Jaguar Cars is making increasing use of the latest rapid prototyping (RP) technologies at its Whitley Engineering Centre to speed the development of new vehicles by making plastic parts directly from CAD models, eliminating the expense of producing mould tools. A leading role is being played by laser-sintering machines from EOS of Warwick that create prototype trim and even engine parts from nylon powder - polyamide PA2200 - by fusing them layer by layer into their respective shapes. The resulting components, such as the air intake manifold, door inners, facia substrate, interior air vents and exterior light housings, are robust enough to be used on test vehicles running around the track, allowing more data to be collected early on in the development process. By contrast, other rapid prototyping techniques that employ such materials as epoxy resin and ABS produce relatively fragile parts that are best suited to visualisation.
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