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Variations

Other mehods of rapid prototyping in various stages of developement are listed below. They all use a CAD (Computer Aided Design) system interface with the machine.

Three-dimensional Printing

This process deposits powdered materials in thin layers and selectively binds the powder by ink-jet printing of an inorganic binder material without the use of a laser. The piston supporting the powder bed is lowered incremently. At each step, a layer is deposited and joined by the binder. Powder materials used are aluminum oxide, silicon carbide, sillica, and zirconia.

Ballistic Particle Manufacturing

An ink-jet mechanism is used to eject streams of material, such as plastics, ceramics, metals, and wax, through a small orifice at a surface. The mechanism uses a piezoelectric pump. The pump operates when an electric charge is applied, generating a shock wave that propels 50 micrometers droplets of wax at a rate of 10,000 per second. The part is formed by repeating the process on the layers of wax deposited on top of each other. The ink-jet head is guided by a three-axis robot.

Photochemical Machining

This process is similar to stereolithography. It uses two laser beams intersecting each other to form the part. One beam moves in the x-y plane and the other in the x-z plane. This allows a more versatile part production that is no longer done in layers as in the other processes.

Laminated Object Manufacturing

This process uses layers of sheet, such as metal foil, paper, or plastic, bonded together in a stack. Beginning with the top sheet, a properly adjusted laser cuts each sheet successively, one at a time, to a particular profile. The unused portions are discarded and the individual pieces are joined or bonded together. Sheet thickness may be as small as 0.05-0.12 mm (0.002-0.005 in.).

Source: Kalpakjian, Manufacturing Processes for Engineering Materials.