BITS Pilani

Pilani Campus

Rapid Prototyping
Sunil Sinhmar, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering
Email: [email protected]
Course: BITS F103 (Engg. Design and Prototype)
Outline
• Classification of manufacturing processes
• Additive manufacturing (AM)
• Generic process steps
• Historical developments
• Pros and cons of AM
• Materials used
• Rapid prototyping
• Different categories of AM technology
• FDM
• SLA
• Stair-case effect

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 Classification of
manufacturing processes
❑ Classification of manufacturing techniques
Most manufacturing techniques can be categorized into three groups:

· Formative manufacturing: best suited for high volume production of the

same part, requiring a large initial investment in tooling (molds) but then
being able to produce parts quickly and at a very low unit price.

· Subtractive manufacturing: lies in between formative and additive, is

best suited for parts with relatively complex as well as simple geometries,
produced at low-mid volumes, typically made from functional materials.

· Additive manufacturing: best suited for low volume, complex designs

that formative or subtractive methods cannot produce, or when a unique one-
off rapid prototype is required.

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Formative manufacturing

In formative methods, the final geometry of the part is achieved

(1) Either by pouring the molten metal into the mold (casting
processes such as sand, lost foam, or lost wax casting etc.) or
(2) By plastically deforming the bulk of material in its solid state (bulk
deformation processes)
such as
⮚ forging,
⮚ rolling,
⮚ extrusion, etc ..

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Subtractive manufacturing

⮚ Subtractive manufacturing is an umbrella term for various

controlled machining and material removal processes that
start with solid blocks, bars, rods of plastic, metal, or other
materials that are shaped by removing material through
✔ cutting,
✔ boring,
✔ drilling, and
✔ grinding.

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Additive manufacturing
❑ Demo for conceptualization
⮚ Additive manufacturing uses data from computer-aided-design
(CAD) software or 3D object scanners to direct hardware to
deposit material, layer upon layer, in precise geometric shapes.
⮚ As its name implies, additive manufacturing adds material to
create an object.
⮚ By contrast, when you create an object by traditional means, it
is often necessary to remove material through milling,
machining, carving, shaping or other means.
❑ CAD/CAM/CAE?
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Additive manufacturing

⮚ Although the terms "3D printing" and "rapid prototyping" are

casually used to discuss additive manufacturing, each process is
actually a subset of additive manufacturing.
⮚ While additive manufacturing seems new to many, it has actually
been around for several decades (early 1980s).
⮚ In the right applications, additive manufacturing delivers a perfect
trifecta of improved performance, complex geometries and
simplified fabrication.
⮚ As a result, opportunities abound for those who actively embrace
additive manufacturing.

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Additive vs. Subtractive
Manufacturing

Fig: Features that represent problems using CNC machining

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 Additive manufacturing
⮚ Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies require:
⮚ 3D modeling software (CAD software, for example solid works)
⮚ Machine equipment (3d printer, SLS machine etc.)
⮚ Layering material (ABS, Metal or ceramic powder)

3 D Printing Process
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334544502_CAN_HUMAN_BEINGS_PRODUCE_EVERYTHING_THE_LIMITS_OF_THE_3D_PRINTERS
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 Additive manufacturing

Generic AM Process:

1. CAD
2. STL convert
3. File transfer to machine
4. Machine setup
5. Build
6. Remove
7. Post-process
8. Application

❑ STL?

What You See Is What You Build (WYSIWYB) Process

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 Generic AM Process Steps
⮚ Step 1: CAD model → Professional CAD software → 3D solid or surface →
describes external geometrical features of the object; reverse engineering
equipment → laser scanner
⮚ Step 2: Convert CAD model file → STL file → All AM machines accept STL
files (default standard)
⮚ STL files describe the external closed surfaces of the CAD model
⮚ Forms basis of calculation of slides
⮚ STL files use triangles (or polygons) to describe surfaces
⮚ Step 3: Transfer STL file to AM machine → some general manipulation may be
required → adjusting position or orientation
⮚ Step 4: AM machine set up → Set build parameters such as material constant,
energy source, layer thickness, injection timing etc.
⮚ Step 5: Build → AM machine automated → only superficial supervision is
required
⮚ Step 6: Removal → Build part is removed → safety interlocks such part
temperature, no moving parts inside the machine
⮚ Step 7: Post Processing → Build part may require additional cleaning, support
feature for weak parts etc.
⮚ Step 8: Use → painting, heat treatment, asembly etc.

*Video BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

 Historical development
Historical development of Rapid Prototyping and related technologies

*Rapid prototyping; Principles and Applications /Chua C.K., Leong K.F. and LIM C.S./World Scientific
Publications
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 Rapid prototyping
1988

Rapid casting
1994

Rapid tooling
1995

2001 AM for automotive

2004 AM for aerospace (polymers)

2005 Medical (polymers jigs and fixtures)

Evolution in AM

Medical implants (metals)

2009

2011 AM for aerospace (metals)

2016 Nano-manufacturing

2017 Architecture

2017 Biomedical implants

2022 In-situ bio-manufacturing

2030 Full body organs

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Pros and Cons of AM

Pros Cons
• Freedom to design and innovate without • Unexpected pre and post processing
penalties requirements
• Rapid iterations without design • High process cost
permutations
• Excellent for mass customization • Lack of industry standards
• Elimination of tooling • Low speed, not suitable for mass
production
• Green manufacturing • Inconsistent materials

• Minimal material waste • Limited number of materials

• Energy efficient • High equipment cost for high end
manufacturing
• Enables personalized manufacturing • --

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Current and Potential
Industries for AM

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Future of AM

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 Additive Manufacturing
Material Groups
❑ Polymers
• •Polymers,
Definition:
such as plastics, come in many different forms (filament, resin, and
• Manufacturing
powder), and their diversity of properties sees them used for a wide range of
applications.

• Polymers in 3D printing are generally divided into thermoplastics and thermosets.

• They differ mainly in their thermal behavior.

❑ Thermoplastics
• Thermoplastics can be melted and solidified over and over again while
generally retaining their properties.
• ABS (Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene), PLA (polylactide), PC
(polycarbonate), and Polyamide (Nylon) are the commonly used thermoplastic
materials. Common thermoplastic products include plastic bottles, LEGO
bricks, and food packaging.

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 Introduction to
manufacturing processes
❑ Thermosets
• Unlike thermoplastics, thermosets do not melt. Thermosets typically start as
viscous fluid and are cured to become solid. Curing can occur via heat, light
exposure, or mixing with a catalyst. Once solid, thermosets cannot be melted
and will lose structural integrity when subjected to high temperatures. Epoxy,
polyurethane, silicone resin, polyimide are commonly used thermosets.

❑ Metal

• Unlike polymers, which are used in various forms (solid filaments, powder,
resins), metal additive manufacturing almost exclusively uses powders. Metal
printing allows for high-quality, functional, and load-bearing parts to be
produced from various metallic powders.
• Particle size distribution, shape, and flowability (the collective forces acting on
individual particles as they flow) are essential properties that govern how
appropriate a metal powder is for 3D printing.

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 Prototype?
• Prototype:
• An approximation of a product (or system) or its components in some form for a
definite purpose in its implementation.
• It is a model or preliminary version.

• Types of Prototypes:
The general definition of the prototype contains three aspects of interests:
(1) the implementation of the prototype; from the entire product (or
system) itself to its sub-assemblies and components,
(2) the form of the prototype; from a virtual prototype to a physical
prototype, and

(3) the degree of the approximation of the prototype; from a very

rough representation to an exact replication of the product.
• The intention of having a physical prototype is to realize the conceptualization of a
design.
• Thus, a prototype is usually required before the start of the full production of the
product.
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 Rapid prototyping
processes
• Rapid prototyping (RP) is a freeform manufacturing process that allows
users fast fabrication of a real physical part directly from a CAD model.
(*freeform indicates the ability of RP to build complex shapes with little
constraint on its form)
• Rapid prototyping / Solid freeform fabrication / Desktop manufacturing
/ Layer manufacturing technology
• It includes a variety of manufacturing technologies, although most
utilize layered additive manufacturing. However, other technologies
used for RP include high-speed machining, casting, molding, and
extruding.
• While additive manufacturing is the most common rapid prototyping
process, other more conventional methods can also be used to create
prototypes.
• The CAD model is sliced into many layers by a software that can also
prepare the part for whichever layered manufacturing machine is to be
used.
• The part is then built layer by-layer without extraneous tools. This
process allows us to quickly build geometrically complex parts.

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 RAPID PROTOTYPING
PROCESSES: Broad Classification

• 10.5937/fmet2001246
Z BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
RAPID PROTOTYPING
PROCESSES: Subtractive
Technology

e.g. CNC machining

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RAPID PROTOTYPING PROCESSES:
Formative Technology

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RAPID PROTOTYPING PROCESSES:
Additive Technology

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RAPID PROTOTYPING
PROCESSES: Process chain

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 Advantages of RP
• Advantages:
• can directly produce functional parts in small production quantities
• some advanced RP systems are able to produce near tooling quality
parts that are close to or are the final shape
• ability to experiment with physical objects of any complexity in a
relatively short period of time (faster design-to-product)
• parts which cannot easily be set up for machining, or have accurate,
large thin walls, or do not use stock shapes to minimize machining and
waste can now be designed (means complex geometry possible)
• can minimize material and optimize strength/weight ratios without regard
to the cost of machining
• can minimize design, manufacturing and verification of tooling, and
hence cost also
• Customization and flexibility

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Limitations of RP

• Limitations:
• Use of dissimilar material
• No reliable data can be gathered to perform FEA (finite element
analysis)
• Soft prototype can not be tested for phenomena that is not
anticipated/accounted for in the computer program
• As such there is no guarantee that the virtual prototype is really
problem free
• Cost of machines and materials
• Limited size of parts
• Surface finish and accuracy issues

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Key aspects of RP
Electronic information to
1. Input describe physical object
2. Material with 3D data
3. Applications
4. Method
The initial state of
material can come in
either solid, liquid or
powder
state.
Additive
Manufacturing

Most of the RP parts are

finished or touched up before
they are used for their intended
applications.

Fig: The Rapid Prototyping Wheel depicting the four major aspects of RP

*Rapid prototyping; Principles and Applications /Chua C.K., Leong K.F. and LIM C.S./World Scientific Publications BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Classification of rapid
prototyping systems
• by the initial form of its material:
• Liquid-based
• Solid-based and
• 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.
• Example: Stereolithography Apparatus (SLA)
• From RP wheel (previous slide): photo curing comes under this category

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 Classification of rapid
prototyping systems
• Solid-Based:
• The solid form can include the shape in the form of a wire, a roll,
laminates and pellets
• Example: Laminated Object Manufacturing (LOM), FDM, etc.
• From RP wheel: Cutting and Glueing/Joining, and Melting & Solidifying/Fusing
come under this category
• 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.
• Example: Selective Laser Sintering (SLS)
• From RP wheel: Joining/Binding method comes under this category
• Some employ a laser while others use a binder/glue to achieve the joining
effect

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STL format

• STL file consists of an unordered list of triangular facets

representing the outside skin of an object.
• In a STL file, triangular facets are described by a set of
X, Y and Z coordinates for each of the three vertices and
a unit normal vector with X, Y and Z to indicate which
side of facet is an object
• There are two formats to the STL file:
• ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange)
• binary format
• The size of the ASCII STL file is larger than that of the
binary format but is human readable.

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 Sample STL file

Fig: A sample STL file

*Rapid prototyping; Principles and Applications /Chua C.K., Leong K.F. and LIM C.S./World Scientific Publications BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Finishing processes

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Application

• Applications of RP can be broadly categorized into three

categories:

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Categories of AM used for RP

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Different AM Processes and
relevant process physics
Vat Photopolymerization
• Vat Polymerization technologies utilize
a photo-polymer resin in a vat that is
cured by a light source. The most
common forms of Vat Polymerization
are SLA (Stereolithography) and DLP
(Direct Light Processing).
• A photopolymer or light-activated
resin is a polymer that changes its
properties when exposed to light, often
in the ultraviolet or visible region of
Vat Photopolymerization Process
the electromagnetic spectrum.

https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/amrg/about/the7categoriesof
additivemanufacturing/vatphotopolymerisation/

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Different AM Processes and
relevant process physics
Powder Bed Fusion
• Powder Bed Fusion technologies utilize a thermal source to induce fusion
between powder particles at a specific location of the build area to produce a
solid part. Most Powder Bed Fusion technologies employ mechanisms for
applying and smoothing powder as a part is constructed, resulting in the final
component being encased in powder.

Selective Laser Sintering Process

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Different AM Processes and
relevant process physics
Direct Energy Deposition
Directed Energy Deposition (DED) allows for the creation of objects by melting the
material (most frequently used for metals such as titanium, aluminum, stainless
steel, or copper) in powder or as a wire with a focused energy source as a nozzle
deposits it on a surface In a DED printer; the nozzle head moves around a fixed
object for depositing the material in specific locations.

Electron
beam

Material (metal)
wire supply
WAAM?
Object

Build platform

Direct Energy Deposition

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Different AM Processes and
relevant process physics
Material Extrusion
• Material extrusion prints using a
string of solid thermoplastic material
(filament), pushing it through a
heated nozzle and melting it in the
process. The printer deposits the
material on a build platform in a
predetermined path, where the
filament cools and solidifies to form
a solid part.
Material Extrusion Process

Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) machines?

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Different AM Processes and
relevant process physics
Material Jetting
Material Jetting is often compared to
the 2D ink printing process. Utilizing
photopolymers or wax droplets that
cure when exposed to light, parts are
built up one layer at a time. The nature
of the Material Jetting process allows
for different materials to be printed in
the same part. This is often utilized by
printing support structures from a
different material during the build
phase.
Material Jetting Process

DOI:10.1039/C8RA03194K
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Different AM Processes and
relevant process physics
Binder Jetting
Binder Jetting is a versatile 3D
Binder droplet
printing technology used for
various applications. Binder
Jetting is the process of
depositing a binding agent onto a
powder bed to form a part, one
layer at a time. These layers bind
to one another to form a solid
part. Binder Jetting can be Binder Jetting Process
separated into two categories:
sand printing and metal printing.

Binder agent: water based, solvent based (with metal,

ceramic powder), polymer, phenolic, etc.

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Different AM Processes and
relevant process physics
Sheet Lamination
Sheet lamination is an additive https://www.mechdaily.com/laminated-object-
manufacturing methodology where thin manufacturing/

sheets of material (usually supplied via

a system of feed rollers) are bonded
together layer-by-layer to form a single
piece cut into a 3D object. Laminated
object manufacturing (LOM) and Consolidation Laser
ultrasonic consolidation (UC) are both roller unit Printed
layers
examples of sheet lamination
techniques.
Moving
platform

Waste
Preform supply Preform take-up

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Technologies in AM

• Different technologies based on AM used to develop

rapid prototypes:
• Stereo lithography/ Photo polymerization process
• Selective laser sintering (SLS)
Powder bed fusion technologies
• Electron beam melting (EBM)
• Fused deposition modelling (FDM)
• 3D Printing (3DP)
• LOM

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Difference between
technologies in AM
• Technique used to create layers
• Techniques of bonding the layers together
• Speed
• Layer thickness
• Range of materials
• Accuracy
• Cost

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FDM

• FDM is popular AM method used to produce three-dimensional objects

by depositing a molten thermoplastic material layer-by-layer.
• FDM is an extrusion based process (constant cross-section area)
• The material must fully solidified an must be bonded to material has
already extruded
• The extruder is vertically mounted on plotting system.
• The extruder head is moved along the required trajectory using
computer control.
• The material is melted using resistance heating at temperature 1 °C
greater than it melting temperature.

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FDM

 Basic principles of FDM system

 Loading of materials
 Liquification of materteral
 Application of pressure
 Extrusion
 Plotting according to predefined
path in controlled manner
 Bonding of material to itself or
secondary build materials
 Inclusion of support structures to
enable complex geometrical
features
Fig: Schematic of extrusion-based systems

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FDM

Fig: Schematic of extrusion-based systems

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FDM

Stability of the process can be maintained, by maintaining

the rate of flow of the extruded molten material with:
 Travelling speed of the deposition head
 The desired thickness of the layer
 Width of the deposited line
Materials used on FDM
 ABS (Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene)
 Other polymers and amorphous materials as they can be extruded
in viscous state
 Amorphous materials have no distinct melting point and they soften
as the temperature increases

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Stereo lithography

• Stereo lithography is also known as photo polymerization process

• Photo polymerization processes make use of liquid, radiation
curable resins, or photopolymers as their primary materials.
• Most photopolymers react to radiation in the ultraviolet (UV) range of
wavelengths, but some visible light systems are used as well.
• Upon irradiation, these materials undergo a chemical reaction to
become solid.
• This reaction is called photo polymerization, and is typically
complex, involving many chemical participants.
• Polymerization of photo monomers is an exothermic reaction (for
example, in acrylate heat released is 85 kJ/mol).

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Stereo lithography

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Stereo lithography

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Stair casing error
• AM process approximates the object with vertical edges.
Stacking layers
does not match the
original CAD model

• Extent of stair casing depends on layer thickness and relative

orientation of the build direction

Less error
Slow built

High error
Fast built
* So, this is a limitation of RP

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Stair casing error

• Strategies to minimizing stair casing error

• Minimizing layer thickness → use thinner layers
• Adaptive slicing
 Adaptive slicing algorithm can vary the layer thickness in relation to local
geometry

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Stair casing error

• Strategies to minimizing stair casing error

• Build time vs adaptive slicing

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Numerical problem
• A part has a height of 60 mm. The printer uses a layer thickness of 0.2
mm and prints 100 layers per hour.
• (a) How many layers are required to build the part?
• (b) What is the total build time?

• A solid cylindrical part of diameter 40 mm and height 50 mm is to be

printed.The material density is 1.2 g/cm³.
• (a) Find the volume of the part.
• (b) Find the material weight required.

• A part is printed using a Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) process

with a layer thickness (h) of 0.1 mm. The inclined surface of the part is
at an angle (θ) of 45 degrees with respect to the build platform.
• What is the vertical rise (height) of each individual "stair" on the
surface?
• What is the horizontal distance (width) of each individual "stair" on
the surface?
• If a total of 100 layers are printed, what is the total vertical
displacement of the surface relative to the start?
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Thank you

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