ME711PE: ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING(PE – II)

UNIT - I
Introduction: Prototyping fundamentals, Historical development, Fundamentals of Rapid Prototyping,Advantages and Limitations of Rapid Prototyping,
Commonly used Terms, Classification of RP process,Rapid Prototyping Process Chain: Fundamental Automated Processes
UNIT - II
Liquid-based Rapid Prototyping Systems: Stereo lithography Apparatus (SLA): Models and specifications, Process, working principle, photopolymers, photo
polymerization, Layering technology, laser and laser scanning, Applications, Advantages and Disadvantages, Case studies. Solid ground curing (SGC): Models
and specifications, Process, working principle, Applications, Advantages and Disadvantages, Case studies Solid-based Rapid Prototyping Systems: Laminated
Object Manufacturing (LOM): Models and specifications, Process, working principle, Applications, Advantages and Disadvantages, Case studies. Fused
Deposition Modeling (FDM): Models and specifications,Process, working principle, Applications, Advantages and Disadvantages, Case studies
UNIT - III
Powder Based Rapid Prototyping Systems: Selective laser sintering (SLS): Models and specifications,Process, working principle, Applications, Advantages
and Disadvantages, Case studies. Three dimensional Printing (3DP): Models and specifications, Process, working principle, Applications,Advantages and
Disadvantages, Case studies. Rapid Tooling: Introduction to Rapid Tooling (RT),Conventional Tooling Vs RT, Need for RT. Rapid Tooling Classification; Indirect
Rapid Tooling Methods:Spray Metal Deposition, RTV Epoxy Tools, Ceramic tools, Investment Casting, Spin Casting, Diecasting, Sand Casting, 3D Keltool
process. Direct Rapid Tooling : Direct AIM, LOM Tools, DTM RapidTool Process, EOS Direct Tool Process and Direct Metal Tooling using 3DP.
UNIT - IV
Rapid Prototyping Data Formats: STL Format, STL File Problems, Consequence of Building Valid and Invalid Tessellated Models, STL file
Repairs: Generic Solution, Other Translators, Newly Proposed Formats. Rapid Prototyping Software’s: Features of various RP software’s like
Magics, Mimics, Solid View, View Expert, 3 D View, Velocity 2, Rhino, STL View 3 Data Expert and 3 D doctor.
UNIT - V
RP Applications: Application - Material Relationship, Application in Design, Application in Engineering,Analysis and Planning, Aerospace Industry,
Automotive Industry, Jewelry Industry, Coin Industry, GIS application, Arts and Architecture. RP Medical and Bioengineering Applications: Planning
and simulation of complex surgery, Customized Implants & Prosthesis, Design and Production of Medical Devices, Forensic Science and
Anthropology, Visualization of Biomolecules.
 ME711PE: COMPOSITE MATERIALS (PE – II)
.

TEXT BOOKS:
1. Rapid prototyping; Principles and Applications /Chua C.K., Leong K.F. and LIM C.S/World
Scientific Publications
2. Rapid Manufacturing /D.T. Pham and S.S. Dimov/Springer
 ME711PE:Additive Manufacturing

Introduction
What is Additive Manufacturing?
• The term Rapid Prototyping (or RP) is used to describe a process for rapidly creating a system or
part representation before final release or commercialization.

• A recently formed Technical Committee within ASTM International agreed that new terminology
should be adopted. Recently adopted ASTM consensus standards now use the term Additive
Manufacturing.

• The basic principle of this technology is that a model, initially generated using a 3D Computer

Aided Design (3D CAD) system, can be fabricated directly without the need for process planning.
 Introduction

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 Prototype

Prototype fundamentals

The general definition of the prototype contains three aspects of interests:

1. Implementation of the prototype; from the entire product itself to its sub-assemblies
and components,
2. Form of the prototype; from a virtual prototype to a physical prototype
3. Degree of the approximation of the prototype; from a very rough representation to
an exact replication of the product.
Roles of
Prototypes
Historic Development
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.
2) The model which represents the physical part to be built must be represented as
closed surfaces which unambiguously define an enclosed volume.
3) This means that the data must specify the inside, outside and boundary of the
model. This requirement will become redundant if the modeling technique used is
solid modeling.
4) This is by virtue of the technique used, as a valid solid model will automatically be
an enclosed volume.
5) This requirement ensures that all horizontal cross sections that are essential to RP
are closed curves to create the solid object.
 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. 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.
2. The STL file format approximates the surfaces of the model by polygons.
3. Highly curved surfaces must employ many polygons, which means that STL files for
curved parts can be very large.
4. However, there are some rapid prototyping systems which also accept IGES (Initial
Graphics Exchange Specifications) data, provided it is of the correct “flavor”.
Rapid Prototyping Wheel
 FUNDAMENTALS OF RAPID PROTOTYPING

Input
1. Input refers to the electronic information required to describe the physical object with
3D data.
2. There are two possible starting points a computer model or a physical model.
3. The computer model created by a CAD system can be either a surface model or a
solid model.
4. 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.
5. 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.
 FUNDAMENTALS OF RAPID PROTOTYPING

Method
While they are currently more than 20 vendors for RP systems, the method employed by
each vendor can be generally classified into the following categories:
1. photo-curing, cutting and glueing/joining, melting and solidifying/fusing and
joining/binding.
2. Photo-curing can be further divided into categories of single
i. laser beam,
ii. double laser beams and
iii. masked lamp.
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.
 RAPID PROTOTYPING

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

Direct Benefits
 ADVANTAGES OF RAPID PROTOTYPING

Direct Benefits-Modernize cars Product completion time drastically decreased as years progress

Benefits to Product Designers-minimize time-consuming and evaluations of manufacturing possibilities

Benefits to the Tooling and Manufacturing Engineer-The main savings are in costs.

Indirect Benefits
Benefits of marketing

Benefits to the Consumer

Advantages of RP

• Elimination of design constraints

• Allow parts to be produced with complex geometry with no additional costs
related to complexity
• Build speed; reduction of lead time
• Flexibility in design
• No expensive tooling requirements
• Dimensional accuracy
• Wide range of materials (polymers, metals, ceramics)
• Well suited to the manufacture of high value replacement and repair parts
• Green manufacturing, clean, minimal waste
 Limitations of RP

• Part size
• Production series: Generally suitable for unitary or small series and is not relevant
for mass production. For small sized parts, series up to 25000 parts/year are
already possible.
 Limitations of AM

Material choice: Non weldable metals cannot be processed by additive manufacturing

and difficult-to-weld alloys require specific approaches.

Material properties: Parts made by additive manufacturing tend to show anisotropy in

the Z axis (construction direction).

• The densities of 99.9% can be reached, there can be some residual internal
porosities.

• Mechanical properties are usually superior to cast parts but in general inferior to
wrought parts.
 COMMONLY USED TERMS

• Rapid Prototyping Tooling and Manufacturing(RPTM)

• Direct CAD
• Desktop Manufacturing and Instant Manufacturing
• SLA- Stereolithography Apparatus
• Layer Manufacturing, Material Deposit Manufacturing,
• Material Addition Manufacturing and Material Incress Manufacturing.
• Solid Freeform Manufacturing and Solid Freeform Fabrication.
CLASSIFICATION OF RAPID PROTOTYPING SYSTEMS

RP systems can be easily categorized into

(1) liquid-based
(2) solid-based and
(3) powder based.
 Liquid-Based

Liquid-based RP systems have the initial form of its material in liquid

state. Through a process commonly known as curing, the liquid is
converted into the solid state. The following RP systems fall into this
category:
(1) 3D Systems’ Stereolithography Apparatus (SLA)
(2) Cubital’s Solid Ground Curing (SGC)
(3) Sony’s Solid Creation System (SCS)
(4) CMET’s Solid Object Ultraviolet-Laser Printer (SOUP)
(5) Autostrade’s E-Darts
(6) Teijin Seiki’s Soliform System
Liquid-Based
(7) Meiko’s Rapid Prototyping System for the Jewelry Industry
(8) Denken’s SLP, (9) Mitsui’s COLAMM
(10) Fockele & Schwarze’s LMS, (11) Light Sculpting
(12) Aaroflex, (13) Rapid Freeze
(14) Two Laser Beams (15) Microfabrication

As is illustrated in the RP Wheel in Figure 1.3, three methods are possible under the
“Photo-curing” method. The single laser beam method is most widely used and include
all the above RP systems with the exception of (2), (11), (13) and (14).
Cubital (2) and Light Sculpting (11) use the masked lamp method,
Two laser beam method is still not commercialized. Rapid Freeze (13) involves the
freezing of water droplets and deposit in a manner much like FDM to create the
prototype.
Solid-Based
 Solid-Based
(7) CAM-LEM’s CL 100
(8) Ennex Corporation’s Offset Fabbers

Referring to the RP Wheel in Figure 1.3, two methods are possible for solid-based
RP systems. RP systems (1), (3), (4) and (9) belong to the Cutting and

Glueing/Joining method, while the Melting and Solidifying/Fusing method used

RP systems (2), (5), (6), (7) and (8).
Powder-Based

In a strict sense, powder is by-and-large in the solid state. However, it is

intentionally created as a category outside the solid-based RP systems to
mean powder in grain-like form. The following RP systems fall into this
definition:
(1) 3D Systems’s Selective Laser Sintering (SLS)
(2) EOS’s EOSINT Systems
(3) Z Corporation’s Three-Dimensional Printing (3DP)
(4) Optomec’s Laser Engineered Net Shaping (LENS)
(5) Soligen’s Direct Shell Production Casting (DSPC)
(6) Fraunhofer’s Multiphase Jet Solidification (MJS)
(7) Acram’s Electron Beam Melting (EBM)
 Powder-Based
(8) Aeromet Corporation’s Lasform Technology
(9) Precision Optical Manufacturing’s Direct Metal Deposition(DMDTM)
(10) Generis’ RP Systems (GS)
(11) Therics Inc.’s Theriform Technology
(12) Extrude Hone’s PrometalTM 3D Printing Process

All the above RP systems employ the Joining/Binding method. The method
of joining/binding differs for the above systems in that some employ a laser
while others use a binder/glue to achieve the joining effect.
 RAPID PROTOTYPING PROCESS CHAIN

FUNDAMENTAL AUTOMATED PROCESSES

Figure : Three types of 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-
Additive/Rapid prototyping processes: such as Stereolithography and Selective Laser Sintering fall into the additive
fabrication processes category.
formative: fabrication processes are: Bending, forging, electromagnetic forming and plastic injection molding.
Process Chain
Additive Manufacturing Process chain
 Additive Manufacturing Process chain
The Eight Steps in Additive Manufacture

1. Conceptualization and CAD

2. Conversion to STL
3. Transfer and manipulation of STL file on AM machine
4. Machine setup
5. Build
6. Part removal and clean-up
7. Post-processing of part
8. Application
 Additive Manufacturing Process chain
The Eight Steps in Additive Manufacture

Step 1: Conceptualization and CAD

• The generic AM process start with 3D CAD information.

• There may be a many of ways as to how the 3D source data can be created.
• The model description could be generated by a computer.
• Most 3D CAD systems are solid modeling systems with some surface modeling
components.
 Additive Manufacturing Process chain
The Eight Steps in Additive Manufacture

Step 2: Conversion to STL

• The term STL was derived from STereoLithograhy.

• STL is a simple way of describing a CAD model in terms of its geometry alone.
• It works by removing any construction data, modeling history, etc., and
approximating the surfaces of the model with a series of triangular facets.
• The minimum size of these triangles can be set within most CAD software and
the objective is to ensure the models created do not show any obvious triangles
on the surface.
 Additive Manufacturing Process chain
The Eight Steps in Additive Manufacture

Step 2: Conversion to STL

• The process of converting to STL is automatic within most CAD systems.

• STL file repair software is used when there are problems with the file generated by
the CAD system that may prevent the part from being built correctly.
• With complex geometries, it may be difficult to detect such problems while
inspecting the CAD or the subsequently generated STL data.
• If the errors are small then they may even go unnoticed until after the part has
been built.
 Additive Manufacturing Process chain
The Eight Steps in Additive Manufacture

Step 2: Conversion to STL

• STL is essentially a surface description, the corresponding triangles in the files

must be pointing in the correct direction; (in other words, the surface normal vector
associated with the triangle must indicate which side of the triangle is outside vs.
inside the part).
• While most errors can be detected and rectified automatically, there may also be a
requirement for manual intervention.
 Additive Manufacturing Process chain
The Eight Steps in Additive Manufacture

Step 3: Transfer to AM Machine and STL File Manipulation

• Once the STL file has been created, it can be sent directly to the target AM
machine.

• Ideally, it should be possible to press a “print” button and the machine should build
• the part straight away.
• However there may be a number of actions required prior to building the part.
• The first task would be to verify that the part is correct.
• AM system software normally has a visualization tool that allows the user to view
and manipulate the part.
 Additive Manufacturing Process chain
The Eight Steps in Additive Manufacture

Step 3: Transfer to AM Machine and STL File Manipulation

• The user may wish to reposition the part or even change the orientation to allow it
to be built at a specific location within the machine.

• It is quite common to build more than one part in an AM machine at a time.

• This may be multiples of the same part (thus requiring a copy function) or
completely different STL files.
 Additive Manufacturing Process chain
The Eight Steps in Additive Manufacture
Step 4: Machine Setup
• All AM machines will have at least some setup parameters that are specific to
that machine or process.
• Some machines are only designed to run perhaps one or two different
materials and with no variation in layer thickness or other build parameters.
• In the more complex cases to have default settings or save files from
previously defined setups to help speed up the machine setup process and to
prevent mistakes.

• Normally, an incorrect setup procedure will still result in a part being built.
 Additive Manufacturing Process chain
The Eight Steps in Additive Manufacture
Step 5: Build Setup

• The first few stages of the AM process are semi-automated tasks that may
require considerable manual control, interaction, and decision making.
• Once these steps are completed, the process switches to the computer-
controlled building phase.

• All AM machines will have a similar sequence of layer control, using a height
adjustable platform, material deposition, and layer cross-section formation.
• All machines will repeat the process until either the build is complete or there is
no source material remaining.
 Additive Manufacturing Process chain
The Eight Steps in Additive Manufacture
Step 6: Removal and Cleanup

• The output from the AM machine should be ready for use.

• More often the parts still require a significant amount of manual finishing before
they are ready for use.

• The part must be either separated from a build platform on which the part was
produced or removed from excess build material surrounding the part.

• Some AM processes use additional material other than that used to make the
part itself (secondary support materials).
 Additive Manufacturing Process chain
Step 7: Post Process

• Post-processing refers to the (usually manual) stages of finishing the parts for
application purposes.
• This may involve abrasive finishing, like polishing and sandpapering, or
application of coatings.
 Additive Manufacturing Process chain
The Eight Steps in Additive Manufacture
Step 8: Application

• Following post-processing, parts are ready for use.

• Although parts may be made from similar materials to those available from other
manufacturing processes (like molding and casting), parts may not behave
according to standard material specifications.

• Some AM processes create parts with small voids or bubbles trapped inside
them, which could be the source for part failure under mechanical stress.
• Some processes may cause the material to degrade during build or for materials
not to bond, link, or crystallize in an optimum way.