39-245
Rapid Design through Virtual and Physical Prototyping

Carnegie Mellon University
Spring 1997

Rapid Manufacturing
Processes at University and R&D Labs

Layered Systems

• Photochemical Machining/Formigraphic Engine: Battelle
  Photochemical Machining, a process similar to SLA but still under development, uses two intersecting laser beams to form a three-dimensional prototype out of a photopolymer block. (Mtiac)
  See also:
  Article http://mtiac.hq.iitri.com/MTIAC/pubs/rp/rp47.htm

• ShapeMaker II The University of Utah: http://stress.mech.utah.edu/home/novac/rp.html
  A new rapid prototyping technique is being developed at the Manufacturing Processes Laboratory at the University of Utah that allows engineers to create full scale physical prototypes of their large scale designs literally over night. Where existing RP machines are limited to models that fit within a 30" x 30" x 20" volume, Shapemaker II is capable of producing models with cross sections up to 4 feet by 8 feet with length relatively unlimited. Prototypes are constructed in layers from inexpensive sheets of thermoplastic foam that can vary from 1/4" to 2" thick. The accuracy of the prototype is improved by cutting angled edges onto each layer so that each layer is an exact match to the model at both the bottom and the top surface.
  See also:
  Process Overview http://stress.mech.utah.edu/home/novac/sm2.html

• Landfoam Topographics
  Landfoam Topographics has patents on technology similar to Helisys. Landfoam's system features colored layers and selectively applied adhesives. The selective adhesion facilitates an easier means of breaking away the excess material. (Needham, MA)
  See also:
  Article http://mtiac.hq.iitri.com/MTIAC/pubs/rp/rp37.htm

Sintering Systems

• Freeform Powder Modeling Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute http://cat.rpi.edu/~rocks/FPMOverview.html
  See also:
  Pointers to papers http://cat.rpi.edu/~rocks/PUBS/SFF95-FPM-Abstract.html

• Robot Fusion Welding: Universidade do Minho in Guimaraes, Portugal http://www.uportu.pt/~fernando/rp.html
  
  

• Selective Laser Reaction Sintering (SLRS): University of Connecticut http://www.ims.uconn.edu/~hmarcus/
  SLRS is a hybrid process that mixes the efforts of selective laser sintering (SLS) and gas phase SFF. A powder bed is selectively melted under a laser beam, with the melt then reacting with the controlled gas environment to form the desired product upon cooling/sintering.
  See also:
  Pointers to papers http://www.ims.uconn.edu/~hmarcus/info.htm#program

• Selective Laser Sintering: University of Texas http://lff.me.utexas.edu/sls.html
  Selective Laser Sintering starts with a thin, evenly-distributed layer of powder. A laser is then used to sinter only the powder that is inside a cross-section of the part. The energy added by the laser heats the powder into a glass-like state and individual particles coalesce into a solid. Once the laser has scanned the entire cross-section, another layer of powder is laid on top and the whole process is repeated.
  

Deposition Systems

• Shape Deposition Manufacturing: Carnegie Mellon and Stanford Universities http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~sdm and
  http://www-rpl.stanford.edu/
  Shape Deposition Manufacturing (SDM) is a rapid manufacturing process for high performance parts. SDM can produce fully functional heterogeneous prototypes made from metal, ceramics or plastics. To date the main applications are multi-material metal tooling and conformable embedded electro-mechanical structures.

• Fused Deposition of Ceramics (FDM): Rutgers University http://www.caip.rutgers.edu/sff/
  The objective of this effort is to effectively demonstrate the viability of this Fused Deposition of Ceramics (FDC) procedure and develop the associated technology to manufacture functional components of advanced ceramic materials. We estimate that this effort will lead to a halving in the number of steps required in component manufacture while reducing the prototype fabrication time at each iteration to a matter of weeks.

• Printed Computer Tomography (PCT): Texas Instruments
  The system under development is very similar to BPM's. This system has a one- foot-cube work envelope, and is purported to have a building speed of one layer per minute. (Mtiac)
  See also:
  Article http://mtiac.hq.iitri.com/MTIAC/pubs/rp/rp44.htm

• Electrosetting: U.S. Navy
  See also:
  Article http://mtiac.hq.iitri.com/MTIAC/pubs/rp/rp45.htm

• Shape Melting: Babcock & Wilcox
  Shape melting is a process by which molten metal is incrementally deposited and cast to build a part. The method primarily uses gas metal arc welding technology to deposit metal and robotic equipment to control the positioning. (Mtiac)
  See also:
  Article http://mtiac.hq.iitri.com/MTIAC/pubs/rp/rp48.htm

• Three-Dimensional Printing (3DP): MIT http://web.mit.edu/afs/athena/org/t/tdp/www/
  Three Dimensional Printing is a manufacturing process for the rapid and flexible production of prototype parts and tooling directly from a CAD model. 3D Printing can reduce the time to market for new products, lower product cost by reducing the cost of tooling, and improve product quality by better coupling between design and manufacturing.
  See also:
  Article http://mtiac.hq.iitri.com/MTIAC/pubs/rp/rp49.htm
  

• Ballistic Particle Manufacturing: Incremental Fabrication Technologies
  The company is developing a similar system to ballistic particle manufacturing, however in this case the system focuses on metal materials.
  See also:
  Article http://mtiac.hq.iitri.com/MTIAC/pubs/rp/rp43.htm

• Gas Phase Deposition: University of Texas at Austin http://lff.me.utexas.edu/
  Gas Phase Deposition is a solid free-form fabrication (SFF) technique in which a reactive gas is decomposed either pyrolytically (by heat) or photolytically (by photon interaction) to build three-dimensional shapes. The shapes grow from the solid decomposition products of the gas precursor in the pattern determined by the scanning laser. The technique shares much with conventional chemical vapor deposition (CVD), but also has many unique advantages including much higher deposition rates and high selectivity.
  

• Direct Light Fabrication: Los Alamos National Laboratory:
  The system appears similar to Laser Shape Deposition at Stanford, except here the part is not machined and undercuts are done by tilting the part.
  

• Rapid Thermal Prototyping: Tufts University http://www.tufts.edu/as/tampl/me/rapid.html
  The current experimental setup involves a moving x-y table, with a stationary plasma torch and digital wire feeder. Stainless steel wire is being used as the weld material deposited on a steel base.

• Selective Area Laser Deposition (SALD): The University of Connecticut: http://www.ims.uconn.edu/~hmarcus/
  SALD is a gas phase method for depositing solid material from the interaction of a directed laser beam and various gas precursors inside a vacuum chamber.
  

• Selective Area Laser Deposition Vapor Infiltration (SALDVI): The University of Connecticut: http://www.ims.uconn.edu/~hmarcus/
  SALDVI a SALD related method that utilizes the solid deposition product from the gas phase reaction to infiltrate the porous spaces in a powder bed. (The University of Connecticut)

• 3-D WELDING: University of Nottingham, UK
  See also:
  Article http://www.cranfield.ac.uk/aero/rapid/PROCEEDING/dickens1.html

• IPA (software) and IFAM (materials): Multiphase jet solidification (MJS)
  MJS is an extrusion-based process, similar to Fused Deposition Modeling methodology that extrudes metal or ceramic slurries using metal injection molding technology.
  See also:
  Article http://itri.loyola.edu/rp/p1_ipa.htm

• Multi-Jet Modeling: 3D Systems http://www.3dsystems.com/
  System is currently under development. Once completed it should be a simple procedure of submitting a print or a plot to a hardcopy device, and the deliverable will be a three-dimensional plot.
  See also:
  Company Info http://www.3dsystems.com/library/edge/117insit.htm

Machining

• CyberCut -- http://kingkong.me.berkeley.edu/cybercut/
  CyberCut is a World Wide Web Based Design to Fabrication Tool. The system has three parts: a CAD system built on Destructive Solid Geometry principles in which the design process is carried out in anticipation of the downstream manufacturing processes; a planning system with access to a knowledge base containing the available tools and fixtures; and an open architecture machine tool controller that can receive the high level design and planning information and carry out sensor-based precision machining.

[Return to Rapid Design and Manufacturing Resources on the Web]

sfinger@ri.cmu.edu