An integrated approach to finish machining of RP-produced parts

TL;DRAbstract

Rapid Prototyping (RP) techniques are being increasingly used in industry to manufacture functional parts or tools, due to the fact that they have many benefits over traditional methods such as making parts with complex shapes and advanced material systems. However, this kind of layered manufacturing approach, decomposing the 3D CAD model into 2D layers and building the part layer by layer, still has practical limitations on surface quality and accuracy. Therefore, CNC machining is often necessary for finishing rapid manufactured parts to an appropriate accuracy and surface finish for many applications. For most RP techniques, the shrinkage levels and the optimum building conditions are material and process dependent, thus pre-processing of the 3D model is also often necessary prior to its RP fabrication. An investigation was performed to develop techniques for the effective integration of CAD, RP and CNC milling to improve accuracy in RP-produced tools and parts. The work focuses on t

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