precision plastic parts, wax molds for casting, samples or models.

(2) Forming principle of Rapid Prototyping System based on SLS:

Forming material: engineering plastic powder;

Parts performance: equivalent to engineering plastics, wax mold, sand mold;

Main Applications: Plastic parts, wax models for casting, samples or models.

(3) Forming principle of rapid prototyping system based on LOM:

Forming material: Fiber paper coated with heat sensitive adhesive;

Parts performance: equivalent to high-grade wood;

Main Applications: Rapid manufacturing of new product samples, models or wood moulds for casting.

(4) Forming principle of Rapid Prototyping System based on FDM:

Forming materials: solid filamentous engineering plastics;

Parts performance: equivalent to engineering plastics or wax molds;

Main Applications: Plastic parts, wax models for casting, samples or models.

Significance of Applying RP Technology

It greatly shortens the development cycle of new products and ensures the time for new products to be on the market.

------It can shorten the manufacturing time of model or die by several times or even tens of times.

It improves the ability of manufacturing complex parts.

------It makes direct manufacturing of complex models possible;

It significantly improves the one-time success rate of new product launch.

------It can discover product design errors in time, find errors early and change them early, so as to avoid a lot of losses caused by the subsequent process changes.

It supports the implementation of synchronous (concurrent) engineering.

------It makes the design, communication and evaluation more visualized, and makes the design of new products, sample manufacturing, market ordering, production preparation, and other work can be carried out concurrently.

It supports technological innovation and improves product appearance design.

------It is conducive to optimizing product design, which is particularly important for industrial appearance design.

It reduces the cost of new product development by twice.

------Save a lot of opening cost.

Rapid tooling manufacturing can quickly realize single-piece and small-batch production, so that the time for new products to market is greatly advanced and it can quickly occupy the market.

In short, RP technology is the world's advanced manufacturing technology and new product development means in the 1990s. In developed industrial countries, it has become an important strategy for enterprises to adopt RP technology to ensure R&D cycle and improve design quality in the process of new product development. At present, the market competition is becoming more and more fierce, and product renewal is accelerating. In order to maintain the competitiveness of our products in domestic and foreign markets, it is urgent to actively adopt advanced innovative means while increasing investment in new product development and enhancing innovation awareness. RP technology can realize rapid manufacturing of new product samples with arbitrary complex shape without any tools, dies and fixtures. The model or sample manufactured by RP technology can be directly used for new product design verification, function verification, appearance verification, engineering analysis, market ordering, etc. It is very helpful to optimize product design, thus greatly improving the success rate of new product development, enhancing the market competitiveness of products, shortening the R&D cycle and reducing the cost. R&D cost. The establishment of Rapid Prototyping Manufacturing Technology Productivity Promotion Center provides a good precondition for the enterprises of the city to apply RP technology to carry out product innovation activities.