Rapid tooling: a step change in mold manufacturing

Millan K. Yeung

doi:10.1117/12.263348

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9 January 1997 Rapid tooling: a step change in mold manufacturing

Millan K. Yeung

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Proceedings Volume 2910, Rapid Product Development Technologies; (1997) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.263348
Event: Photonics East '96, 1996, Boston, MA, United States

Abstract

There are two stages in the part manufacturing life cycle, the development stage and the production stage. In the development stage, the developer tests and verifies the design, property and functionality of the part, and usually a small quality of prototypes of the part is needed. In the production stage, engineers determine the method of production and production tools may be required. in either stage, the time and cost to produce prototypes or production tools have significant impact on the success of the product in terms of sales and profits. Conventional methods of fabricating prototypes and production tools are generally expensive and time consuming. Rapid prototyping (RP) can reduce the time can cost to produce prototypes and tools dramatically. One important advancement of RP technologies is rapid tooling (RT). RT technologies produce production tools using the RP approaches. The effect of RT manufacturing industry, in particular the plastic product manufacturers. This paper will give an overview of the background and development of the RT technology and a glance at the state-of-the-art. Processes to be discussed include RTV, KelTool, QuickCast, RapidTool, Metal Coating, Metal Shell, 3D Printing, Shape Deposition Manufacturing and Laser Engineered Net Shaping processes.

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Millan K. Yeung "Rapid tooling: a step change in mold manufacturing", Proc. SPIE 2910, Rapid Product Development Technologies, (9 January 1997); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.263348

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