How Does Rapid Prototyping Work?

Rapid prototype  or rapid prototyping technology  is a relatively new term and in its simplest form, the process of creating prototypes quickly to visually and functionally evaluate an engineering product design.

 

Rapid prototyping is faster and a more cost-effective method compared with conventional prototyping. To learn more about rapid prototyping, here is a article discussing how it works.

 

 

Rapid Prototyping Mainly Involved Areas

There are 4 primary areas for the development of rapid prototyping:

 

1.Input

Input refers to describing the physical object with 3D data. Its starting point can be a computer model or physical model. A computer model is created by a CAD system while the physical model requires data acquisition through "reverse engineering".

 

2.Method

The method that is employed by each Rapid prototype  business is classified into different categories:

1.Photo-curing

2.Cutting and gluing/joining

3.Melting and solidifying/fusing and joining/binding

 

3.Materials

The initial state of the prototype material can be either in solid state, liquid state or powder state. It can also be in the range of paper, nylon, wax resins ceramics and metals.

 

4.Applications

Rapid prototyping  applications can be grouped into design, engineering, analysis and planning, tooling and manufacturing. Rapid prototyping can also benefit various industries such as in aerospace, automotive, biomedical, electrical products, etc.

 

 

How Does it Work?

Rapid prototyping  includes a variety of manufacturing technologies, although most utilise layered additive manufacturing. However, other technologies used for RP include high-speed machining, casting, moulding and extruding.

 

Rapid prototyping technology  includes a variety of manufacturing technologies, although most utilise layered additive manufacturing. However, other technologies used for RP include high-speed machining, casting, moulding and extruding.

 

While additive manufacturing is the most common rapid prototyping process, other more conventional processes can also be used to create prototypes.

 

These processes include:

Subtractive - whereby a block of material is carved to produce the desired shape using milling, grinding or turning.

 

Compressive - whereby a semi-solid or liquid material is forced into the desired shape before being solidified, such as with casting, compressive sintering or moulding.

 

Rapid prototyping technology is a new technology that integrates advanced technologies such as computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), computer numerical control (CNC), precision servo drive, laser and materials science.

 

Rapid prototyping  does not have to use traditional processing machines and tooling, and can directly manufacture product samples or molds with only 30% to 50% of the time and 20% to 35% of the cost of traditional processing methods. Through rapid prototyping technology, design ideas can be transformed into functional models automatically, directly, quickly and accurately. Applying rapid prototyping technology to the company's new product development process can greatly shorten the development cycle of new products, ensure the time-to-market of new products, and improve the rapid response of enterprises to the market.

 

Rapid prototyping can also reduce the cost of new product development; timely discover product design errors, make early mistakes, early changes, avoid changing the large losses caused by subsequent processes, and improve the success rate of new products into production. Therefore, the application of rapid prototyping technology has become an important strategy for the development of new products in manufacturing.