Information About Laser Sintering Rapid Prototype Service

It's not a great secret that SLP was started as SLS since 1999. To the best of our knowledge, the owerview of this major rapid prototype manufacturing method went very well. We can securely suppose that a few years later, several laser sintering rapid prototype machines are producing plastic parts of a constantly growing size and for an ever-growing range of applications.

You should also keep in mind that selective laser sintering can be applied in every step of the product development cycle, from the fabrication of one-shot prototyps to functional test parts and small manufacturing series.

Actually, laser sintering is proper for larger amounts of components, even for group of 50 to 100 pieces and more. It is critical to note that laser sintering is also a method by which parts are built layer by layer. In addition, the main material contain of powder with element sizes in the order of magnitude of 50 μm. If we are making a deeper analysis of this problem, successive powder layers are spread on top of each other. Afterwards, after deposition, a PC controlled CO2 laser ray scans the surface and selectively binds together the pulverize particles of the corresponding cross sector of the creation.

It is very important to take into account that for the period of laser contact, the powder temperature rises above the glass transition point after which adjacent particles flow together and this procedure is named sintering.

As far as my private practice can be taken into account, SLS is the perfect solution for such types as fully functional models with mechanical properties analogous to those of injection molded parts or series of small components as a cost-effective alternative to injection molding or great and complex functional parts up to 700×380x580 mm in one piece or even for the design of complex, exclusive, personalized designs built as once-only products or in small batches. If you think to use laser sintering, you wouldn't be unhappy as this method is fast, inexpensive, it produces durable and practical, as well as large and complex parts. Also, it is possible to complete direct production of small quantity projects and there is a design liberty as well as a wide range of final degrees.

As a matter of truth, this method may deal with several types of materials. Along with the most accepted is polyamide. Undoubtedly you have to pay serious attention to the fact that being a solid material, the powder has the attractive function of being self-supporting for the generated product sections – this makes supports redundant. There is also a need to mention that the polyamide material permit the fabrication of fully functional rapid prototype with high mechanical and thermal resistance.

The other material is glass-filled polyamide. The thing is that the use of polyamide powder filled with glass particles (has a much higher thermal resistance and is normally applied in functional tests with aggresive thermal loads. And, finally, alumide is also commonly used. As far as this issue is concerned, alumide is a blend of aluminium powders and PA powder, which permit non-porous, metallic-looking components to be machined incomplex and is resistant to aggresive temperatures.

Rapid Prototype Models From 3D to Plastic in Less Than an Hour

Permit me ask you: what would you think if you hear that you will generate a part on a PC and then you will hold and evaluate that half 45 minutes later? As a matter of reality, it's not just my imagination – it's a reality! What would are unbelievable several years ago is now well established technology due to three-dimensional rapid prototype printers build it possible.

You need additionally to stay in mind that there is a method of creating prototypes involved 1st creating 2-dimensional drawings of a half and then taking those drawings to a model maker to form the prototype. This plays a important role, the model maker would initial have to correctly interpret the drawings, and then a process for making the prototype was identified. To the best of our data, once the half was created, the engineer ought to examine and live the part carefully to create certain that it fell inside the specifications on the drawings. We have a tendency to have every reason to believe that if it did not pass inspection, the half would wish to be modified or scrapped and the entire method would begin everywhere again.

However currently there's an alternative to the current method: imagine taking the same part that took days or perhaps weeks to make and having it in your hand in 45 minutes. The process is kind of incomplex: a part is made digitally on a pc using 3D modeling software. As way as it's ready, the file is then saved in a common format and sent to a 3D printer. The other useful thing to feature is that the printer builds the half one skinny section at a time from the bottom up putting water soluble supports in where necessary.

Really, it takes from 20 minutes to many hours to complete relying on the scale and difficulty of the part. What's more important, the part is off from the printer, placed in a very detergent solution to dissolve the supports, rinsed, dried, and is back in the engineer's hands on the identical day. In addition, it should be additionally said that the dimensional accuracy of the part is in fractions of a millimeter, thus most elements do not require further measurement and verification.

It's no nice surprise that it virtually sounds too good to be true. Not to mention, these printers have become relatively cheap in recent years, and whereas there are still some expensive models, of course, there are very useful 3D printers that are relevantly not expensive.

Therefore, to form long story short, the process of making the rapid prototype doesn't take long as to the time, material, and labor savings and your money would be paid off terribly fast. To sum up, 3D printers are by way one among the most intriguing components of digital rapid prototype, and the printer build the part one layer at a time quietly.

Rapid Prototype Manufacturing Review

Tapping into the growth means working at space-age speed, making prototypes of connectors or other wiring harness parts with a computer-guided rapid prototype machine that lays down thin layers of plastic or rubber over numerous passes, like an ink-jet printer producing a photo.

Automakers aren't quite ready to start making Jetson-type flying bubbles, but they are cramming today's vehicles with electric motors to power wheels, sensors to deploy airbags and entertainment devices to allow adults to survive a cross-country trip with children.

Connecting the electronic gadgets are as many as 2 1/2 miles of electrical wiring that, along with 600 plastic connectors and as many as 2,000 wire terminals, all weighing as much as 132 pounds - much of it coming from Delphi Packard Electric's Customer Technical Center in Champion.

''Demand will grow like crazy as we go to electric motors. That will drive the need for more connectors and wiring from Delphi. We want to be a part of that growth,'' Chris Burns, director of global innovation for Delphi Corp.'s Electrical/Electronic Architecture division, said last week.

So do Delphi Packard's hourly production workers. Tom Krolopp, shop chairman of International Union of Electrical Workers-Communications Workers of America Local 717, said the tech center provides more work for his 665 members, who make plastic connectors, metal terminals and electrical cable used to assemble wiring harnesses.

''Look at the projects for all-electric cars. They need a lot of wiring and plastics,'' he said.

Since the auto supplier's exit last October after four grueling years in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Delphi Packard is counting on its patent-producing corp of engineers at Champion and five other tech centers worldwide to keep it in the forefront of an auto industry that's moving away from strictly oil-based fuel to hybrid or total electrical power.

''We can turn ideas into parts you can hold in your hand in hours,'' said Jerry Rinehart, supervisor of the rapid prototyping and CT scanning department.

It means developing thinner, lighter wiring, allowing automakers to fit harnesses into smaller vehicles, boosting fuel efficiency while still stocking them with navigational systems, computer ports and other electronic content that customers are demanding.

The division became one of 28 finalists worldwide for the prestigious 2010 PACE award for its environmentally friendly ultra-thin wiring wrapped in halogen-free coating that makes it recyclable, thus keeping it out of landfills.

The 0.13 millimeter-squared, or 26 gage, wire is the thinnest that can still be plugged by hand into connectors. Thinner wires require a special machine that Delphi Packard also has developed to make the connection.

About 200 engineers, technicians and other workers at the center on Research Parkway N.W. are welcoming the challenges.

''We're tireless here in trying to stay in the forefront of technology. We want to become the technology leader'' in automotive electrical and electronic architecture, Senior Project Engineer Bob McFall said as he showed off the center's process lab, a factory-like setting where engineers run through a complete manufacturing process, from cutting electrical cable to length to producing the final harness as fast as a 1 1/2 days.

''We don't have the traditional lead time; that's what drove Delphi to invest in this area,'' Burns said.

The lab also gives Delphi tools worldwide to develop cutting-edge wiring and sensor systems for future hybrid gasoline-electric and all-electric vehicles.

Delphi engineers have been working alongside their Chinese counterparts in Champion on prototypes of 10 wiring sets for an all-electric vehicle for CODA Automotive of Santa Monica, Calif.

The sedan, which will be built in China for sale in California later this year, is projected to have a range of 90 to 120 miles. Delphi will supply key electronic and high-voltage parts, along with a multiservice antenna.

With its six technology centers -Champion and the Wuppertal, Germany, center are the largest - Delphi can offer customers global cooperation for engineering-intensive projects, Delphi spokeswoman Rachelle Valdez said.

Some of the ideas the tech center is studying verge on the Jetson-like future. Burns said engineers are looking at ways to charge an electric vehicle's batteries wirelessly.

''There could be a mat in a restaurant parking lot where the vehicle could be charged while the people were eating in the restaurant. The cost would be added to their bill,'' he said.

A conventional approach would be to take surfaces and ideas from aerodynamicists, convert them into either rapid prototype parts or scale models of the sort of parts that you see on the race cars, and then put on a very large scale wind tunnel model and test them in a wind tunnel. In our case, our system involves taking those shapes and instead of making model parts we actually essentially mesh them and create an extremely sophisticated computer simulation, consisting of hundreds of billions of cells in a CFD model and essentially flowing digital wind, if you like, over this model in a variety of different simulations in a variety of different conditions.

Methods and systems for rapid prototyping of high density circuits

A preferred embodiment provides, for example, a system and method of integrating fluid media dispensing technology such as direct-write (DW) technologies with rapid prototype (RP) technologies such as stereolithography (SL) to provide increased micro-fabrication and micro-stereolithography.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention also provides, for example, a system and method for Rapid Prototyping High Density Circuit (RPHDC) manufacturing of solderless connectors and pilot devices with terminal geometries that are compatible with DW mechanisms and reduce contact resistance where the electrical system is encapsulated within structural members and manual electrical connections are eliminated in favor of automated DW traces. A preferred embodiment further provides, for example, a method of rapid prototyping comprising: fabricating a part layer using stereolithography and depositing thermally curable media onto the part layer using a fluid dispensing apparatus.

1. A method of rapid prototyping a part, the method comprising: fabricating a first part layer in a stereolithography apparatus; registering the first part layer on adirect-write apparatus; depositing a first trace of direct-write compatible media onto the first part layer; curing the first trace of direct-write compatible media deposited on the first part layer; registering the first part layer on thestereolithography apparatus; and fabricating a second part layer on top of the first part layer.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising curing the first part layer, prior to depositing the direct-write compatible media.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising creating an electrical interconnect.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising building three-dimensional (3D) circuits.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein fabricating a second part layer includes encapsulating the direct-write compatible media.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising: registering the second part layer on the direct-write apparatus; depositing a second trace of direct-write compatible media onto the second part layer such that the second trace and the first traceare operatively connected; curing the second trace of direct-write compatible media; registering the second part layer in the rapid prototyping apparatus; and fabricating a third part layer on top of the second part layer.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising inserting one or more pilot devices into the part.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of curing is accomplished with a device selected from the group consisting of: a ultraviolet light source, a particle bombarder, a chemical sprayer, a radiation impinger, an ink jet, an oven, a fan, apump, a curing device, a drying device that incorporates convection, conduction and/or radiation heat transfer and any combination thereof.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the direct-write compatible media is selected from the group consisting of: inks, conductive inks, curable inks, curable media, conductive fluids, electronic inks, conductors, insulators, semi-conductivematerials, magnetic materials, spin materials, piezoelectric materials, opto-electronic, thermoelectric materials, radio frequency materials, ultraviolet curable resins, controlled reaction materials, precursor fluids, metal-organic liquids, solutions,suspensions, sol-gels, nanoparticles, colloidal fluids, thermoplastics, extrudable materials, thermosets, 2-part epoxy materials and any combination thereof.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the part layer is fabricated by a material selected from the group consisting of: a stereolithography resin, a radically polymerizable organic compound, a cationically polymerizable organic compound, apolyether, a polyol compound, an elastomer particle, a curable ink, a photopolymer resin, a photopolymer powdered material, a hydrogel and any combination therefore.

The present invention relates to the general field of rapid prototype (RP), and methods and systems of dispensing fluid media such as direct-write (DW) technologies.

Medical plastic molding

SIMPOE SAS, headquartered in Torcy, France, is a French software developer specializing in Medical plastic mold simulation solutions. SIMPOE SAS announced today the immediate availability of its new Simpoe-Designer medical plastic simulation software product line. Simpoe-Designer is a stand-alone version of SIMPOE flagship product Simpoe- Mold, but which also includes its own embedded CAD kernel.

Besides the traditional advantages brought by all SIMPOE products: ease of use, speed and affordability, Simpoe-Designer brings two major benefits to plastic parts product designers, manufacturers and mold makers:

The ability, in addition to IGES , STEP and STL formats, to read most CAD model files in their native formats: SolidWorks, Pro/ENGINEER, Acis, Parasolid, Autocad Inventor, UG, Solid Edge, etc.

The ability to directly modify the geometry, to assess the impact of model changes on the part manufacturability, and therefore optimize the part and its manufacturing process, without having to go back to the original CAD model each time.

The Simpoe-Designer software family includes four modules:

Simpoe-Designer FILL, the base package, to simulate complete part filling, including temperature fields and pressure curves, weld lines, air traps, etc. Simpoe-Designer FILL also includes SIMPOE powerful pre-and post processing technology, as well as the 5000+ material data base, which can be also customized with a few clicks.

Simpoe-Designer PACK, for packing simulation.

Simpoe-Designer COOL, for complete thermal exchange regulation. Cooling channels and cooling surfaces, even with complex shapes, can be directly created in Simpoe-Designer.

Simpoe-Designer WARP, which, in addition, simulates the complete part deformation due to warpage and material shrinkage. The deformed model information can be linked to structural analysis codes, such as Abaqus, for further part mechanical analysis.

Alain Dubois, SIMPOE’s President & CEO: "The introduction of the Simpoe- Designer product line is another important step forward towards the implementation of our strategy to democratize Medical Plastic Injection Simulation. Besides the ease of use and speed that characterize SIMPOE solutions, we now offer the possibility to read most popular CAD files in their native format ,avoiding the tedious file translation task. In addition, everyone involved in the product development process, from the product designer to the mold maker or the part plastic mould manufacturer, will now directly be able to explore new alternatives, assess the impact of part modification, and make his/her own suggestion to speed up product development and part optimization. Simpoe-Designer is a great tool to liberate creativity, improve communication and efficiency of the collaborative development process at – a SIMPOE trademark- always a very affordable price."

About SIMPOE SAS

Laureate of several innovation prices SIMPOE SAS, headquartered in Torcy, France, is a French software developer specialized in Medical plastic molding simulation solutions. Simpoe-Mold software allow significant costs savings of physical mold prototypes, material cost optimization as well as a drastic reduction of the time to market of new products.

Easy to use, easy to learn and affordable, Simpoe-Mold softwares are targeted to the rapid prototype mold specialist as well as to the mechanical Engineer who, in a collaborative product development approach, wants to take into account plastic parts manufacturing constraints early in the product design stage. Simpoe-Mold is THE missing link to implement a true Collaborative Product Development policy in the plastic industry.

Moulding Experts Look to Pulsed Heating

For some in the plastic mold industry, attempting to maintain a constant temperature regime within what is essentially a cyclical production process means accepting compromised results. A number of engineering teams are working right now across Europe on technologies that use cyclical thermal regulation to improve the quality of demanding plastics mouldings.

The latest to demonstrate its capabilities is an engineering team at the Kunststoff Institut L?denscheid, which demonstrated its Indumold induction mould heating technique in production of a black ABS structural foam bottle opener at the Fakuma show last autumn.

Running on a Wittmann Battenfeld 110 tonne HM machine, the process was applied to one surface of the mould to yield a high gloss finish in place of the usual porous and swirled structural foam surface. The high gloss surface was achieved by keeping the mould surface close to the polymer melting point during filling to delay the onset of freezing, followed by rapid cooling of the filled mould cavity.

In the Indumold process, this is achieved through the use of induction heating coils integrated into the mould together with two separate conformal cooling circuits, which are positioned close to the mould cavity surface to achieve very fast response. During the filling stage, a high temperature water circuit maintained at 60C provides background control, while integrated induction heaters capable of lifting the temperature of the mould surface to 330C within six seconds provide almost instant additional heat input. Once the mould is filled, a second water cooling circuit maintained at 20C cools the part.

KIMW project partner Wittman Battenfeld says the high gloss foamed mouldings achieved using the Indumold technology provide higher rigidity and lower weight than compact alternatives and also eliminate visible knit lines. The traditional structural foam benefits of freedom from sink marks and warping in thick sections are maintained. Cycle time is "slightly longer" than conventional structured foam technology, the company points out.

The Indumold technology comes out of a long standing project carried out at KIMW that initially looked at induction heating to speed up and enhance thermosetting plastic moulding. This has since been applied to thermoplastics moulding and some 20 partner companies are now involved in the project.

While most companies are reluctant to acknowledge the use of the technology for competitive reasons, KIMW manager for moulded part surface technology Jorg Gunther says that Siemens in Bochum has a small number of Indumold tools producing cordless phone parts. And a number of automotive OEMs are also said to be benefiting from the process in serial production.

Induction heating coils can be either integrated into the mould, as is the case with the Indumold demonstration, or can be introduced into the open mould after part removal to heat the mould surface. The latter technique is used by Roctool in its Cage induction heating system, the latest injection moulding version of which was demonstrated at the PEP plastics technology centre in Oyonnax in France in October last year.

The Roctool Cage process has also shown that dynamic heating and cooling processes - some have coined the name "varioform" - deliver extremely good surface reproduction, whether the surface is polished or textured.

Roctool founder and CEO Alexandre Guichard says that there are equipment differences between the Roctool Cage system demonstrated in Oyannax and KIMW's Indumold induction heating system. However, he says Roctool has a number of patents covering induction heating of injection moulds. "We are waiting to see how it [Indumold] develops before discussing the IP [intellectual property] situation," he says.

Austrian machinery maker Engel has also been looking at cyclical mould heating technologies. The company's process analysis manager Josef Giessauf says that dynamic temperature control of the mould cavity during the injection moulding cycle to achieve a high tool temperature during the injection part of the cycle and a low temperature during the cooling phase through the use of either separate or common heating and cooling channels, is certainly not new.

"It has been known for around 20 years that knit lines can be avoided if the tool surface temperature is kept close to the glass transition or crystalline melt temperatures," he says.

In a presentation given at last year's VDI injection moulding conference in Baden-Baden, Giessauf outlined a number of alternative electrical "variotherm" processes.

The use of low cost electrical heating cartridges has not been very successful due to difficulties of control and short lifetime, he says. More success has been achieved using flat electrically conductive sintered ceramic elements located in the mould close to the cavity surface. These elements can achieve heat densities of up to 150 W/cm2 and surface heating rates of up to 20C/s. However, they can only be applied to relatively flat parts.

While the induction heating technologies used by Roctool and KIMW also provide heating rates of up to a 20C/s, Giessauf says they are limited with regard to generator performance, which restricts potential in large part applications. Obtaining even temperature distribution with curved 3D parts is also difficult.

Giessauf says short wave infra-red (IR) radiation provides an alternative option for variotherm processes. The company claims to have overcome the challenge of effectively heating highly polished tools using IR by applying a special IR-absorbing coating to the cavity. Further improvements can be made by employing a spring-mounted cavity insert in the tool. This lifts away from the cooled mould base as the tool opens to provide an insulating air gap.

Using commercially available 40 W/cm2 IR heaters, Giessauf says that a 13C/s heating rate can be obtained on such a coated tool compared to 6C/s for an uncoated high gloss surfaced tool. This heating rate is broadly similar to the that achieved using steam heating in a close contour (conformal) mould, he says, yet cooling is faster due to the reduced heated mass. Investment cost can also be lower, as the IR method does not require pulse cooling or emptying of cooling channels.

However, Giessauf says there is a disadvantage over systems that integrate the source of heat within the mould as the IR heating cycle cannot start until the mould opens. Engel's solution to this has been to trial a double insert approach, where the heat is applied at the rear of the insert using one or more IR radiators mounted above the moving platen.

The inserts are indexed to the heating stations using an arrangement similar to multi-component moulding. This eliminates the need for robotic handling of the radiator, as well as the need for a heat absorbing coating on the mould surface to be heated.

In Asia, steam heating and cooled water is used to cycle mould temperatures for production of large high gloss parts such as TV frames, and this is becoming more popular in Europe. UK-based Gas Injection Worldwide markets a steam heated technology. It estimates there are around 400 steam heating installations in operation, principally in China, South America and Eastern Europe, producing mouldings for TVs.

GIWW claims that its Rapid Temperature Cycling (RTC) process provides improved surface finish, reduces filling pressures and eliminates weld lines. It claims to have improved ease of use of the steam technique through development, together with Oxford Moulding Technology and the universities of Oxford and Swansea, of a new controller which regulates introduction of steam, compressed air and cooling water to enable RTC to used with a single set of media channels.

Giessauf believes considerable progress has been made in the past few years in the detail and implementation of variotherm technologies. Aside from the introduction of alternative electrical heating techniques, this has included improved ability to manufacture close contour 3D cooling channels. This has helped reduce cycle times and energy consumption.

Meanwhile, he says users are realising that the available technologies deliver more than just improved surface finish. As a consequence, Giessauf believes variotherm rapid prototype moulding will be more widely utilised in the future but he says it is difficult now to predict which of the various methods may win out.

Five Reasons to Consider Aluminum Rapid Prototype Tooling

Today many original rapid prototype equipment manufacturers are under tight restraints, such as cost, new product development and time-to-market, giving mold builders an enormous opportunity to develop the necessary technology to support today's plastic mold industry.

The use of aluminum plastic mould is getting the attention it deserves because of its many benefits. Due to its qualities, many projects are better suited for aluminum verses steel alloys. Complex designs, tight tolerances, high aesthetic finishes, unfilled/filled resins and production volumes can all be achieved with aluminum materials without compromising quality. The term production quantities is highly subjective and incorrectly used to only imply steel tooling. Review the following five reasons to consider aluminum:

1. Cost Savings: Tooling

Aluminum tooling is a low-cost alternative to steel tooling for lower production quantities up to 1,000,000 shots. Case hardening can produce even higher quantities beyond 1,000,000. Additional cost savings on the tooling investment are realized through faster machining efficiencies because aluminum cuts faster and easier than steel. A cutter for high-speed CNCs last longer on aluminum verses steel. EDM is usually faster in aluminum and polishing as well. Although the cost/lb. of aluminum is greater than steel, the actual cost of the material is less due to its weight.

2. Design Validation

Learning how the design and resin selection will perform in a production environment with greater freedom and less restraints garner significant benefits. Many product designs are hampered with the lack of experience and knowledge to do it right the first time in production. When using aluminum, complex designs and hard-to-fill resins can and should be considered to sanction the final concept. Design enhancements are also fast and cost-effective, when needed. Education on the front side of production from a prototype tool speeds the final production tool to full manufacturing.

Mold: one cavity aluminum/P-20 prototype, one cam containing three lifters, rack and gear-driven unscrewing core; built in three weeks. Part Type: is Luer connecter valve housing, internal mechanical Luer thread, resin is medical grade clear polycarbonate. Photo courtesy of Phoenix Proto Technologies.

3. Time-to-Market

Due to faster cutting and overall manufacturing of aluminum, leadtimes will be reduced by several weeks. Too often, designs from OEMs take several weeks/months with deliveries of first-off parts that are behind schedule already. With the improved throughput efficiencies of aluminum, there are substantial cost savings in bringing the product to market, as well as a decrease project risk because of economic volatility.

4. Product Savings

With aluminum's greater thermal conductivity, processing is usually easier. Faster process cycle times increases profits and improves available capacity. Typically, faster cycles times are achieved through a more efficient flow of resin. Aluminum molds actually heat up and cool down faster than steel molds, which equates to cost savings. Oftentimes, lower injection pressure can be used to fill aluminum molds, which is reflected in less machine wear, mold wear and electrical costs—savings that are passed on to the customer.

5. Product Quality

Aluminum's natural thermal conductivity reduces hot spots and cool spots in the mold, which in most cases translates into a more stable processed part. The flow of resin is normally faster and more consistent, which can produce a higher quality part resulting in less scrap.

In addition, where heat deformation affects critical design tolerances, dimensional stability is achieved allowing complex plastic mold designs a greater success.

Plastic Mold electronics could slash solar panel costs

Princeton University engineers have developed a new technique for producing electricity-conducting plastic mold that could reduce the costs of manufacturing solar panels.

The plastics offer a low-cost alternative to indium tin oxide, an expensive conducting material currently used in the panels, according to the researchers. Translucency and malleability properties are also good.

"Conductive polymers have been around for a long time, but processing them to make something useful degraded their ability to conduct electricity," said Yueh-Lin Loo, associate professor of chemical engineering at Princeton University, who led the research team.

She added: "We have figured out how to avoid this trade-off. We can shape the plastics into a useful form while maintaining high [electrical] conductivity."

The research holds promise for producing new types of electronic device and new ways of manufacturing existing technologies, but has been hampered by an anomalous loss of electrical conductivity associated with mouldable plastics.

"People didn't understand what was happening," said Loo, who co-wrote the paper. 'We discovered that in making the polymers mouldable, their structures are trapped in a rigid form, which prevented electrical current from travelling through them."

Once they understood the underlying problem, Loo and her colleagues developed a way to "relax" the polymer structure by treating it with an acid after they were processed into the desired form. They were then able to make a plastic transistor using a low-cost printing technique.

The Princeton findings were published online in the March issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Loo said the rapid prototype technique could potentially be scaled up for mass production: "This is a big deal. You could distribute the plastics in cartridges the way printer ink is sold, and you wouldn't need exotic machines to print the patterns.

Creating a Rich Synthesis of Plastic Mold Products Solutions

Rapid prototype Shenzhen Companies will often base their new mold product specifications on their lab scale work with research-grade reagent chemicals in the lab. These self-imposed, tentative standards may not be feasible on a commercial scale but, frequently, provisional as they may be, these specifications take on the weight of authority and nobody remembers why.

A major component of the innovation process, applicable to new chemicals, is the appropriate product specification and the techniques by which they are to be measured. Unnecessarily tight specifications may limit the market because of excessive costs while inappropriate specifications may allow a process to be scaled-up and commercialized before it's ready.

A recent example of tentative specifications drawn too tightly comes from the development of a process to manufacture a novel cosmetics ingredient. The original lab work, performed in 100-ml. lab glassware, employed high purity reagent chemicals and produced a high purity product after high-temperature distillation.

Unfortunately, a slow but steady decomposition at the necessary distillation temperature produced a highly undesirable and irritating byproduct. By changing the stoichiometry of the synthesis, using an excess of a reagent commonly employed in formulations that would include this product, the distillation step could be eliminated, increasing the yield and reducing cost.

Because the tentative specification had been prematurely communicated in product literature, the client was forced to delay acceptance of a change until its customers had agreed. Not only was the client saddled with the associated higher costs, but it was unable to meet the initial demand for its new product.

"If you gear your process to making a high purity product, you've got to ask yourself: 'What is the cost to meet this level of purity?' Sometimes it is best if the question is deferred and the answer postponed to the end of the development process," Ritchie said.

A flexible alternative

The traditional straight line, stage-gate approach to development has been the industry standard for many years. We believe the innovation process can be enhanced by using a cyclical process where multiple solutions, shepherded by a multi-disciplinary team, move through the development stages.

Outsourcing offers a flexibility that is essential to introducing new ideas, throughout the development process — creating a rich synthesis of solutions. By outsourcing work to the appropriate facility, rapid prototype Shenzhen companies will find that they can achieve a reduction in the time to market and the risk of failure while realizing a lower "real" cost of development. To learn more about product development and the Concept to Commercialization process.

The Best Features of Rapid Prototype Product Development Method

The method has a number of key distinctions: Unlike traditional, linear models of rapid prototype product development, it's a cyclical process where one cycle inputs into the next and where a variety of solutions move repeatedly through a range of stages. It integrates rapid prototype and multidisciplinary teams to allow numerous, and nearly simultaneous, iterations.

Inspired, in part, by approaches and techniques commonly employed in food industry test kitchens, this method requires a devoted team, incorporating all appropriate disciplines and allowing a broad range of process options for comparison and contrast as to efficacy, scaling and suitability.

This method typically postpones confirmation of a concept until several iterative cycles have been conducted, to preserve flexibility and to allow incorporation of new ideas into a synthesized set of solutions. Traditional approaches frequently focus early on a preferred outcome rather than permitting the open consideration of alternatives.

In rapid prototype, numerous potential processes may be evaluated and ranked for strengths and weaknesses. Experimental work and iterative prototype testing determines the right combination of conditions for each potential stage or step in the process. By combining unit processes that are most promising, a new process train can be defined, installed and tested, incorporating the best attributes and practices of the variations considered. And, of course, as with tasting in a "test kitchen," the product is sampled, analyzed and tested without delay.

Why outsource development?

Companies outsource work for many reasons, often expecting to reduce costs and time to completion or to resolve resource availability issues. Sometimes the reason is safety, secrecy or anticipated production problems.

Many companies presume that cost is the easiest factor to assess and, consequently, they allow the purchasing department to evaluate the decision to "make or buy" developmental services. Unfortunately, many purchasing executives lack the information for an in-depth analysis and understanding of all relevant costs and risks. For example, in comparing the "price" quoted by an independent facility to an internal "budget," a purchasing executive may ignore critical risk factors or competition for internal resources simply because that information is not presented to him.

Some companies have saved millions of dollars by employing outsourced facilities to take the risks in scale-up, notable among them, firms in the pharmaceutical industry. There are several examples in our database where the world's foremost experts in a particularly narrow field of chemistry learned to their horror that the impossible does occur.

In one memorable case, a client company assured us that its fluorinated product was entirely stable and couldn't damage our all-glass, high-vacuum distillation system. The glassware was replaced. Had this work been performed in the client's facility, the notoriety and delays in incident investigation and equipment replacement might have had disastrous consequences for other products and work scheduled in their facility.

"There are so many constraints for companies — some initially unforeseen — in new product development," says Mike Keenan, a retired senior chemist from Exxon who has worked and consulted on a number of projects at Pressure Chemical. "Since many companies are committed to existing technologies, it's difficult for them to have the equipment, capital and, sometimes, the mindset to develop new products and processes efficiently. And companies vary in their strengths. Some are superb at taking someone else's process and making it more efficient and effective. Others are better at discovering a new process from scratch. In any event, outsourcing certain stages of the product development process can bolster total development efforts," according to Keenan.

"You need to develop new products outside of the typical constraints of manufacturing, preferably where you can brainstorm for ideas with operators, chemists, mechanics, engineers and regulatory specialists," Keenan added. "You need to be in a place where change is anticipated and facilitated, not where change requires sign-off at several levels and can take weeks or months."

Changing equipment and process procedures are germane to the development process. "Unanticipated issues arise during scale-up; it's common to change equipment and conditions midway through the development process, even during the course of a reaction" said Brandon Ritchie, a senior project manager at Pressure Chemical. "It's much easier to change something in a well equipped pilot plant than in a client's production facility. Safety, flexibility and speed are everything in process development," he added. Pressure Chemical's project leaders are given full authority to accept client initiated changes in equipment and operating conditions so long as the change conforms to defined safety requirements.

For example, a new client project required some dramatic modifications to the distillation of a high melting monomer. The attempted distillation resulted in a lot of freezing in the process piping. The problem was solved by injecting an appropriate solvent into the overhead to deliver the product as a solution. "We had the ability to modify the equipment quickly and to develop a new, highly successful process for the distillation," Ritchie said, adding that this preserved the delivery schedule for the product.

Regulatory issues

Large rapid prototype Shenzhen companies are well aware of the impact of federal, state and local regulatory issues in product and process development. Smaller companies, especially ones that do not manufacture novel chemical products, may be totally unaware of the regulations affecting new chemicals. An independent pilot facility that specializes in innovative materials maintains an awareness and working knowledge of the rules, limitations and regulations impacting its customers' development efforts. For those without the internal regulatory capability, an early consultation with an independent pilot facility should at least identify regulatory issues.