Rapid manufacture of metal tooling by rapid prototyping

摘要

As the race to launch a product successfully into the market increases in speed, the drive to reduce metal tooling lead time will become more important. Time reduction for fabricating metal tools depends on fast, efficient, and flexible manufacturing processes that dramatically reduce lead times while not sacrificing mechanical properties. A novel process of rapid tooling, non-baking of ceramic moulding, was studied. It uses a casting mould made from ceramic slurry and rapid prototyping to form a metal tool. It provides a quick, accurate, and relatively cost-effective route for producing metal parts or tools. The process and key technologies are analysed in detail. The process has been used in the automotive, consumer products, casting, and toy industries. Applications show that the total costs for new products can be reduced by as much as 40-60%, and lead times can be reduced by 50-60%. The surface roughness is approximately Ra = 3.2, and it can be improved to better that Ra = 1.6 by polishing. The dimensional accuracy relative to size is about ±0.1 mm for dimensions less than 200 mm.