Development of rapid tooling using fused deposition modeling: a review

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to highlight the direct fabrication of rapid tooling (RT) with desired mechanical, tribological and thermal properties using fused deposition modelling (FDM) process. Further, the review paper demonstrated development procedure of alternative feedstock filament of low-cost composite material for FDM to extend the range of RT applications. Design/methodology/approach The alternative materials for FDM and their processing requirements for fabrication in filament form as reported by various researchers have been summarized. The literature demonstrates the role of various post-processing techniques on surface finish of FDM prints. Further, low-cost materials for feedstock filament have been investigated experimentally to check their adaptability/suitability for commercial FDM setup. The approach was to realize the requirements of FDM (melt flow rate, flexibility, stiffness, glass transition temperature and mechanical strength), necessary for the successful run of an alternative filament. The effect of constituents (additives, plasticizers, surfactants and fillers) in polymeric matrix on mechanical, tribological and thermal properties has been investigated. Findings It is possible to develop composite material feedstock as filament for commercial FDM setup without changing its hardware and software. Surface finish of the parts can further be improved by applying various post-processing techniques. Most of the composite parts have high mechanical strength, hardness, thermal stability, wear resistant and better bond formation than standard material parts. Research limitations/implications Future research may be focused on improving the surface quality of parts fabricated with composite feedstock, solving issues related to the uniform distribution of filled materials during the fabrication of feedstock filament which in turns further increases mechanical strength, high dimensional stability of composite filament and transferring the technology from laboratory scale to various industrial applications. Practical implications Potential applications of direct fabrication with RT includes rapid manufacturing (RM) of metal-filled parts and ceramic-filled parts (which have complex shape and cannot be rapidly made by any other manufacturing techniques) in the field of biomedical and dentistry. Originality/value This new manufacturing methodology is based on the proper selection and processing of various materials and additives to form high-performance, low-cost composite material feedstock filament (which fulfil the necessary requirements of FDM process). Finally, newly developed feedstock filament material has both quantitative and qualitative advantage in RT and RM applications as compared to standard material filament.

Shrinkage and Warpage Optimization of Expanded‐Perlite‐Filled Polypropylene Composites in Extrusion‐Based Additive Manufacturing

“…Another critical aspect that influences the continuous printing of the filaments is their ovality, which should be as low as possible. The ovality of the PP filaments (0.08 ± 0.03 mm) was found to be more than three times bigger than those of PP/F20‐30/am.PO (0.02 ± 0.01 mm) and PP/F80‐30/am.PO (0.03 ± 0.01 mm).…”

“…To reflect real printing conditions, the mechanical properties were tested similar to refs. , directly on the filaments (Section ), using the universal testing machine Zwick Z001 (Zwick GmbH & Co. KG, Germany) with a load cell of 1 kN. The measurements were performed under an initial load of 0.1 MPa and standardized conditions (23 °C air temperature, 50% relative humidity).…”

Experimental investigations for dimensional accuracy and surface finish of polyurethane prototypes fabricated by indirect rapid tooling: a case study

“…RP consists of a variety of manufacturing techniques that build the 3D component by adding material layer by layer [4,5]. Currently, RP technologies are not preferred for small-to-medium quantity production due to the high cost involved and also have limited range in terms of material selection [6]. This requires the need of developing rapid tooling (RT), which is an extension of RP.…”

Scanned Image Data from 3D-Printed Specimens Using Fused Deposition Modeling

“…The accuracy and geometrical fidelity of 3D-printed objects is researched in many works and for over 20 years [11,12] due to the necessity to produce objects that match their digital models closely for the use as prototypes (Rapid Prototyping, (RP) [13,14]), consumer products (Rapid Manufacturing, (RM) [15]) or tools (Rapid Tooling, (RT) [16]). …”