Applications
of Rapid Prototyping
(categories
| industries)
Rapid Prototyping models are no longer used
only for design verification.
This is cutting edge technology, which can
be applied to almost every industry. The following
are some industries that use rapid prototyping:
design & engineering, R & D, consumer
products, electronics, aerospace, automotive,
robotics, appliances, telecommunications, orthopedics,
healthcare, dental, foundry, oil & gas,
petrochemical, oil refining, power, marine,
medical, toys and plastics.
Engineering
The parts produced by rapid prototyping systems
are used for several purposes in engineering,
including testing of form, fit and function.
Form testing allows a designer to verify the
CAD design, evaluate manufacturability, and
to get reactions from potential users and customers.
Fit testing verifies that the designed part
mates accurately with adjoining portions of
the final assembly. Form and fit testing are
also frequently and collectively referred to
as "concept modeling."
Functional testing places the rapid prototyping
part in an operating assembly to see if it works.
The limited range of rapid prototyping materials
has restricted functional testing, but this
is improving as higher temperature and more
durable materials are introduced for many of
the technologies. Objects made by rapid prototyping
can also be transferred by means of secondary
processes into final materials for testing.
Aerospace
The aerospace industry has been one of the early
adopters of rapid manufacturing technology.
Parts for aircraft are made in small quantities,
are often complex and must meet stringent requirements.
Price is almost always secondary to function.
This is essentially the definition of a high
value-added application - which is exactly the
type of application that rapid manufacturing
is most appropriate for at present. Parts for
the International Space Station and other projects
were being made as long as several years ago
by Boeing using selective laser sintering. In
2002, the company spun off Boeing On-Demand
Manufacturing (ODM) to independently pursue
the market for rapid manufactured parts. The
company still gets much of its business from
Boeing, fabricating items such as air-ducts
and ventilating components for aircraft. Making
these complex parts in a single piece without
tooling provides significant cost and time-saving
advantages over conventional methods. Applications
will increase over time for both plastic and
metal parts as materials improve and are flight
qualified.
Marine
Marine applications of rapid manufacturing have
some aspects in common with those for aerospace,
and others with those for architectural construction.
From the early days of rapid prototyping, it's
been a goal to provide spare parts for naval
vessels at sea. Early RP efforts in weld deposition
were at least in part driven by this application,
although laser powder forming technologies have
lately received the most attention.
Like aircraft, watercraft are also manufactured
in relatively small numbers and use parts that
can be geometrically complicated. Although the
parts are still costly, marine applications
are not quite at the same lofty high value-added
level as aircraft. Nevertheless, this segment
still offers significant long-term possibilities,
although it may not be quite the market-propelling
force that aerospace applications have been.
Prosthetics and Implants
Prosthetic devices and implants have long been
made using additive fabrication. Early work
used rapid prototyping to fabricate casting
patterns. The production of hip sockets, knee
joints and spinal implants is now a fairly routine
matter. In fact, one of the largest installations
of RP equipment anywhere is the more than thirty
Solidscape machines at Interpore Cross International
used to make casting patterns for spinal implants.
More recently, implants with optimized geometries
have been fabricated directly in high-strength
final materials using advanced processes such
as laser powder forming. Hip sockets made this
way can be expected to last considerably longer
than the typical ten year lifetime of present
devices, providing a better medical result for
younger patients.
The direct fabrication of bone replacements
is under development using several additive
technologies. Selective laser sintering of polymer-coated
calcium phosphate and hydroxyapatite powders
are among the most advanced methods. Three Dimensional
Printing and photopolymer-based methods are
also being investigated. Such structures are
actually tissue engineering scaffolds that provide
a mechanical framework that dissolves away as
real cells and tissue replace it. Additive fabrication
of active bone grafts permits the pore structure
to be controlled and also allows items such
as enzyme inhibitors and diffusion barriers
to be incorporated.
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