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.

Outsourcing Rapid prototype Innovation Development

A new development method may allow breaking away from the pack as rapid prototype Shenzhen companies continue to employ outsource facilities that offer flexibility and foster innovation.

Innovation, whether through the development of new products or processes, has become crucial for companies in virtually every industry. New technology holds the key to competitive advantage and, perhaps, survival.

For manufacturers, the problem is particularly acute because of the ease with which competitors can outsource production. No longer can mature companies, with established manufacturing bases, count on an economy-of-scale advantage as a barrier to entry from new competitors.

Pressure longxiang-ltd.com has worked with hundreds of customers from the large multi-national corporations to small entrepreneurial start-ups, applying unique configurations of equipment and extensive chemical expertise. These efforts have often resulted in new products, processes and, at times, new business segments for the client company. As expected of developmental projects, however, many failed to produce a successful innovation, though, in retrospect, a large number of the attempts did yield substantial savings for the sponsoring client. Early "failures" have prevented a company from making large investments in a process that wouldn't work as anticipated or in a product that couldn't meet the performance and economic needs of the marketplace.

"We've been able to observe scores of successes, near misses, and failures — the entire range of potential results," says Larry Rosen, CEO of Pressure Chemical. "In an effort to improve our own internal processes, we began to examine the data closely and realized that we had learned to do things in a new and different way, having seen the best and the worst of all the organizational processes used by our customers." With the help of an outside consultant, Droz and Associates, we cataloged our new products and processes that illustrated a variety of circumstances, parameters and goals. The consultant found that our method was a radical departure from traditional budget-driven, stage-gate approaches.

Although attempts have been made to improve the traditional method, such as the CPM (Critical Path Method), a joint venture between DuPont and the Remington Rand Corp., the approach was flawed. The Japanese, perhaps driven by their respect for W. Edwards Deming, evolved a step-gate method that looks back periodically to correct the trajectory of a project. Still, something was lacking.

Droz helped us to conceptualize the approach in a graphic manner that illustrates the central distinction of this cyclic route from the traditional straight-line approach. The key benefits of this novel approach, which we call Concept to Commercialization (rapid prototype), are reduction in time, cost and risk, akin to a hat trick in hockey, according to Rosen.

The goal of a recent project, undertaken for a major international manufacturer, was the hydrogenation of a polymer for use in high-capacity data storage. This client chose to outsource the project because of the diversity of appropriately sized equipment available in our facility. The base polymer had been produced by the client in its large continuous production facility and the scope of work was limited to hydrogenation. Unfortunately, market testing of the target product revealed that its properties failed to meet expectations. Because it wasn't feasible to interrupt commercial production to produce small quantities of differentiated precursors for further work, the client faced abandonment of the project.

In discussions centered upon future windows of opportunity to process additional samples, the client was introduced to the variety of Plastic mold resources and interdisciplinary team of specialists that could be assembled to move the project forward without substantial delay. The proposal presented to the client expanded the scope of work to include creation of a small polymerization system and synthesis of the triblock coRandpolymer precursor. Within three weeks, the project was back on track and demonstrating the best features of the nascent Method.

Obvious Characteristics of Injection Plastic Mold

Plastic mould, Rapid prototype, and other types of comparison, rapid prototype Shenzhen mold with five distinctive features, as follows:

Cavity and three-dimensional surface cores were:

Plastic parts of the external and internal shape of the cavity and core by direct molding, these complex three-dimensional surface machining more difficult, particularly within the molding cavity surface of the blind pass processing, if the traditional processing methods, not only require workers with high technical level, supporting more than fixtures, cutting tools, and that the processing of long period.

Long process to create a tight schedule:

Mold expert Luo Baihui that, for injection molded parts, the other parts are mostly composed of a complete package of products, and in many cases are in other parts have been completed, eagerly awaiting the injection molded parts of the package listing. Because of the product shape or size precision is high, And because of the characteristics of different resin 材料, mold manufactured, you may need repeated 地 tryout and revision, enabling developers and the delivery time very nervous.

Remote design and off-site manufacture:

Mould is not the ultimate goal, but the final products made by the user design, mold making factory according to user requirements, design and manufacture of molds and in most cases, the products of production are also other manufacturers of injection. This resulted in product design, mold design, manufacturing and product production off-site is proceeding.

Professional division of labor, the dynamic combination of:

Mold production volume is small, generally belong to a single piece of production, but the mold needs a lot of standard parts, large mold, small thimble, they can and can not be completed by only one manufacturer alone, and manufacturing process complexity, general equipment and CNC devices use very uneven.

For general mold cavity design and manufacturing cycle of constructed feature-based injection mold cavity design and manufacturing systems. The system uses interactive features of the library based on feature recognition methods to identify the characteristics of products, the establishment of product feature model. By undercut features were distinguished to determine the direction of optimization parting, and to determine the parting line and parting surface.

Mold cavity parting surface segmentation method to obtain the template. Rapid prototype Shenzhen Also made the mold cavity feature extraction algorithm to extract The characteristics of the mold cavity, the mold cavity and the manufacturing strategy formulation. The results show that the system could effectively reduce the mold cavity design and manufacturing cycle, to speed up the process of mold development.

Rapid prototype Mold Industry Outlook and Trend Analysis

In recent years, steady and rapid economic development, stimulating rapid growth in fixed assets investment, China Mould market demand. As the industry improve its competitiveness and national policy support, domestic rapid prototype Shenzhen mold industry output value and sales revenue for many years to maintain the growth rate of 20%. Die Network CEO, Shenzhen Institute of Deputy Secretary-General Luo Baihui mold technology recently introduced to the Dongguan Daily News the latest developments in the mold industry.

1, mold development prospects of the industry

1, mold market prospects in China

Mold applications continues to expand, the field has been applied to the mold that the larger and higher demand of industrial development to mold faster than the speed of development of other manufacturing industries has become a universal law, mold the world market demand, in recent years, the market total has been between 600 ~ 65 billion U.S. dollars, while China's export was not mold to 8%, "during" can expand this share, and with the development trend of economic globalization has become more evident, mold manufacturing industry gradually China and the multinational corporations to transfer mold our country has become more evident towards the procurement of foreign and private capital to continue to favor China's mold industry, China's mold industry more opportunities than challenges, the future market prospects of international mold, China mold is still large room for development.

2, mold product market and increase their competitiveness

At present, China is facing the technological advantages of the developed countries and developing countries, the dual pressures of price advantage. Industrial countries die with its technological and business strengths, in the high-end molds a competitive advantage, as they are gradually entering the country, the mold industry in China becomes a tremendous challenge; India, Thailand and Eastern European countries in recent years, industrial mold developed very rapidly and the price of its mold also has a strong competitive advantage, China's mold industry, the cost and price advantage will gradually weaken and eventually disappear. Luobai Hui said that China must die enterprises technology, management and personnel training efforts, and actively introducing foreign advanced mold manufacturing technology to enhance the ability of high-end product development die, adjusting product structure mold, mold products, continuously improve our international competitiveness.

3, mold growth rate of industry

China's national economy in the "Eleventh Five-Year" period will continue to maintain relatively fast growth rate, to the mold industry, the development of a reliable macro support. Automotive, IT, electronic information, household appliances, OA office equipment, machinery and building materials industry, aerospace, mold needs are large power tools, home appliances and electronic information industries only example of a refrigerator Xu Yong mold about 150 parts , requiring a total of about 350 sets of molds; a need for automatic washing machine more than 150 sets of molds; one air conditioner, only to be 20 sets of plastic mold; die each model takes more than 30 sets of computers, along with its matching printer need to die more than 20 single deputy; also notebook computer, the network will have tens of millions of units set-top box market. As much as the current models developed abroad, mold import more, as China developed its own capabilities in this regard will be greatly increased demand for mold. China's mold industry can be expected in a good macro environment of rapid development.

4, mold industry opportunities and challenges

On the one hand for the mold industry, domestic and international situation provides an unprecedented development in the development of space, while the other mold will also face more intense competitive challenges, in addition to international competition, at home, Xiaoshan, Shanghai and Shenzhen, will develop mold industries, such as Xiaoshan You into the mold company's annual sales revenue reached 2 billion, as Friends of the Japanese professional mold factory mechanic's wholly-owned enterprises, mainly engaged in automotive and appliance dies production, is currently being planned for the support of Xiaoshan City Hong Kong GEM; Huangyan mold industry in management, equipment, technology has also been taking the forefront in the province; mold more than 30 million annual production value of Wenzhou City, is preparing the further development of the mold industry, the five leading enterprise jointly set up mold Constant Field mold company 200 million yuan investment mold built based technology centers were the focus of government support; once the dominant player in the country mold industry in Shanghai, want to revive the former glory of the Shanghai Municipal Economic Commission, the main control center is in full swing mold to build an area of 1,500 acres, modern industrial park will soon die show in front of people; Suzhou New District proposed building a high level with international standards of modern industrial base mold the idea of an area of 2,000 acres ; South China University and the Guangdong Fonda Group signed an agreement, prepared to die city of Changan Town, Dongguan City, played an important cause of mold in southern China R & D base; Shenzhen City in the industrial structure adjustment, the clear will die as the head of the advanced manufacturing industry, investment about 6 billion yuan industrial park building mold; invest 5 billion yuan in Chongqing to build China's largest, highest standard of automobile, motorcycle mold industrial park, planned in 2035, the annual output value of 3.0 billion; Shantou Plastic Machinery Mould total annual output value of over 10 billion yuan, currently about plastics, machinery and related tooling enterprises with 3,000, most of the companies complete the introduction of Germany, France, Italy and Taiwan, the region's new CNC mold processing equipment, greatly improved product performance and quality grade . There are a number of other provinces and cities in China (Nanchang, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Xi'an, Dalian, Yantai, Shandong, Hebei Botou) have to seize our country is becoming a "world factory" great opportunity to create molds Park, brewing industry further escalation of the mold.

Second, analysis of industry trends mold

1, mold market globalization, the mold further reduce the production cycle

Mold the globalization of markets is the most important features of today's mold industry is one of the mold buyers and manufacturers all over the world, the globalization of the development of tooling industry to the production process is simple, low precision mold processing enterprises to the technology is relatively backward in productivity than Countries with low migration, mold manufacturing enterprises in developed countries are located in the production of high levels of mold, mold manufacturing enterprises have to face global competition, manufacturers have to die while doing everything possible to speed up the production progress, efforts to simplify and abolishes necessary to the production process, the mold production cycle will be further reduced.

2, Die CAD / CAM to the integration, intelligence, and network development

More complete software modules, while the function module using the same data model and implement integrated management and sharing of information, support mold design, manufacturing, assembly, inspection, testing and production management of the entire process. Some series software includes a surface / solid geometric modeling, engineering drawing complex geometry, advanced rendering industrial design, mold design expert system, complex physical CAM, artistic design and sculpture automatic programming system, reverse engineering system and the complex physical-line measurement system ; mold design, analysis, manufacturing three-dimensional technology, paperless new generation of software to three-dimensional mold, intuitive sense to design the mold, using three-dimensional digital model can be easily used in the product structure of the CAE analysis, mold can produce evaluation and CNC machining, forming process simulation and information management and sharing; the same time as competition, cooperation, production and management of globalization and internationalization, and rapid development of computer hardware and software technology, network Shide Zai die industry virtual design, agile manufacturing technology both necessary and possible.

3, mold technology to high speed machining, hard milling and compound machining direction

With the precision mold to develop in the direction of and large, ultra-precision finishing technology over 1μm and collector, chemical, ultrasonic, laser processing technology integrated with the composite mold in the future will have broad prospects. High-speed machining to the workpiece surface was smooth, save processing time, typically only a step away from 0.0254mm, and sharp point only 0.001mm high, after the majority of high-speed machining of the workpiece surface is very smooth, no fitter further processing. Currently, machine tool manufacturers are keen on the production process and the specially designed high-speed machining center, high-speed processing technology in the United States to reduce or eliminate fitter process is a considerable efficiency measures, this technology in Europe and Japan popular. In addition, hardening of the material processing with a full mold cavity mold processing industry is another important trend. High spindle speed and a small tool radius cutting carried out by the formation of mildly enough torque, can be used to process up to 64HRC hardness of metal materials, because no need for heat treatment, conventional heat treatment and tempering after the offset caused by the heat treatment carried out by the geometric deformation of grinding also do not need, and the technology in Japan, the acclaimed, now in the United States has also been a lot of attention and positive spread in Europe.

With the rapid development of new technologies, foreign countries have emerged mold automatic processing system that the rational combination of multiple machines, with accompanying positioning fixture or positioning disk, a complete equipment, tools and CNC numerical control database synchronization system of flexible with real-time quality monitoring and control system.

4, mold will be large, precision, standardization direction

On the one hand increasingly large part of molding and to improve production efficiency development of "a multi-cavity mold," led to mold growing large, the other electronic information industry, medicine, rapid development has brought parts of miniaturization and precision, some tolerance precision mold requires less in the 1μm. Another multi-functional composite mold will develop further, in addition to the new multi-functional composite mold Stamping parts, also responsible for layers, tapping, riveting and assembly tasks such as locking, to further improve production efficiency.

Mold standard parts used in developed countries generally cover about 80%, as China's mold industry, mold will enhance standardization, standardization will be further enhanced mold, mold standard parts of the application and production in the "Eleventh Five-Year" will be greater during the development.

5, the hot runner mold species, mold and adapt to the high-pressure gas-assisted injection molding direction

Mold with hot runner technology can improve productivity and quality of workpiece, and can produce significant savings of raw materials, many foreign plastic mold factory produced more than 50% of plastic molds using hot runner technology, and some have more than 80% The effect is obvious; Gas-assisted injection molding with injection pressure is low, Warpage small, good surface quality and easy-to-wall forming larger products, such as differences in advantages in the premise of ensuring product quality and substantially reduce costs; high-pressure injection molding of resin shrinkage can be forced to increase the dimensional stability of plastic parts; another injection compression molding technology, enables forming a small piece of local internal strain can be less thick Molding shrinkage, while the narrow components for plastic parts can also be injected resin, and used a small injection of power to get good products, these technologies are gradually promoting the use of.

6, very broad prospects for rapid economic mold

Many varieties of small batch production era, people asked mold production cycle as short as possible, so rapid economic development of mold will have broad prospects. Expected in the 21st century, with various superplastic materials to produce molds with epoxy, polyester, or in which the filler metal and glass reinforcement and making simple molds and other production means the ratio of total industrial production will reach 75%. Rapid economic mold include rapid prototyping, surface forming tooling, casting forming tooling, extrusion mold technology and ultra-molded shape, multi-point forming technology, KEVRON steel blanking blanking tooling , mold blank rapid manufacturing technology.

7, high-quality mold materials and advanced surface treatment technology attention

Due to improper selection and use of materials, causing premature die failure, which accounts for more than 45% failure die, so choose the appropriate application of high-quality steel and surface treatment technologies to improve the life of the mold is very important to improve the purity of steel, isotropic , the density and uniformity, and development of more high-performance or performance of a special mold steel, mold steel specifications development, expansion of other high-quality mold materials such as carbide, ceramic materials, composite materials, the application of such a major research focus; use aluminum alloy for mold materials to shorten the molding cycle, reducing die costs, will be faster in the rapid economic development of mold.

Mold surface is the main trends: the infiltration of a single element to the multi-element penetration, complex permeability development, from the general diffusion to CVD, PVD, PCVD, ion penetration, the direction of ion implantation, etc., can be used in the coating are: TiC, TiN, TiCN, TiAlN, CrN, Cr7C3, W2C, etc., while heat means heat from the atmosphere to the development of vacuum heat treatment. Currently laser strengthening, glow plasma nitriding and electroplating (plating) enhanced anti-corrosion technologies are also more and more attention.

8, auto, IT development impact the electronics industry market sentiment dies

China imported the first negative mold growth, mold industry by the "one large and one small" pull, the development of really good the last two years. "A major" refers to the automotive industry, automobile industry refers to not only vehicle, as well as automotive components, such as the United States at present in China for the first time the second largest auto parts exporter, which means that China's auto mold market has played an irreplaceable role. Its rapid development of mold plays an important role in driving, "a small" refers to the IT electronics industry. Die in 2006 for the 2.047 billion U.S. dollars of total imports, 2.068 billion U.S. dollars in 2005 reduced the 21 million U.S. dollars, for the first time negative growth, stopped the momentum of the expansion of imports increased every year; exports totaled 1.041 billion U.S. dollars, more than an increase of 41.06 percent in 2005, for the first time over 10 billion dollars and imports to reduce the deficit down, is very gratifying.

9, the mold need to further adjust the industrial structure

Although the mold industry and previous years has made significant progress, but there are still many problems. For example, the phenomenon of irrational industrial structure still exist. Structure, including product mix, technological structure, import and export structures, there are different degrees of problems. For example, in the import and export structure, due to the mold design and manufacturing standards and capabilities can not meet the market demand, therefore, die every year a large number of imports, especially high-end products. In 2006 the import and export stamping die, if by weight, priced at 14,913 U.S. dollars / t, and 5,869 U.S. dollars / t, much higher than the import export; while for plastic rubber mold, in 2006 imports and exports were 413,715 units and 1,217,772 units, exports is far greater than imports, while the unit is very different from the poor: the import price of 2532 U.S. dollars / set, the export price 602 U.S. dollars / set, a difference of four times, although the export volume was nearly 3 times the amount of imports, but still below the total amount of imports . That we are still importing large quantities of high quality molds, exports are dominated by middle and low. Therefore, in the long run, the rationalization of import and export trends should be expanded exports and reduce imports, making exports more than imports. Obviously, this also needs to want to be a period of time.

10 management companies restrict the development of mold

Unlike mold manufacturing process management product management, it is the face of unit production of the mold industry, and how digital information management, is very learned. If the mold is not a scientific management, dynamic management approach, we can not guarantee orderly mold manufacturing, rapid prototype Shenzhen mold supplier in time. Meanwhile, each company's mold products are different, so they need individual management. Those who do well die business, they have a set of unique, for their own management, but that too few companies. Luobai Hui pointed out that the mold business if we do not focus on management development will not continue, and this has seriously constrained the mold enterprise development bottlenecks.

Rapid prototype From The Virtual To The Physical World

Virtual prototyping is becoming a cost-effective method used in testing new products and systems. It is an integral part of current rapid prototype Shenzhen methods wherein virtual designs created from computer aided design (CAD) or animation modeling software are used and then transformed into cross sections in a still virtual environment.

A special machine is then used to create each virtual cross section in then takes physical form layer after layer until an identical prototype model is created. The whole process enables the virtual model become a physical model with corresponding identical features.

In the additive fabrication of virtual prototypes, the rapid prototyping (RP) machine reads the data from a CAD drawing, and forms successive layers of liquid or powdered material according to the virtual data received. It slowly builds up a physical model from a series of cross sections.

These different layers, which match up to the virtual cross sections created from the CAD model, are then glued or fused together to create the final three dimensional prototype model.

All the rapid prototyping technologies in current use have many things in common. All make use of additive processes. Rapid prototyping makes use of additive construction as the means of creating solid prototype objects which has the distinct advantage of creating almost any shape or form that even the best machining and tooling methods may not be able to achieve. During the ensuing development, virtual prototyping goes through a number of stages that eventually turns designs into fully testable three dimensional models.

All the rapid prototyping machines being used slowly form the three dimensional models by putting together thin, two-dimensional layers one at a time. The three dimensional manifestation of the virtual design is formed from the bottom up. Models are formed on an elevator-like platform from virtual CAD designs. The platform is lowered a layer-height at a time once a layer is completed. The thinner the layer, the smoother the finish will be on the completed prototype model. Once the model is completely formed, it may be sanded, plated or painted, depending on material used.

Rapid prototyping technologies can either be a "dry" or a "wet" process. Most machines create prototype models by solidifying some sort of loose powder, liquid, or semi-liquid material. A machine may be able to cut through adhesive-coated sheets of prototype fabrication material. The dry powdered materials can either be some sort of polymer, powdered metal, or wax. Some machines may even be able to use starch as the building material for forming the prototype model.

Some of the powders used may also require a binder. The liquid materials mainly used are usually photosensitive polymers that solidify when exposed to either a laser or ultraviolet (UV) light. Wet rapid prototype Shenzhen methods generally require a curing phase.

Fast Pace Rapid prototype Services

Rapid prototype Shenzhen, otherwise known as desktop manufacturing, additive fabrication, solid freeform fabrication, three dimensional printing or layered manufacturing, has always been in the forefront of development and design.

By quickly creating prototypes that are similar to form and function as the actual production unit, developers are able to create a product that meets the expectations of consumers and project sponsors.

Through a combination of rapid prototyping methods and traditional model making, high quality prototypes can be created with less the expense and quicker turnaround times.

Compared to traditional fabrication methods like milling and turning, rapid prototyping is way better in terms of accuracy, speed and quality. By using rapid prototyping techniques complex and intricate shapes can be formed without any complicated machine setup, prototypes can be created from different types of materials or composites, and the process simplifies the whole process of creating a prototype.

Because of the advantage it brings, rapid prototyping services are being offered by companies to engineers and system developers to better understand their product and communicate better with their target clientele. Not only does the technique used by designers, developers and manufacturers, but professions like surgeons, architects, artists and even mere individuals regularly utilize the technology.

Among the services being offered are stereolithography, selective laser sintering or SLS, fused deposition modeling of FDM, laminated object manufacturing or LOM, inkjet-based systems and three dimensional printing or 3DP.

SLS is one of the most used tools in rapid prototyping techniques. In SLS rapid prototyping, a CO2 laser is used to melt powdered thermoplastic materials to create layers. A scanner guides the laser and melts specific areas and materials based on the information fed by the 3D CAD.

Prototypes created from SLS processes are strong and more tolerant to stress. Materials used in the market include DuraForm, CastForm, Somos 201, FR85A and LaserForm. Most of the prototypes created from these materials are usually ready to be used and only require minimal clean up and finishing.

In LOM, on the other hand, uses a paper sheet with one side laminated with adhesive. The laser cuts the outline on the paper sheet. This process does not involve any chemical reaction which makes it cheaper and large parts can be made.

Stereolithography or SLA creates rapid prototype Shenzhen part layers through the use of a solid-state laser. The 3D CAD data guides the laser as it cuts through the surface of a container which normally contains liquid photopolymer material.

Rapid Prototype China Mold Industry News

In recent years, steady and rapid economic development, stimulating rapid growth in fixed assets investment, China Plastic Mould market demand. As the industry improve its competitiveness and national policy support, domestic Plastic mold industry output value and sales revenue for many years to maintain the growth rate of 20%. Die and Mould Technology, Shenzhen Institute of Deputy Secretary-General Luo Baihui Dongguan Daily News recently detailed the latest developments in the mold industry.

Auto, IT electronics industry mold market economy development impact

China imported the first negative mold growth, mold industry by the "one large and one small" pull, the development of really good the last two years. "A major" refers to the automotive industry, automobile industry refers to not only vehicle, as well as automotive components, such as the United States now become China's first second-largest auto parts exporter, which means that China's auto mold market has played an irreplaceable role. Its rapid development of mold plays an important role in driving, "a small" refers to the IT electronics industry. Total imports in 2006 Die 20.47 billion U.S. dollars 2.068 billion U.S. dollars in 2005 reduced the 21 million U.S. dollars, for the first time negative growth, stopped the momentum of the expansion of imports increased every year; exports totaled 1.041 billion U.S. dollars, more than an increase of 41.06 percent in 2005, for the first time over 10 billion dollars and imports to reduce the deficit down, is very gratifying.

Die need to further adjust the industrial structure

Although the mold industry and previous years has made significant progress, but there are still many problems. For example, the phenomenon of irrational industrial structure still exist. Structure, including product mix, technological structure, export structure, there are different degrees of problems. For example, in the import and export structure, due to the mold design and manufacturing standards and capabilities can not meet the market demand, therefore, die every year a large number of imports, especially high-end products. In 2006 the import and export stamping die, if by weight, priced at 14,913 U.S. dollars / t, and 5,869 U.S. dollars / t, much higher than the import export; while for plastic rubber mold, in 2006 imports and exports were 413,715 units and 1,217,772 units, exports is far greater than imports, while the unit is very different from the poor: the import price of 2532 U.S. dollars / set, the export price 602 U.S. dollars / set, a difference of four times, although the export volume was nearly 3 times the amount of imports, but still below the total amount of imports . That we are still importing large quantities of high quality molds, exports are dominated by middle and low. Therefore, in the long run, the rationalization of import and export trends should be expanded exports and reduce imports, making exports more than imports. Obviously, it also requires some time wanted to work.

Die enterprise development management constraints

Unlike mold process management product management, it is the face of the mold unit production industry, and how digital information management, is very learned. If the mold is not a scientific management, dynamic management approach, we can not guarantee orderly mold manufacturing, mold supplier in time. Meanwhile, each company's mold products are different, so they need individual management. Those who do well die business, they have a set of unique for their own management, but that too few companies. Luobai Hui pointed out that if the mold companies do not focus on management development will not go on, it has become a bottleneck restricting the development of enterprises mold problem.

City Government strongly support the building of mold

Since mold requires supporting the development of the product itself the characteristics of these years there were many places in China Mould City or Die Industrial Park, attracted everyone's attention. Luobai Hui said the park should die overall planning, dislocation development, make their own special characteristics. After a few years of development, indeed the city has developed some mold very good. For example, Hengli Town, the mold is very distinctive city: city of these enterprises into the mold, they are not forced to focus on a circle of walls, but the distribution in the zone, the only relatively concentrated, but enjoy the local Government policies to mold the park. Those hard to move together to pursue some form of mold park practice, not only is not conducive to enterprise development, on the contrary, conditions returned to the relocation of enterprises do not have to add many burdens. Luo Baihui that mold the city should fully reflect the cluster effect, the Government should lead the mold itself, supporting the development of upstream and downstream supply chain. For example, into the park's southern stamping die mold Union, had been at the location on the government's preferential policies to support Hengli, metal mold company in China and Thailand, driven by 12 companies shared the park, the establishment of automotive industrial park. Government support is the establishment of the healthy development of enterprises in the mold based on the work, indeed for the enterprise, rather than engage in face-saving projects, such companies would be welcome, would be more meaningful.

Association to play a bridging role between government and enterprises Die

As a bridge connecting the government and enterprises, mold Association has been kept hard at work. Tooling Technology Institute, Shenzhen, through the organization of exhibitions, stage shows to corporate structures; organization of technical exchange, so that more businesses learn the international advanced mold manufacturing technology; hold seminars to help companies find a way out, and ways of coping with the market, promote the progress of industry; through a "mold of key enterprises" in the election assessment, training a group of key backbone enterprises.

In addition, the Institute every year of the association named the National New Technology and New Products recommended to do the work, so that has been selected on the CAST enterprises to enter the field of vision, and enjoy some special policies, benefit the development of enterprises.

As association staff, often to the grassroots, to visit enterprises, to listen to the voice of enterprise, understand business needs, guide enterprises to put forward constructive ideas, for business and industry to do a lot of real things, make associations in the rapid prototype Shenzhen industry authority to improve. Today, the Association is anxious enterprise needs, like companies are thinking, digital information management work in the promotion.

Plastic Mold Parts Grinding Technology

A Plastic mold surface grinding of the technical requirements

1.1 Plastic mold surface grinding of technical indicators

Precision machining and Plastic mold machining precision represents the different stages of development, usually classified by machining accuracy can be divided into general machining, precision machining, ultra precision machining three stages.

As the continuous development of production technology, divided over the limits will gradually move forward, past the precision machining of us, today is ordinary processing, therefore, the limits of their division is relative, and there has been no specific numerical constant.

Precision machining is the machining accuracy of 1-1μm, the surface roughness Ra0.1-0.025μm process technology; Plastic mold machining is the machining accuracy is higher than 0.1μm, surface roughness is less than 0.025μm Ra processing technology, , Plastic mold machining is also known as sub-micron processing. However, the Plastic mold machining has entered the nano-precision stage, the emergence of nanofabrication and its corresponding technologies.

According to the present basis for precision grinding, combined with Plastic mold surface grinding of foreign technical indicators, the following Plastic mold surface grinding machine of technical indicators and technical indicators that have been achieved and compared.

1.2 Plastic mold surface grinding of the technical requirements

Plastic mold surface grinding of technical indicators, we can offer Plastic mold surface grinding machine technical requirements: vertical feed grinding machine to realize micro-feed, the machine has sufficient static and dynamic rigidity, in particular, is the machine's thermal deformation and vibration control than the conventional machine tools should be qualitative improvement.

2 Plastic mold surface grinding method and means

As noted above, in order to achieve these technical requirements to achieve the desired specifications, the machine's design and specific structure of machine tools, machine tool requirements and the traditional greater improvement and enhancement, based on our experience and precision machining of foreign technical data collection and analysis, combined with surface grinding machine tool structure, movement requirements, can be machine main unit is divided into the following techniques: (1) machine layout type; (2) the use of new materials; (3) precision rotary spindle technology ; (4) micro-feed technology; (5) sports guide type; (6) high-precision temperature control technology.

2.1 Machine layout pattern

Machine layout type is extremely important, is the key to success and failure, but the Plastic mold grinding technology is the development of precision grinding come from abroad has achieved Plastic mold surface grinding machine to see its structure type variety, both "grinding first mobile "and also" mobile columns "or" Cross mobile extension units ", without exception, none of the layout structure from the traditional type of machine. From what we know based on high-precision grinding technology that uses the machine structure, "Cross mobile extension units" suitable for Plastic mold surface grinding machine tool. Because the structure type, structure and layout of symmetry with a good machine, good thermal stability; main low center of gravity moving parts, smooth movement and so on.

2.2 The use of new materials

Plastic rapid prototype China mold Grinding of thermal deformation of machine vibration control and demanding. Pieces of material in the machine tool application infrastructure, we should break through the conventional gray cast iron-based principles, with some new material, such as: non-metallic materials - resin concrete, the vibration damping materials, heat gradient, linear expansion coefficient and other features are much better than metal. This is used in foreign countries were mature, in the country have used examples such as the Shanghai Machine Tool Works Co., Ltd. CNC camshaft grinding bed artificial marble material used to obtain good results. Therefore Plastic mold surface grinding machine based on the key parts, such as bed, column, extension units and other materials should be man-made marble.

2.3 Precision rotary spindle technology

Spindle is Plastic mold surface grinding one of the key technologies, their value requires the following 0.1μm, and its stiffness, thermal expansion, vibration and other aspects should have a very good performance.

Static pressure air bearing spindle assembly has the following advantages: high rigidity, friction Elementary School, a small temperature change, can work under high speed, high precision turning, its precision can reach 0.1μm-0.025μm, radial and axial stiffness 100-300μm between the wear rate is small (close to zero), long life, require little maintenance. Aerostatic bearing spindle which will be the first choice for Plastic mold surface grinding.

2.4 micro-feed technology

In the Plastic mold surface grinding, grinding wheel of micro feed is being processed parts dimensional accuracy and surface quality of an important guarantee. Currently, precision surface grinding process, its progress to the commonly used "servo motor and ball screw," the typical purely mechanical way, generally can achieve 0.1μm trace feed for the limit. To achieve the required Plastic mold surface grinding 0.1μm-0.01μm and even a smaller micro-feed, the traditional mechanical approach has been not apply.

Information from abroad about the current implementation of trace feed mainly in two ways: First, the displacement of piezoelectric ceramics, high resolution, fast response characteristics, the second is the use of the thermal deformation theory realization of micro feed. One piezoelectric ceramic micro-feeding mechanism in use in more common, has been a steady feed to 0.01μm trace, which, in the preferred Plastic mold surface grinding process is used in this way. Secondly, the Plastic mold surface grinding the initial stage of development, if we use the traditional mechanical approach to refinement, stability and achieve 0.1μm trace feed and to meet the most Plastic mold surface grinding needs.

Sports Guide Type 2.5

Plastic mold grinding wheel and workpiece is to rely on relative motion to achieve, it not only has a precision rotary grinding wheel movement, but also the parts with Plastic mold linear motion, its accuracy should be within the 0.1μ/100mm. Which often use static general guide, use the running high precision, non-crawling and so on. Static pressure guide is divided into two kinds of hydrostatic and aerostatic. In general, hydrostatic guideway stiffness, function in a grinding machine is widely used, but its structure is relatively complex, due to oil viscosity shear resistance, the more serious heat, heat distortion control is relatively difficult. Thus, with more applied aerostatic guide.

2.6 Precision Temperature Control

On Plastic mold grinding, the thermal deformation of machine tool control is extremely important, and this machine in the machine layout design process, we must consider thermal symmetry and thermal stability and can be considered to be preliminary design of advanced control.

Machine tool movement on the heat generated by the grinding heat, must be strictly controlled by thermostat means, such as oil, used rail bearings air, coolant, etc., the temperature control precision should be less than 0.1 oC. Environmental temperature also affect the Plastic rapid prototype Shenzhen mold surface grinding a major factor, consider using multi-temperature controls, machine tool environment surrounding the temperature controlled at 20oC ± 1oC, the near ambient temperature should be controlled at around 20oC ± 0.1oC, but also control of human (operator) on the temperature.

Rapid prototype Tooling System-Technologies and Industrial Applications

The term Rapid prototype Tooling (RT) is used to describe a process which either uses a Rapid Prototype (RP) technique as a medium to create a mold quickly or uses the Rapid Prototype process directly to fabricate a tool for a limited volume of prototypes.

RT takes less tooling time and cost than a conventional tool. It can be used to make multiple parts out of alternative materials. The rapid tooling processes include the following:

1.Composite Injection

2.Kirksite Injection

3.Silicone Vacuum Cast

4.Zinc and Aluminum Plaster Cast

5.Spray Metal Injection

6.Sand Cast

Rapid prototype tooling is becoming a new model for the industry. It's used as prototype tooling and used mainly for low-volume production. Depending on the part design and the choice of the material being injected, there can be numerous parts developed through this technique.

The rapid prototype tooling services creates precise molds faster and with high-speed milling capabilities. The RT machines can run up to 42,000 RPMs and can have a tolerance of .0002". It is the most accurate method of any rapid Prototype equipment used for rapid tooling. RT is not about the process but it is all about fast results that can be achieved and success is gained by employing a leading-edge technology.

It is the combination of tools, methods, processes and people that makes the solution rapid. Rapid tooling is the result of an additive process driven by 3D (Dimensional) CAD (Computer Aided Designs and requires little or no machining.

The use of "rapid prototype Shenzhen tooling" in work area attracts the attention of buyers and consequences are direct increase in sales.

Money Saved with A Rapid prototype Tooling Strategy

Rapid prototype Tooling are often made using FDM technology. The part was made from extruded black ABS and was used for some functional testing.

Initial prototype

3M began this phase by creating stereolithography (SLA) patterns with its in-house SLA equipment. Overflow SLA work was sourced to Vista Technologies. The SLA prototypes were used by engineers and industrial designers to check fit and form. The same prototypes were used by 3M packaging engineers to create conceptual mock-ups of product packaging. They also made excellent tools for ergonomic and usability studies.

To mimic the soft under pad of the sanding tool, Vista used PolyJet(TM) rapid prototype technology. PolyJet was chosen because it can use either of two soft-durometer (a hardness measurement) materials that can be run to gain similar quality parts as SLA technology. TangoBlack, a material with a score of 61 on the Shore A durometer scale, was the best fit. Within days Vista was able to supply 3M with their simulated soft-durometer under pads for more testing.

The bottom pad for the hand sander was prototyped using TangoBlack material from the Polyjet technology. This material is a 61 Shore A material that mimics the properties of santoprene.

At the same time, a gripping/tensioning mechanism for the sanding media was being developed.

At this point, the sub-assemblies were merged into a refined set of CAD databases. Additional SLA parts were created to evaluate the new mechanisms. With each new prototype, the team was able to investigate new features in the design. Because these rapid prototype parts could be created cost-effectively in a matter of hours instead of days or even weeks, the team had the ability to study complex forms and details in a manner not possible using traditional machining and fabrication techniques. In some cases multiple iterations were generated in one or two days.

On the left is the hand sander from the prototype tool and the hand sander on the right is from the production tool.

Second-Generation Rapid Prototypes: More Realistic Simulations

In the second generation of the prototypes, 3M needed the hinge function and material properties to be simulated more realistically. After a few design changes were made to the CAD data, Vista Technologies supplied 3M with a Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) prototype.

The FDM part, made from extruded black ABS, allowed for more robust testing and provided similar specified material properties in weight and strength as the final part would have. This prototype was able to handle a variety of tests that allowed 3M to modify their design before production tooling was released.

Rapid Tooling Takes Over

Once 3M completed its work with prototypes, it was time for rapid tooling. Vista Technologies quickly created aluminum tools. Milled at 42,000 rpm with high-speed milling technology and a proprietary fixture system, these tools were made for quick turns and quick modifications.

A core and cavity of a 1+1 family tool of the hand sander top handle. The mold finish is as machined.

The aluminum tools could be modified, polished, textured, welded on, and were capable of shooting 10,000-plus parts. Vista Technologies supplied injection-molded parts within two to three weeks of usable CAD data. By getting specified material parts in hand, 3M could complete their required testing.

A computer rendering of the hand sander concept before prototype.

The rapid tools supplied by Vista Technologies were for multiple parts that made up the sanding products. The parts were made in family tools--meaning several related parts were made in the same tool. By adding runner shut offs to the tools, 3M could turn on or turn off certain parts of the tool--thereby making only the parts they needed. This kept costs down while minimizing wasted material in extra mold inserts. The molds were made with hand pick-outs and manual slides to capture several undercuts in the part design.

3M chose the rapid tooling approach because it allowed them to quickly evaluate different part features and molding parameters. Tooling changes could be completed and parts resampled for evaluation in just a few days. This was a tremendous advantage to 3M.

From an engineering standpoint, they were able to sample several materials for strength and repetitive testing. They were also able to compare the functionality of various latch mechanisms and to check material flow and gate locations (points where material is injected into the tool).

A close-up of a production 3M hand sander. Many methods of rapid prototype and rapid tooling were utilized before production tooling was released.

A 1+1 aluminum mold showing the handles molded in different colors for marketing review.

From a marketing standpoint, along with sampling different materials, they also were able to mold parts in a variety of colors to get important feedback from focus groups. By the time databases were released for production tooling, the mold designs had been optimized and the material and color strategies were in place.

By using rapid tooling, 3M discovered many things in the functional prototypes before cutting production tools. The gating was changed on the production tool, the snap-fit features were redesigned, the handle was modified and ultrasonic energy directors were added for sonic welding of parts in final assembly.

Summary

As rapid prototype China and rapid tooling technologies become more sophisticated, the importance of picking the correct technology for product applications can be critical to gaining a competitive edge. As 3M found, a combination of RP and RT technologies and materials helped them save money, speed development time and establish a foothold in the marketplace.

Modeling On The Run-Rapid Prototype Services

Taking additive manufacturing to a new high, rapid prototype services project completion easy for many by creating prototypes in the nick of time. Working on the principles used by additive manufacturing technologies, rapid prototype services manage to create prototypes within limited budgets specified by customers.

SLA - A Rapid prototype services wonder

Before getting into the actual process of using rapid prototype services, it is important to understand the customer's need and what materials and systems should therefore be used in the prototype.

1. One of the most accurate and practical methods of rapid prototype services is Stereolithography also called SLA. Stereolithography really works well with limited budget concerns as since the cost of manufacturing is on the lower side and prototype making is a process of approvals and changes, the ultimate cost would still be lesser than might be with other methods of rapid prototype services.

The SLA system can help even tooling engineers to decide on the placement of parting lines or gate locations or even ejector pins. The SLA system uses a laser beam to solidify layers of material in a vat of liquid polymer or SL resin. It uses a computer aided design to guide it on where to solidify. Most often, SLA can produce models in a matter of a few hours depending on the size of the prototype.

Advantage: the lower cost as well as time saving is the reasons why SLA works better than permanent hard tooling. It also produces some of the most clean and accurate forms and the machine itself require little and easy cleaning.

Disadvantage: the finishing of the surface is slightly lacking in smoothness and a detailing. Also, the parts maybe cheaper by require 2 to 3 times the amount of time to actually build.

2. Another rapid prototype services system is urethane castings. Urethane castings take the process to be slightly higher and detailed level. It produces a more durable model of rapid prototype. This model actually simulates production material. This system uses liquid silicone to cover the part and submerge it in a pressure chamber to remove all air bubbles. This silicone mould is then cooled and solidified. The mould is then split by a mould technician or cut along the parting line and this is the master pattern that will be used even as a part of the SLA system.

Advantage: This service has been known for its advantages. The fact that it has many advantages has also attracted a lot of attention towards this method and hence it is something that has been used widely today. The efficiency of this service also means that the method has also attracted a lot of attention as well. When several pieces of the same model or part need to be manufactured, urethane castings provide a better and more economical solution. It can also be matched with paint color and texture specifications by inserting plastic mold over mould.