Low-cost resin infusion mould tooling for carbon fibre composites manufacture

This article describes the research to date carried out under the BAE Systems/Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)-funded programme ‘Flapless Aerial Vehicle Integrated Interdisciplinary Research’ (FLAVIIR), aimed at developing innovative technologies for the low-cost manufacture of next-generation Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. The aim of the researchers in FLAVIIR was to develop low-cost innovative tooling technologies to enable the affordable manufacture of complex composite aerospace structures. The advances in tooling technology were achieved through the application of rapid prototyping, tooling and manufacture technologies to provide rapidly configured and reconfigurable tool concepts, for low-cost resin infusion moulding. This article introduces three tooling innovations: reconfigurable tooling concept, variable cavity tooling, and porous cavity tooling

Faster - Better Molds Through RSP Tooling New Research and Advancements

The recent developments in rapid production tooling have all but made the need for prototype tooling disappear. There are several approaches that are now as fast and inexpensive as prototype tooling, and after part approval can continue to run in high volume production applications. The newest of these approaches is an indirect spray forming process invented by Dr. Kevin McHugh of the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratories (INEEL). The advantages of RSP Tooling can be found in its accuracy, finish, cost and speed compared to the other rapid tooling processes [1]. The commercialization effort for this spray forming process started in February of 2002. The beta production machine was operational in November, 2003, and started to produce production tooling in March, 2004. Since that time tooling has been manufactured and run for many forming applications. In all but the simplest tools the process has proven to be less expensive and faster than standard machining of tools or any other rapid production tooling process. Research and development of the process has continued both at INEEL and at RSP Tooling, LLC making the process faster, more accurate and less expensive to operate. This research has also generated a better understanding of the underlying metallurgy of the process.Mechanical Engineerin

Steel-Based Sprayed Metal Tooling

A strategy for building sprayed steel tooling by arc spray deposition is discussed in this paper. Depositing steel is crucial for moving sprayed metal toolingfrom prototype applications to superior prototype and production-quality tooling. Tooling is fabricated by spraying onto S\lbStra~S that define the tooling shell shape. In particular, two process issues are addressed: deposition of thick metal shells, and control of oxide content by atomization with inert gases.Mechanical Engineerin

New concept in brazing metallic honeycomb panels

Aluminum oxide coating provides surface which will not be wetted by brazing alloy and which stops metallic diffusion welding of tooling materials to part being produced. This method eliminates loss of tooling materials and parts from braze wetting and allows fall-apart disassembly of tooling after brazing

RP Process Selection for Rapid Tooling in Sand Casting

The significant cycle-time improvements and geometrical capabilities of solid freeform fabrication systems have led to applications in sand casting industry for design verification and tooling. The time and cost effective deployment of rapid tooling processes using rapid prototyping technology has thus becoming an emerging area to be studied. To make full use of the advantages of rapid prototyping processes, the factors influencing the tooling approach must be identified and understood. This understanding is then used to develop a decision-making structure for RP process selection for rapid tooling in sand casting. In this manuscript we review our work in evaluating and building a framework for tooling process selection for sand castingMechanical Engineerin

Rapid Steel Tooling Via Solid Freeform Fabrication

With increasing part complexity and requirements for long production runs, tooling has become an expensive process that requires long lead times to manufacture. This lengthens the amount oftime from "art to part". Rapid tooling via stereolithography (SLA), filled epoxies, etc. have been stopgap measures to produce limited prototyping runs from (10 to 500 parts). This gives poor dimensional analysis and does not allow for limited production runs of 1000+ parts. The method ofproducing prototype tooling with a powdered metal process has been developed that produces tooling with a hardness greater than 35 HRC and total shrinkage less than 0.5%. This tooling process manufactures production ready tooling that will perform extended cycle runs (100,000+). Manufacturing ofthis tooling takes 1 to 2 weeks and will compare favorably with production grade steel tooling. Originals drawn in 3D CAD can be used to prototype the master that will allow for the production ofthe rapid metal tool set. process starts with a rapid prototyped model made by whatever process is desired or a machined master. For this paper a Sander's Model Maker II® rapid prototyping machine was used to fabricate the model. After the model ofthe tool set is made, a silicone rubber negative is cast around that model. After the silicone rubber model is made, a heated slurry ofmetal powders and polymers is poured into the mold to create the green tool set. The tool set is left to cool, and then removed from the silicone rubber mold. The tool set is then debound and sintered to produce a final tool set with properties approaching hardened tool steel.Mechanical Engineerin

Metal Laminated Tooling - A Quick and Flexible Tooling Concept

For the fast manufacturing of complex formed tools Fraunhofer IWS works together with partners from the industry on a constant automation solution for cutting, packaging and adding steel sheet cutouts. With the selection of the most suitable connecting technology, also requirements must be considered to quality, surface quality and the production costs. Deep drawing or stamping tools do not require a complete connection of the single metal sheets. Here, a fast and economical connection is the main objective. Due to simple automation, laser beam welding offers itself as joining process. On the other hand, a temperature-steady connection of the sheet metal lamellas is necessary for injection molds, which can resist the injection pressures.Mechanical Engineerin

Development of High Efficiency (14%) Solar Cell Array Module

High efficiency solar cells required for the low cost modules was developed. The production tooling for the manufacture of the cells and modules was designed. The tooling consisted of: (1) back contact soldering machine; (2) vacuum pickup; (3) antireflective coating tooling; and (4) test fixture

Design and analysis of a reconfigurable discrete pin tooling system for molding of three-dimensional free-form objects

This paper presents the design and analysis of a new reconfigurable tooling for the fabrication of three-dimensional (3D) free-form objects. The proposed reconfigurable tooling system comprises a set of matrices of a closely stacked discrete elements (i.e., pins) arranged to form a cavity in which a free-form object can be molded. By reconfiguring the pins, a single tool can be used in the place of multiple tools to produce different parts with the involvement of much lesser time and cost. The structural behavior of a reconfigurable mold tool under process conditions of thermoplastic molding is studied using a finite element method (FEM) based methodology. Various factors that would affect the tool behavior are identified and their effects are analyzed to optimally design a reconfigurable mold tool for a given set of process conditions. A prototype, open reconfigurable mold tool is developed to present the feasibility of the proposed tooling system. Several case studies and sample parts are also presented in this paper