Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing: A Review of Current Technologies

Abstract

The idea to develop processes capable to produce physical components quickly and without requiring tooling, led to the development of the “free form fabrication” (FFF) or “rapid prototyping” (RP) technologies in the early 1980s. RP systems generally build up a prototype directly from the computer-aided design (CAD) data by using an additive “layer by layer” method. The RP technologies have brought several advantages to the manufacturing industry in such a way that these technologies are evolving toward the production of end-use parts. This paper presents a review of rapid prototyping and manufacturing (RP&M) technologies from their origins. The review includes commercially available RP systems and RP technologies that are still at the development stage or that have been proposed. The operating principles and the features of these technologies are presented. Process parameters such as accuracy, layer thickness, operation speed are given. An extended classification of RP&M technologies is also included in this paper.