Schnelle Fertigung von Modellen, Musterteilen und Prototypen durch den Einsatz von Rapid Prototyping

Reducing the time to produce prototypes is a key to speed up the development of new products. One big goal is to produce prototype series which are not only out of the same material but also produced with a comparable manufacturing process as the real product. Today small batch series are produced by vacuum casting using the prototype as a master model. Another possibility is to manufacture prototype moulds directly but this need is not satisfied by commercially available RP systems. In the paper the latest developments and IFAM are discribed and the installed processes (Rapid Prototyping, Fused Deposition Modeling, lasersintering, Multiphase Jet Solidification, Stereolithography) are explained.