ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING

(ELECTIVE – I)

UNIT-II: SOLID-BASED RAPID PROTOTYPING SYSTEMS

Laminated object manufacturing (LOM)

The cutting of contours out of prefabricated foils or sheets of even layer thickness
according to the sliced 3D CAD file and the subsequent bonding on the top of the preceding
layer is called layer laminate manufacturing, LLM.

The foils or sheets can be made of paper, plastics, metal, or ceramics. A laser, a knife,
or a milling machine can be used as a cutting device. The bonding of adjacent layers is done
by glue, ultrasonic, soldering, or diffusion welding. Most of the processes just need one
production step; a few require a post treatment such as sintering in a furnace.

The overall advantage of LLM processes is the fast build when massive parts are
requested. The disadvantage is a huge amount of waste, depending on the geometry of the
part.

Process

Layer Laminate Manufacturing, Laminated Object Manufacturing (LOM)

The oldest and widely known AM LLM-process is the laminated object
manufacturing (LOM). It was originally developed by Helisys, USA, which is now Cubic
Technologies, Torrance, CA. This machine as well as a similar one, which was developed
later by Kinergy, Singapore, is no longer produced. But there are a lot of these machines in
the market and the company provides service, maintenance, and contract manufacturing.

The build material is coiled paper of approximately 0.2 mm thickness. On its down
face it is coated with glue which is activated by heat during the recoating process. The
machine consists of a build table that can be moved in z-direction and a mechanism to uncoil
the paper, position it on the build table, and wind up the remaining paper on the opposite side.
A laser does the cutting of the contour.

To build a part, the paper is positioned on the build table and fixed by a heated roller
that activates the glue. The contour is cut by a plotter-type laser device that allows adjusting
the cutting depth according to the paper thickness. Another frame-like laser cut defines the
boundaries of the part. It leaves two paper stripes on each side of the part that enables the
exceeding paper to be lifted and wound up by the second coil (Fig. 2.21). The material that
fills the space between the contour and the frame remains within the part and supports it. It is
cut into squares for easy removal of the waste material.

After the build process is finished, the block of paper, including the part and the
support material is removed from the build platform. The frame and the squares that result in
small blocks are removed and finally the part is obtained. The parts need varnishing to
prevent de-lamination of the layers. Gear housings, which are typical parts, can be seen in
Fig.xx.
Layer laminate manufacturing, laminated object manufacturing (LOM); scheme
Working principle
Applications

Layer laminate manufacturing, paper lamination, gear housings (LOM)

Advantages
Advantages of LOM include
 the wide range of relatively cheap materials available -parts may be made using paper
for example, or from more expensive materials such as plastic or fibre-reinforced
glass ceramic.
 The parts may be large compared with those produced by other RP methods.
 Since they have the appearance of wooden pieces when finished, they are popular
with model makers.
 Speed is another strong feature of LOM. As only the outlines of the parts need to be
traced, this method is about 5 - 10 times faster than other processes.
Disadvantages
 A drawback is the need to prise the finished parts off the build platform which
adversely affects their surface finish.
 It is also hard to make hollow parts due to the difficulty in removing the core and
there are serious problems with undercuts and reentrant features.
 Other disadvantages of this technology are that there is a large amount of scrap, the
machine must be constantly manned, parts need to be hand finished and the shear
strength of the part is adversely affected by the layering of adhesive and foil.
 Because the laser cuts through the material, there is a fire hazard which means that the
machines need to be fitted with inert gas extinguishers.
 The drops of molten material (dross) which form during the cutting process also need
to be removed.
 The disadvantage is the surface finish of the parts, which is inferior to that produced
using SL. This is because the resolution of the process is lower as this is dictated by
the filament thickness.
 It has not yet been demonstrated whether the material extrusion may be stopped
quickly enough to produce small holes in vertical sections.

Case studies

The build material is applied to the part from a roll, then bonded to the previous layers
using a hot roller which activates a heat-sensitive adhesive. The contour of each layer is cut
with a laser that is carefully modulated to penetrate to the exact depth of one layer. Unwanted
material is trimmed into rectangles to facilitate its later removal but remains in place during
the build to act as supports (Figure 2.15). The sheet of material used is wider than the build
area so that, once the part cross-section has been cut, the edges of the sheet remain intact.
This means that, after the layer has been completed and the build platform lowered, the roll of
material can be advanced by winding this excess onto a second roller until a fresh area of the
sheet lies over the part. The whole process can then be repeated.

Laminated Object Manufacturing

Fused deposition modelling (FDM)

A FDM machine consists of a movable head which deposits a thread of molten

material onto a substrate. The build material is heated to 0.5°C above its melting point so that
it solidifies about 0.1 s after extrusion and cold welds to the previous layers (Figure 2.9).
Factors to be taken into consideration are the necessity for a steady nozzle speed and material
extrusion rate, the addition of a support structure for overhanging parts, and the speed of the
head which affects the overall layer thickness.
 More recent FDM systems include two nozzles, one for the part material and one for
the support material. The latter is cheaper and breaks away from the prototype without
impairing its surface. It is also possible to create horizontal supports to minimise material
usage and build time.

The Fused Deposition Modelling process

The system employs a 25 or 50 Watt CO2 laser to cut the material. Smaller hatches
must be used on up and down-facing surfaces to facilitate the removal of waste material
which otherwise would be bonded to the part. It may also be necessary to stop the build to
excavate paper from hard-to-access places. Once the parts are completed, they should be
sealed with a urethane lacquer, silicone fluid or epoxy resin spray to prevent later distortion
of the paper prototype through water absorption. The height is measured and the cross-
sections are calculated in real time to correct for any errors in the build direction.

Models and specifications

The FDM process was developed in 1988 by S. Crump who founded Stratasys the
following year. Since then the company has produced more than 1000 systems. The first
product, the 3D MODELER, was introduced by the company in 1992. Stratasys's FDM
current product range includes the following RP systems: FDM 2000, FDM 3000, FDM 8000
and FDM Quantum. All four FDM systems include two nozzles, one for the part material and
one for the support material. The latter is cheaper and breaks away from the prototype
without impairing its surface. It is also possible to create horizontal supports to minimise
material usage and build time. The technical characteristics of these systems are summarised
in Figure 3.9. The most popular system, the FDM 2000 (Figure 3.10), builds functional
prototypes or casting masters up to 254x254x254 mm in size. The system costs around
$87,000 and has an accuracy of± l271lm.
 Process

Fused Deposition Modeling, is an additive manufacturing technology commonly used

for modeling, prototyping, and production applications. FDM works on an "additive"
principle by laying down material in layers. A plastic filament or metal wire is unwound from
a coil and supplies material to an extrusion nozzle which can turn the flow on and off. The
nozzle is heated to melt the material and can be moved in both horizontal and vertical
directions by a numerically controlled mechanism, directly controlled by a computer-aided
manufacturing (CAM) software package. The model or part is produced by extruding small
beads of thermoplastic material to form layers as the material hardens immediately after
extrusion from the nozzle. Stepper motors or servo motors are typically employed to move
the extrusion head.

FDM, a prominent form of rapid prototyping, is used for prototyping and rapid
manufacturing. Rapid prototyping facilitates iterative testing, and for very short runs, rapid
manufacturing can be a relatively inexpensive alternative.
FDM 2000 system

In January 1998, Stratasys introduced the FDM Quantum system which incorporates
the MagnaDrive technology. This technology uses an X-Y electro-magnetic motioncontrol
system in combination with dual-axis linear motors. The combination of these technologies
provides precise and repeatable two-axis motion control in a single plane without requiring a
gantry. This new design eliminates the typical moving parts of a gantry system, such as
cables, belts and pulleys thereby simplifying the mechanics and increasing reliability. The
MagnaDrive technology allows coordinated moves such as contouring or circular
interpolation, to be realized with high precision. The MagnaDrive heads and FDM Quantum
system are shown in Figures 3.11 and 3.12.

FDM Quantum extrusion heads employing MagnaDrive technology

FDM Quantum system

 In August 1999, Stratasys introduced the FDM 3000 system which incorporates a new
support removal method for use with an ABS modelling material called WaterWorks. With
WaterWorks, a completed model with supports is immersed in a water-based solution which
dissolves the support material and leaves a clean model with smooth surfaces. The FDM
3000 system costs in the range $125,000-$135,000 depending on options.

There are a number of thermoplastic modelling materials for FDM systems.

Currently, the materials available commercially are ABS, a high impact grade of ABS,
investment casting wax and an elastomer. The FDM process utilises a spool-based filament
system and therefore all materials are provided on spools.
Working principle
Applications
Concept / design visualization
Direct use components
Investment casting

Advantages
 Cheaper since uses plastic, more expensive models use a different (water soluble)
material to remove supports completely. Even cheap 3D printers have enough
resolution for many applications.
 An advantage of a FDM system is that it may be viewed as a desktop prototyping
facility in a design office since the materials used are cheap, non-toxic, not smelly and
environmentally safe.
 A range of materials is available as already mentioned.
 Parts made by this method have a high stability since they are not hygroscopic.
 Medical grade ABS approved by FDA (US)
 Temperature capability
 Safe
 LASER free operation
 Easy post processing

Disadvantages
Supports leave marks that require removing and sanding. Warping, limited testing
allowed due to Thermo plastic material.
Slower than LASER based system

Case studies – Customising Garden Fork Handles

As a demonstration of how customer input can be captured and used within the design
process to create customised products, a simple case study was undertaken. The product
chosen was a small, hand-held gardening fork (the original design is shown in Figure 3.8).
The product was selected because it embodied several of the requirement types listed in
Section 3.3. The aim was to create customised handles for four individual users according to
their specific requirements. The following process was used:
Figure 3.8 Original gardening fork design
1. Discuss handle requirements through a semi-structured interview.
2. Evaluate the original handle design against a set of predetermined criteria such as grip,
aesthetics, usability, etc.
3. Generate an improved user-fit design, recording ideas in verbal, sketch and written format.
4. Capture user-fit and other ergonomic requirements using modelling clay.
5. Translate into a CAD model (using reverse engineering if necessary).
6. Capture and verify aesthetic requirements using CAD rendering.
7. Verify functional requirements using an RP model.

The modelling and prototyping stages are now discussed in turn.

3.9.1 Customer Input Through the Use of Modelling Clay

Customers were shown the original fork design and then provided with the metal element
(shaft and prongs) together with air-drying modelling clay. They were asked to model their
own design of handle that would fit their hand as they desired, include other ergonomic
aspects such as finger grips or wrist supports and functional aspects such as hanging holes.
They were encouraged to attach the clay to the metal element during this process to give a
representative feel of weight and balance. An image of one of the new designs being
modelled is shown in Figure 3.9.

3.9.2 Translation into a CAD Model

Some of the handle designs created were relatively simple in shape and it was possible to
model them in CAD through direct observation. However, some of them were more complex
and reverse engineering had to be used. Three-dimensional laser scanning was undertaken
with a three-dimensional Scanners’ ModelMaker and a FARO arm system (see Figure 3.10).
The point

Figure 3.9 One of the new handle designs being modeled

clouds of data were imported into Geomagics Studio software where it was merged and
refined before being used to create non-uniform rational B-spline (NURB) surfaces. If
necessary, these surfaces were further refined using the freeform virtual sculpting system and
were then used as the basis for building a solid CAD model within Solidworks.

3.9.3 CAD Rendering

Once the CAD model had been completed, it could then be used as the basis for high-quality
rendered images that were used to convey alternative colours and surface textures that the
finished product could have. The users were shown different versions of these until they were
happy with the Figure 3.9 One of the new handle designs being modelled

Figure 3.10 Scanning of a fork handle clay model

Figure 3.11 CAD rendering showing wooden handled fork aesthetic appearance of the design.
The example shown in Figure 3.11 is a representation of what a wooden handled fork would
look like.

3.9.4 Verification of Functionality

The final stage in the process was to verify that the new design of handle met the customer’s
requirements for functionality. This was achieved by creating an RP model of the handle
using an FDM 2000 machine with ABS material. The handle was hand finished and attached
to the metal element of the fork ready for functional testing (see Figure 3.12).
Figure 3.11 CAD rendering showing wooden handled fork
Figure 3.12 Verification of fork handle functionality
The outcome of this case study was proof that customers can become closely involved in the
design process. Designers can work directly with them to capture requirements that can then
be used to produce new product designs. The case study also demonstrated the role that RM
and related technologies can play in this interaction. A simple product was deliberately
chosen for the case study but the principles followed are applicable to more complex products
also.