Conventional machining methods for rapid prototyping and direct manufacturing

Abstract

The material and product accuracy limitations of rapid prototyped products can often prevent the use of rapid prototyping (RP) processes for production of final end-use products. Conventional machining processes are well-developed technologies with the capability of employing a wide range of materials in the creation of highly accurate components. This paper presents an overview of how conventional machining processes can be used for RP and direct manufacturing processes. The methodologies of computer numerical control machining for rapid prototyping (CNC-RP) and wire electronic discharge machining for rapid prototyping (WEDM-RP) are presented in this paper. A general discussion of selection criteria and cost comparisons among both current additive RP and conventional machining approaches to rapid manufacturing are also presented.

A study on machinability evaluation of Al-Gr-B<SUB align="right">4C MMC using response surface methodology-based desirability analysis and artificial neural network technique

“…Addition of graphite in aluminium composite led to a decrease in the friction coefficient of composites but increased the wear resistance (Senthilkumar et al, 2014a). An overview of various manufacturing and machining processes is crucial before choosing a suitable machining method for new composite materials, which has been elaborately reported by Yang et al (2009). Harder to machine materials were machined by the non-traditional machining process and for complex shapes, researchers had chosen wire-cut electrical discharge machining (WEDM) process (Lal et al, 2014;Prakash et al, 2013;Zhang et al, 2013;Kung and Chiang, 2008;Rozenek et al, 2001;Amini et al, 2011) and optimisation of machining parameters are also carried out during machining aluminium MMCs (Rao and Krishna, 2014;Garg et al, 2014a;Ramesh and Natarajan, 2013;Liao et al, 2014).…”

A study on machinability evaluation of Al-Gr-B<SUB align="right">4C MMC using response surface methodology-based desirability analysis and artificial neural network technique

“…Addition of graphite in aluminium composite led to a decrease in the friction coefficient of composites but increased the wear resistance (Senthilkumar et al, 2014a). An overview of various manufacturing and machining processes is crucial before choosing a suitable machining method for new composite materials, which has been elaborately reported by Yang et al (2009). Harder to machine materials were machined by the non-traditional machining process and for complex shapes, researchers had chosen wire-cut electrical discharge machining (WEDM) process (Lal et al, 2014;Prakash et al, 2013;Zhang et al, 2013;Kung and Chiang, 2008;Rozenek et al, 2001;Amini et al, 2011) and optimisation of machining parameters are also carried out during machining aluminium MMCs (Rao and Krishna, 2014;Garg et al, 2014a;Ramesh and Natarajan, 2013;Liao et al, 2014).…”

Additive manufacturing of H13 tooling element with conformal cooling channel using MIG cladding

“…Reducing machining time and waste of material through chipping must be a paramount importance in RT process. The techno-economic analysis was done by Karunakaran et al (2008) and Yang et al (2009) shows cost reduction of AM process for aluminium alloy material. The investigation has clearly shown the near net shape for production of a metallic component through AM saved a significant amount of material.…”