JTEC/WTEC Panel Report on Rapid Prototyping in Europe and Japan. Volume 1.Analytical Chapters

摘要

Mastering the art of rapidly prototyping parts and products is vital for anycorporation in the race to launch new products. During the last decade, new methods and tools have emerged to facilitate and accelerate product creation. The United States pioneered development and commercialization of layered manufacturing systems; now, significant efforts in this area are underway in Europe and Japan, spurred by the obvious advantages of layered manufacturing's ability to rapidly create physical models regardless of shape complexity. A major research focus is direct manufacture of objects from materials such as metals, ceramics, and plastics that have properties similar to their traditionally manufactured counterparts. In addition, layered manufacturing appears to have the potential to build objects with shape complexity and material variety that previously have been impossible. Composite structures with embedded sensors and integrated circuits or complete functional assemblies are other potentially revoluntionary areas of application. In 1995 the U.S. government, encouraged by the Rapid Prototyping Association of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), intiated a study administered by the Japanese Technology Evaluation Center/World Technology Evaluation Center (JTEC/WTEC) to assess the capabilities of selected European countries and Japan in developing and implementing layered manufacturing technologies. The approach to the study was three-pronged: first, identify and study key foreign RP technologies and discover important new applications under development; second, evaluate and compare foreign competencies to those in the United States; and third, critically examine related standards.