ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING

UNIT-1
DEFINITION OF A PROTOTYPE
A prototype is the first or original example of something that has been or will be copied
or developed; it is a model or preliminary version.
e.g.: A prototype supersonic aircraft.
(OR)
An approximation of a product (or system) or its components in some form for a definite purpose
in its implementation.

TYPES OF PROTOTYPES
The general definition of the prototype contains three aspects of interests: 1) The
implementation of the prototype- from the entire product (or system) itself to its
sub-assemblies and components,
2) The form of the prototype; from a virtual prototype to a physical prototype, and 3) The
degree of the approximation of the prototype; from a very rough representation to an exact
replication of the product.

1) The implementation of the prototype

The implementation aspect of the prototype covers the range of prototyping the complete
product (or system) to prototyping part of, or a sub-assembly or a component of the product. ●
One example of such prototype is one that is given to a group of carefully selected people with
special interest, often called a focus group, to examine and identify outstanding problems before
the product is committed to its final design.
● On the other hand, there are prototypes that are needed to study or investigate special
problems associated with one component, sub-assemblies or simply a particular concept
of the product that requires close attention. An example of such prototype is a test
platform that is used to find the comfortable rest angles of an office chair that will reduce
the risk of spinal injuries after prolonged sitting on such a chair.
2) The form of the prototype
The second aspect of the form of the prototype takes into account how the prototype is
being implemented. On one end, virtual prototypes that refers to prototypes that are nontangible,
usually represented in some form other than physical.
● An example is the visualization of airflow over an aircraft wing to ascertain lift and drag
on the wing during supersonic flight. Such prototype is often used when either the
physical prototype is too large and therefore takes too long to build, or the building of
such a prototype is exorbitantly expensive.
 ● The main drawback of these kinds of prototypes is that they are based on current
understanding and thus they will not be able to predict any unexpected phenomenon. 3) The
degree of the approximation of the prototype
● The third aspect covers the degree of approximation or representativeness of the prototype.
On one hand, the model can be a very rough representation of the intended product, like a
foam model, used primarily to study the general form and enveloping dimensions of the
product in its initial stage of development. Some rough prototypes may not even look like
the final product, but are used to test and study certain problems of the product
development.
● An example of this is the building of catches with different material to find the right
“clicking” sound for a cassette player door.

ROLES OF THE PROTOTYPES

The roles that prototypes play in the product development process are several. They
include the following:
(1) Experimentation and learning
(2) Testing and proofing
(3) Communication and interaction
(4) Synthesis and integration
(5) Scheduling and markers

(1) Experimentation and learning

To the product development team, prototypes can be used to help the thinking, planning,
experimenting and learning processes while designing the product. Questions and doubts
regarding certain issues of the design can be addressed by building and studying the prototype.
● For example, in designing the appropriate elbow-support of an office chair, several
physical prototypes of such elbow supports can be built to learn about the “feel” of the
elbow support when performing typical tasks on the office chair.
(2) Testing and proofing
Prototypes can also be used for testing and proofing of ideas and concepts relating to the
development of the product.
● For example, in the early design of folding reading glasses for the elderly, concepts and
ideas of folding mechanism can be tested by building rough physical prototypes to test
and prove these ideas to see if they work as intended.

(3) Communication and interaction

The prototype also serves the purpose of communicating information and demonstrating
ideas, not just within the product development team, but also to management and client. ●
Nothing is clearer for explanation or communication of an idea than a physical prototype where
the intended audience can have the full experience of the visual and tactile feel of the product.
● A three-dimensional representation is often more superior than that of a two-dimensional
sketch of the product.
● For example, a physical prototype of a cellular phone can be presented to carefully selected
customers. Customers can handle and experiment with the phone and give
 feedback to the development team on the features of and interactions with the phone, thus
providing valuable information for the team to improve its design.
(4) Synthesis and integration
A prototype can also be used to synthesize the entire product concept by bringing the various
components and sub-assemblies together to ensure that they will work together. ● When putting
the prototype together, all aspects of the design, including manufacturing and assembly issues
will have to be addressed, thus enabling the different functional members of the product
development team to understand the various problems associated with putting the product
together.
(5) Scheduling and markers
Prototyping also serves to help in the scheduling of the product development process and
is usually used as markers for the end or start of the various phases of the development effort.
Each prototype usually
marks a completion of a particular development phase, and with proper planning.

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF RAPID PROTOTYPING

The development of Rapid Prototyping is closely tied in with the development of

applications of computers in the industry. The declining cost of computers, especially of personal
and mini computers, has changed the way a factory works. The increase in the use of computers
has spurred the advancement in many computer-related areas including Computer-Aided Design
(CAD), Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) and Computer Numerical Control (CNC)
machine tools. In particular,
the emergence of RP systems could not have been possible without the existence of CAD.
What are the three phases of prototyping? Contrasting these with those of geometric
modeling, what similarities can be drawn.

Three Phases of Development Leading to Rapid Prototyping

FUNDAMENTALS OF RAPID PROTOTYPING
Common to all the different techniques of RP is the basic approach they
adopt, which can be described as follows:
1. A model or component is modeled on a Computer-Aided Design/Computer-Aided
Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) system. The model which represents the physical part to be
 built must be represented as closed surfaces which unambiguously define an enclosed
volume.
2. The solid or surface model to be built is next converted into a format dubbed the “STL”
(STereoLithography) file format which originates from 3D Systems. The STL file format
approximates the surfaces of the model by polygons. Highly curved surfaces must employ
many polygons, which means that STL files for curved parts can be very large. However,
there are some rapid prototyping systems which also accept IGES (Initial Graphics
Exchange Specifications) format.
3. A computer program analyzes a STL file that defines the model to be fabricated and
“slices” the model into cross sections. The cross sections are systematically recreated
through the solidification of either liquids or powders and then combined to form a 3D
model.

With a neat sketch explain Additive Manufacturing(AM) i.e., RP Wheel OR

Name the important elements of RP wheel? OR
Write short notes on RP wheel?

RP WHEEL
Fundamentally, the development of RP can be seen in four primary areas. The below mentioned
Rapid Prototyping Wheel depicts these four key aspects of Rapid Prototyping. They are: Input,
Method, Material and Applications.

Input
Input refers to the electronic information required to describe thephysical object with 3D data.
There are two possible starting points —
● computer model
● physical model.
The computer model created by a CAD system can be either a surface model or a solid model.
On the other hand, 3D data from the physical model is not at all straightforward. It requires data
acquisition through a method known as reverse engineering. In reverse engineering, a wide range
of equipment can be used, such as CMM (coordinate measuring machine) or a laser digitizer, to
capture data points of the physical model and “reconstruct” it in a CAD system.

Material
The initial state of material can come in either solid, liquid or powder state. In solid state,
it can come in various forms such as pellets, wire or laminates. The current range materials
include paper, nylon, wax, resins, metals and ceramics.
Method

Presently there are more than 20 vendors for RP systems, the method employed by each
vendor can be generally classified into the following categories: photo-curing, cutting and
glueing/joining, melting and solidifying/fusing and joining/binding. Photo-curing can be further
divided into categories of single laser beam, double laser beams and masked lamp.
Applications

Most of the RP parts are finished or touched up before they are used for their intended
applications. Applications can be grouped into
(1) Design
(2) Engineering, Analysis, and Planning and
(3) Tooling and Manufacturing.
A wide range of industries can benefit from RP and these include, but are not limited to,
aerospace, automotive, biomedical, consumer, electrical and electronics products.

ADVANTAGES OF RAPID PROTOTYPING

● Today’s automated, toolless, patternless RP systems can directly produce functional parts
 in small production quantities.
● Parts produced in this way usually have an accuracy and surface finish inferior to those
made by machining.
The benefits of RP systems are can be categorized into direct and indirect benefits.

DIRECT BENEFITS
Benefits to Product Designers
● The product designers can increase part complexity with little significant effects
on lead time and cost.
● They can optimize part design to meet customer requirements.
● They can reduce parts count by combining features in single-piece parts that are
previously made from several manufacturing process.
● With fewer parts, time spent on tolerance analysis, selecting fasteners, detailing
screw holes and assembly drawings is greatly reduced.
Benefits to the Tooling and Manufacturing Engineer
● The manufacturing engineer can minimize design, manufacturing and verification
of tooling.
● He can realize profits earlier on new products, since fixed costs are lower.
● The manufacturer can reduce the labor content of manufacturing.
● Reducing material waste, waste disposal costs, material transportation costs,
inventory cost for raw stock etc.
INDIRECT BENEFITS
Benefits to Marketing
● It presents new capabilities and opportunities.
● It can greatly reduce time-to-market.
 ● products offering the price/performance of the latest technology.
Benefits to the Consumer
● The consumer can buy products which meet more closely individual needs.
COMMONLY USED TERMS RAPID PROTOTYPING:
The following terms emphasizes on the unique characteristic of RP — layer by
layer addition as opposed to traditional manufacturing methods such as machining which
is material removal from a block. This group includes Layer Manufacturing, Material
Deposit Manufacturing and Material Addition Manufacturing.
There is yet another group which chooses to focus on the words “solid” and
“freeform” — Solid Freeform Manufacturing and Solid Freeform Fabrication. Solid is
used because while the initial state may be liquid, powder, individual pellets or laminates,
the end result is a solid, 3D object, while freeform stresses on the ability of RP to build
complex shapes with little constraint.

FUNDAMENTAL AUTOMATED PROCESSES

There are three fundamental fabrication processes as shown in the below Figure
They are Subtractive, Additive and Formative processes.

In the subtractive process, one starts with a single block of solid material larger
than the final size of the desired object and material is removed until the desired shape is
reached.
In contrast, an additive process is the exact reverse in that the end product is much
larger than the material when it started. A material is manipulated so that successive
portions of it combine to form the desired object.
 Lastly, the formative process is one where mechanical forces are applied on a
material so as to form it into the desired shape.
There are many examples for each of these fundamental fabrication processes.
Subtractive fabrication processes include most forms of machining processes — CNC or
otherwise. These include milling, turning, drilling, planning, sawing, grinding, EDM,
laser cutting, water jet cutting etc.
Most forms of rapid prototyping processes such as Stereolithography and
Selective Laser Sintering fall into the additive fabrication processes category. Examples of
formative fabrication processes are: Bending, forging, electromagnetic forming and
plastic injection molding.

PROCESS CHAIN OF RAPID PROTOTYPING:

3D MODELING
● Advanced 3D CAD modeling is a general prerequisite in RP processes and,
usually is the most time-consuming part of the entire process chain.
● It is most important that such 3D geometric models can be shared by the entire
design team for many different purposes, such as interference studies, stress
analyses, FEM analysis, detail design and drafting, planning for manufacturing.

DATA CONVERSION AND TRANSMISSION

The solid or surface model to be built is next converted into a format dubbed the
STL file format. This format originates from 3D Systems which pioneers the
STereoLithography system.
The STL file format approximates the surfaces of the model using tiny triangles.
 Highly curved surfaces must employ many more triangles, which mean that STL files for
curved parts can be very large.
CHECKING AND PREPARING
● first time users are frustrated at this step to discover that their STL files are faulty.
● However, more often than not, it is due to both the errors of CAD models and the
non robustness of the CAD-STL interface.
● At present, the CAD model errors are corrected by human operators assisted by
specialized software such as MAGICS.
● Once the STL files are verified to be error-free, the RP system’s computer
analyzes the STL files that define the model to be fabricated and slices the model
into cross-sections.

BUILDING
● For most RP systems, this step is fully automated.
● Thus, it is usual for operators to leave the machine on to build a part overnight. ● The
building process may take up to several hours to build depending on the size and number
of parts required.

POST PROCESSING
● The final task in the process chain is the postprocessing task. At this stage, generally
some manual operations are necessary.
● As a result, the danger of damaging a part is particularly high.
● The necessary postprocessing tasks for some major RP systems are shown in below table.
Cleaning:
● The cleaning task refers to the removal of excess parts which may have remained on the
part.
● Parts are typically cleaned with solvent to remove unreacted photosensitive resin. ●
With newer cleaning solvents, like TPM (tripropylene glycol monomethyl ether)
introduced by 3D Systems, part damage due to the cleaning solvent can be reduced or
even eliminated.
Postcuring:
SLA parts are built with pockets of liquid embedded within the part. Therefore,
postcuring is required. All other nonliquid RP methods do not undergo this task.

Finishing:
Finishing refers to secondary processes such as sanding and painting used primarily to
improve the surface finish or aesthetic appearance of the part /product.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF AM PROCESS

The advantages of AM process

1. Freedom of design and innovative
2. Support of green manufacturing
3. Bottom line improvements through factory physics
4. Get parts –fast
5. Less wastage in this process
6. Complexity is free
7. No need assembly
8. Little lead time
9. Little skill-manufacturing

DISADVANTAGES
1. Slow build rates
2. High production costs
3. Discontinuous production process
4. Poor mechanical properties
5. Considerable effort in application design and setting process parameters
6. Not suitable for mass production
 7. Limited working materials
Applications of AM process
1. Industrial model fabrication
2. Making jewellery
3. Medical and dental elements
4. Making the food items

MEDICINE
So much So much more is known about the human body than in the past, but the ability to create
tissue and organs has always been elusive. This ability to artificially regenerate is something
which is highly prized by medical scientists, having the potential to cure or at least overcome the
ravages of, disease, illness and injury

INDUSTRIAL USES
There’s a vast number of industries which have made use of the technology such as aerospace,
defense, industry and automotive, and each of these has found certain key elements particularly
beneficial. Tooling is used in all of these industries and has a broad number of applications, and
this is one area which can be significantly improved with the use of additive manufacturing.
Difference between Additive Manufacturing and Subtractive Manufacturing
processes