Abstract
Rapid prototyping (RP) technology has given the product designer access to a vast arsenal of tools and technologies unprecedented in the history of manufacturing. The incredible pace of desktop computing with the market availability of 3D software and the development of rapid prototyping technology allows product design to engage more freely with new ideas, to produce prototypes and to carry out thorough testing in a shorter time. The present review first describes significant roles of RP from the viewpoint of value engineering. Next, the fundamentals of information-driven RP technology are outlined, together with its typical applications. Then, the state-of-the-art technology of RP-based metal fabrication including Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) and GreenTape Laser Sintering (GTLS) is extensively surveyed: the principle, the machine architecture and various product applications such as stainless-steel rotors, stainless-steel heat exchangers, copper-bonded cBN tools and titanium artificial bones. Finally, the future of powder-based RP technology is envisaged.
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