Cel
Foreseen Results
Successful completion of the project will result in increasing the competitiveness of the European toolmaking industry substantially. in the UK alone the toolmaking market has a size in excess on one BILLION ECU annually. Recent studies have shown that successful implementation of this technology could save at least 20% of the costs involved in this market.
All parties have been chosen for their excellence in the fields required to complete this project successfully. Progress reports will be circulated regularly by all parties to all parties involved. Bi-annual meetings will be held to assess the development of the programme, and to ensure appropriate progress is made. The interaction of all the parties is considered to be highly important, and the steering committee will ensure that this occurs.
All results will be published at the end of the project and made available to all parties.
During recent years, the technology of Rapid Prototyping has had a significant impact on design techniques. In particular it has had a very significant impact on the times and costs required to develop new products to the pre-production stage. A number of measures show that the technology has grown exponentially during the last 6 years.
The most common Rapid Prototyping techniques is one named sterolithography. It has been developed primarily by the 3D Systems corporation based in California. The Buckinghamshire College is fortunate in being one of the few Institutes of Higher Education in Europe which possesses one of these machines, and in fact operates the only 3D Systems Sterolithography Machines, SLA 190 in Europe.
Whilst Rapid Prototyping of models of production parts is very useful, its development has catalyzed the desires from industry for a techniques which can also quickly and efficiently produce tooling, both injection moulding tooling and press tooling, which can then be production processes. Instead of being able to rapidly produce one part, it will then be possible to rapidly produce production quantities of parts.
Some recent work at the Buckinghamshire College and other institutions has indicated that it may be possible to use electrochemical techniques to produce such tools. Two major techniques, based upon the models produced by Rapid Prototype Sterolithography models offer themselves.
One route is to coat the models, using electroforming techniques, with a suitable alloy which would grow to thickness capable of being elf-supporting. This metal would then effectively be a die face for a plastic injection moulding tool. This could then be bolstered, using suitable filler materials, and finished to act as a plastic injection moulding tool.
The second rout is to coat the sterolithography model, by either electrochemical or vacuum coating techniques with a suitable conductor, eg copper, and then use the part as an electro-discharge machining tool, to spark erode a steel block. The steel block would then act the tool die, which could then be bolstered and used in the normal way.
Either of these techniques offer quick and effective means of producing tools which could be used for mass production. The difficulties with developing this technology are extensive, and are centered on the development of thermal and mechanical stresses at the sterolithography part-metalised skin interface. Further difficulties arise when the technology is to be developed for three and four part tools. The work in this project will be centered on finding the optimum techniques which should be used for these activities.
Dziedzina nauki
Zaproszenie do składania wniosków
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CSC - Cost-sharing contractsKoordynator
HIGH WYCOMBE
Zjednoczone Królestwo