MODULE V ADVANCED MANUFACTURING TECHNIQUES RAPID PROTOTYPING It is a recent development which relies on CAD/CAM and on various manufacturing techniques

(using metallic or non metallic materials) to produce prototypes rapidly, in the form of a solid physical model of a part and low cost. For example prototyping new automotive components by traditional methods such as shaping, forming etc. costs hundreds or millions of dollars a year. RP can cut these costs significantly. Advantages 1. Physical models of parts produced from CAD data files can be manufactured in a matter of hours to allow manufacturability and design effectiveness. 2. With suitable materials, the prototype can be used in subsequent manufacturing operations to obtain the final parts. 3. Rapid prototyping can be used in some applications to produce tooling for manufacturing operations. In this way, one can obtain tooling in a matter of a few days. Methods of Rapid Prototyping Rapid Prototyping can be used in three major groups: subtractive, additive and virtual. Subtractive process involves material removal from a work piece larger than the final part; additive processes build up a part by adding material. Incrementally; and virtual processes use advanced computer based visualization techniques. Almost all materials can be manufactured through RP operations, but polymers are the work piece material most commonly used today. 1. Subtractive Process Making a prototype has traditionally involved mfg. processes using a variety of tooling an machines. Usually it takes anywhere from weeks to months, depending on part complexity. Until recently, this approach has required highly skilled operators, using conventional metal cutting and finishing machinery, to execute operations, one by one, until the prototype has finished. Today, substractive processes use computer-based technologies to speed the process. Following technologies are essential to this approach 1. Computer based drafting packages, which can produce three dimensional representations of parts. 2. Interpretation software which can translate the CAD files in to a format usable by manufacturing software. 3. Manufacturing software, which is capable of planning the machining operations required to produce the desired shape. 4. Computer numerical control machinery, with the capabilities required to manufacture the parts. When a prototype is needed only for shape verification, a soft material usually a polymer or wax, is used as work piece in order to reduce machining problems 2. Additive Process The input for all rapid prototyping technique is a3-D computer model of the part to be fabricated. There are various additive Rapid prototyping techniques such as, a. Liquid supply phase 1. Sterio lithography 5. 1

2. Fused Deposition modeling 3. Ballisticpaticle manufacturing. b. Powder supply phase 1. Three dimensional printing 2. Selective laser sintering 3. Virtual Prototyping It is a software form of prototyping, uses advanced graphics and virtual reality environments to allow designers to examine a part. In a way, this technology is used by CAD packages to render a part, so that the designers can observe and evaluate the part as it is drawn. However virtual prototyping system should be recognized as extreme cases of rendering detail. The simplest forms of such systems use complex software and three dimensional graphic routine to allow viewers to change the view of parts on a computer screen. More complicated versions will use virtual reality headgear and glows with appropriate sensors. To let the user observe a computer generated prototype of the desired part in a completely virtual environment. Virtual prototyping has the advantage of instantaneous rendering of parts for evaluation, but the more advanced systems are costly. There have been some important examples of complicated products, which have been produced without any physical prototype whatsoever. E.g. Boeing 777 aircraft. STERIOLITHOGRAPHY It is based on the principle of curing (hardening) a liquid photopolymer in to a specific shape. A vat containing a mechanism whereby a platform can be lowered and raised, is filled with photo curable liquid acryl ate polymer. The liquid is a mixture of acrylic monomers, oligomers (polymer intermediates), and a photoinitiater.

When the platform is at its highest position, depth a, the layer of liquid above it is shallow. A laser, generating an ultraviolet beam, is now focused up on a selected surface area of the photopolymer and then moved in x-y direction. The beam cures that portion of the photopolymer and thereby produces

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a solid body. The platform is then lowered sufficiently to cover the cured polymer with another layer of liquid polymer, and sequence is repeated. In fig, the process is repeated until the level b is reached. Thus far we have generated a cylindrical part with constant wall thickness. Note that the platform is now lowered by a vertical distance ab. FUSED- DEPOSITION MODELING (FDM)

FDM is a solid-based rapid prototyping method that extrudes materials, layer-by-layer, to build a model. The system consists of a build platform, extrusion nozzle, and control system. The build material is melted and then extruded through a specially designed head onto a platform to create a two-dimensional cross section of the model. The cross section quickly solidifies, and the platform descends where the next layer is extruded upon the previous. This continues until the model is complete, where it is then removed from the build chamber and cleaned for shipping. A gantry robot controlled extruder head moves in two principal directions over table. The table can be raised and lowered as needed. A thermoplastic or wax filament is extruded through the small orifice of a heated die. The initial layer is placed on a foam foundation by extruding the filament at a constant rate while the extruder head follows a pre determined path. When the first layer is completed, the table is lowered so that subsequent layer can be superposed. LAMINATED OBJECT MANUFACTURING (LOM) Lamination implies a laying down of layers which are adhesively bonded to one another. LOM uses layers of paper or plastic sheets with a heat activated glue on one side to produce parts. The desired shapes are burned in to the sheet with a laser and the parts are built layer by layer.

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Once the part is completed the excess material must be removed manually. This process is simplified by programming the laser to burn perforations in criss crossed patterns; the resulting grid lines make the part as if it had been constructed from gridded paper. LOM uses sheets as thin as 0.05 mm (0.002 in) although 0.02 in thickness is most commonly used, so that it can achieve tolerances similar to those available from steriolithography and fused deposition modeling. The compressed paper has the appearance and strength of soft wood and it is often mistaken for elaborate wood carvings. The paper parts are easy to finish or coat.

3D Welding Precision welding of complex 3D profiles is usually performed by skilled manual welders. The automation of the Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW) process for high performance alloys is difficult on account of various factors, principally the need to provide inert gas shielding. More generic problems are related to the complexity of a multi-parameter process that involves many interrelated phenomena, such as heat transfer, fluid dynamics, plasma effects, electrical power etc.

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NON TRADITIONAL MACHINING METHODS In conventional machining processes the ability of the cutting tool is utilized to stress the material beyond the yield point to start the material removal process. This requires that the cutting tool material be harder than the work piece material. The advent of harder material for aerospace applications etc. requires the introduction of new machining process which utilizes other methods such as electro chemical processes for the removal of material. ELECTRICAL DISCHARGE MACHINING (EDM)

The electrical Discharge machining process involves controlled erosion of electrically conducting materials by the initiation of rapid and repetitive electrical discharge between the tool(cathode) and work piece(anode) separated by a dielectric fluid medium. A suitable gap between the tool and work piece is maintained to cause the spark discharge. The gap can be varied to match the machining conditions such as metal removal rate. As soon as the voltage gradient setup between tool and the work piece is suffient to breakdown the dielectric medium, a conducting electrical path is developed for spark discharge owing to ionization of the fluid medium and there by causes the current to flow. The temperature of the spot is hit by the spark may rise up to 10000oCcausing the work surface to melt and vaporize and ultimately to take the form of a sphere as it is quenched by the surrounding fluid. If the tool is fed downwards maintaining the pre determined gap, the tool shape/profile will be reproduced on the work piece.

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The spark gap generally 0.01 to 0.1 mm is adjusted so that the gap voltage is around 70% of the supply voltage for charging the capacitor bank. The servo control unit is provided to maintain the pre determined gap. Characteristics of EDM 1. Tool materials : copper, brass and graphite. 2. Work piece materials : conducting metals and alloys. 3. Process parameters : voltage, capacitance, spark gap and melting Temperature of work piece. 4. Material Removal : melting and vaporization. Advantages 1. Machining time is less than conventional machining process 2. Any complicated shape that can be made on the tool can be reproduced on the work piece. 3. The process can be applied to all conducting metals and alloys irrespective of their melting points, toughness, hardness, brittleness. 4. Can be employed for extremely hardened work piece. 5. Fragile and slender work pieces can be machined without distortion. 6. Considerably easier and more economical polishing can be done on the crate ring type surface developed by EDM. 7. Fine holes can be easily drilled. 8. Enables high accuracy on tools and dies, because they can be machined in as hard condition. Disadvantages 1. Compared to conventional processes power required is very high. 2. In some materials surface cracking may takes place. 3. sharp corners cannot be produced 4. Material removal rate is low. 5. Surface tends to be rough for larger removal rates. 6. It cannot be applied to non conducting materials. Applications 1. Very useful in tool manufacturing due to ease with which harder metals and alloys can be machined. 2. Resharpening of cutting tools and broaches, trepanning of holes with straight or curved axes. 3. Machining of cavities for dies and remachining of die cavities without annealing.

ELECTRO- CHEMICAL MACHINING (ECM) It is a stress free machining of various kinds of metals and alloys. It can produce shapes and cavities which are costly and extremely difficult to machine with the conventional machining processes and true shape of the tool (cathode) can be made on the work piece (anode) by controlled dissolution of anode of an electrolytic cell.

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An electrolyte (netral salt solution of sodium chloride, sodium nitrate, sodium chlorite) is passed through a very small gap (0.03 to 0.05 mm) created between work piece and tool. Where as direct current flow is made between them. When sufficient electrical energy (about 6 eV) is available, a metallic ion may be pulled out of the work piece surface. The positive metallic ions react with negative ions of the electrolyte forming metallic hydroxides and other compounds. The metal removal rate is governed by Faraday classical laws of electrolysis. Characteristics 1. Tool materials : copper and brass 2. work piece materials: conducting metals and alloys 3. process parameters: current, voltage, feed rate and electrolyte 4. metal removal rate: Electrolysis Advantages 1. The process is capable of machining metals and alloys irrespective of their strength and hardness. 2. Fragile parts can be shaped easily. 3. Intricate shapes can be machined. 4. MRR is quite high in comparison to traditional machining, specially in case of high tensile and high temperature resistant materials. 5. wear on tool is insignificant 6. With the application of this process many operations like grinding, milling, polishing can be dispensed with. 7. No cutting forces are involved in this process. 8. The machined work surface is free of stresses. 9. High surface finish of the order of 0.1 to 0.2 microns can be obtained. 10. It is an accurate process and close tolerance of the order of 0.05 mm can be easily obtained.

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Disadvantages 1. Non conductive materials cannot be machined. 2. the process cannot be suit to machine sharp interior edges and corners less than 0.2 mm radius because of very high current densities at those points. 3. Very high power consumption. 4. Larger floor space is required. 5. A constant monitoring is required to suitably vary the tool feed rate and supply pressure of electrolyte so as to avoid formation of cavitations. 6. Designing and fabrication of tool is more difficult. 7. High initial investment. 8. Specially designed fixtures are required to hold the work piece in position, because it may be displaced due to the pressure of the inflowing electrolyte. 9. Corrosion and rusting of work piece, machine tools, fixtures etc. by electrolyte is a constant menance. ELECTROCHEMICAL GRINDING

As refinement to ECM, ECG has been developed, in this metal is removed by electrochemical deposition (about 90%) and abrasion of metal (about 10 %) thus the wear is very less.

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The grinding wheel is mounded on a spindle which rotates inside suitable bearings. The work piece is held on the machine table in suitable fixtures. The table can be moved forward and back ward to feed the work or to withdraw it. The grinding wheel and the spindle are insulated from the rest of the machine using an insulating sleeve. Electrolyte from the tank is pumped in to gap between the wheel and work piece. Current flows from cathode to anode through electrolyte. This causes an electrochemical oxidation on the work surface. The oxide film so formed is removed by grinding wheel, producing a high accurate and finished surface. Advantages 1. Fairly good surface finish is obtained. 2. Accuracy of the order of 0.01mm can be achieved. 3. Negligible wear of the tool. 4. Increased wheel life. 5. Considerable saving in wheel dressing time. 6. A very little cutting force is applied to the material. 7. Since no heat developed the work is free of surface crack. 8. Work material is not subjected to any structural changes. Disadvantages 1. Metal removal rate is very low. (of the order of 15 mm3/s) 2. Power consumption is high. 3. Only electrically conducting materials can be machined. 4. Preventive measure always required against corrosion by the electrolyte. 5. High initial cost. Applications 1. used for the precision grinding of hard tungsten carbide tool tips 2. Used for cutting thin sections of very hard materials without danger of any damage or distortion. ULTRASONIC MACHINING (USM)

It is process in which material is removed due to the action of abrasive grains. The abrasive particles are driven into the work surface by a tool oscillating normal to the work surface at high frequency. This tool is made of soft material, oscillated at the frequency of the order of

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20 to30 kHz. With an amplitude of an about 0.02 mm. It is pressed against the work piece with a load of few Kg and fed downwards continuously as the cavity is cut in the work. The tool is shaped as the approximate mirror image of the configuration of the cavity desired in the work. Characteristics 1. Tool materials; brass and mild steel 2. Work materials- Had and brittle materials like semiconductors glass and ceramic 3. Process parameters: Frequency, amplitude, grain size, slurry concentration and feed force. 4. Material removal: Fracture of work material due to impact of grains 5. Abrasive: Al oxide , SiC, Boron carbide 6. Grain size: Mesh size 100-800 7. Gap: .2 to .5mm Advantages 1. Noiseless operation 2. No metal removal cost 3. Extremely hard and brittle material can be easily machined 4. Operation of the equipment is quite safe. 5. Highly accurate profiles and good surface finish can be easily attained. 6. Because of no heat generation in the process, the physical properties of the work materials remain un changed. 7. The machined work pieces are free of stresses. Disadvantages 1. High tooling cost. 2. Low metal removal rate. 3. The size of the cavity that can be machined is limited. 4. High power consumption. 5. The initial equipment cost is higher than the conventional machine tools. 6. The process is un suitable for heavy metal removal. 7. For maintaining an efficient cutting action the slurry may have to be replaced periodically. 8. It is difficult to machine softer materials. Applications 1. Several machining operations like turning, threading, grinding, milling etc. 2. Machining of hard to machine and brittle materials. 3. Dentistry work- to drill fine holes of desired shape in teeth. 4. Tool and die making, especially wire drawing and extrusion dies. ELECTRON BEAM MACHINING (EBM) It is the process of machining materials with the use of a high velocity beam of electrons. This process is best suited for micro cutting of material because the evaporated area is function of the beam power and the method focusing which can be easily controlled. In this the material removed with the help of a high velocity (traveling at the half the speed of light; 160000 km/s) focused stream of electrons which are focused magnetically up on a very small area. These electrons rise and heat the temperature locally above the boiling point and thus melt and vaporize the work material at the point of bombardment. 5.10

Characteristics 1. Work piece materials: all materials 2. Material removal: high speed electrons impinge on the surface and KE. Of electrons produces intense heating to melt or vaporize the metal. 3. Voltage: 150 kV 4. Power Density: 6500 billion W/mm2 5. Medium: Vacuum(10-5 mm of Hg) 6. Specific Power consumption: 500 W/mm3 min Advantages 1. It is excellent strategy for micro machining. It can drill holes or cut slots which cannot be otherwise made. 2. it can cut any known material, metal or non metal that would exist in vacuum. 3. No physical or metallurgical damage. 4. There is no contact between the work and the tool. 5. Heat can be concentrated on a particular spot. 6. Close dimensional tolerances can be achieved because problem of tool wear is non existent. Disadvantages 1. Low metal removal rate. 2. High equipment cost. 3. High operator skill required. 4. Only small cuts are possible. 5. High power consumption. 6. Unsuitable for producing perfectly cylindrical deep holes. 7. Work piece size is limited due to requirement of vacuum in the chamber. Applications 1. Micro machining operations on work pieces of thin sections. 2. Micro drilling operations (up to 0.002 mm) for thin orifices dies for wire drawing parts of electron micro scopes, fiber spinners, injector holes for diesel engines. 3. Very effective for machining metals of low heat conductivity and high melting point. LASER BEAM MACHINING (LBM) The LASER stands for Light amplification using Stimulated emission of Radiation. Laser provides intense and unidirectional beam of light; this light is coherent in nature. The machining by which a laser beam removes from the surface being worked involves a combination of melting and evaporation processes. The principle utilized in LBM is that under proper conditions light energy of a particular frequency is utilized to stimulate the electrons in an atom to emit additional light with exactly the same characteristics of the original light source. Fig. shows the set up of LBM. The laser beam is focused with the help of a lens and the work piece is placed near the focal point of lens. A short pulse of laser melts and vaporizes the material. The 5.11

explosive escape of the vaporized metal helps in removing most of the molten metal from the hole as tiny droplets. Any of the molten metal not removed will be resolidified along the walls of the hole.

Schematic Diagram of LASER beam machining Characteristics of LBM 1. Tool: High powered focused laser beam. 2. Work piece materials: Any material 3. Process parameters: power intensity of laser beam, focused diameter of laser beam and melting temperature of work piece material. 4. Material removal: melting and vaporization. 5. Medium: air Advantages 1. No mechanical contact between tool and work. 2. The beam can be projected through the transparent window. 3. The laser can be used with materials sensitive to heat shock such as ceramics. 4. The work piece is not subjected to large mechanical forces. 5. The laser operates in any transparent environment including air, inert gas, vacuum and even certain liquids. 6. Can be used for welding of dissimilar metals. 7. Very small holes and cuts can be made with fairly high degree of Accuracy. 8. Any material can be machined irrespective of its structure and physical and mechanical properties. Disadvantages 1. The laser system is quite in efficient. 2. Low production rate. 3. High capital investment required

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4. Its applications are limited to only thin sections and where a very small amount of metal removal is involved. 5. Cannot be effectively used to machine highly heat conductive and reflective materials 6. Highly skilled operators are needed. Applications 1. trimming of sheet metal plastic parts and carbon resisters 2. Cutting or engraving patterns on thin films. 3. Drilling small holes (0.005 mm dia) in hard materials like tungsten and ceramics. 4. Cutting duplex profiles on thin and hard materials, viz, films for making ICs. Laser drilled holes exhibit a taper and also lack a high degree of roundness. Holes larger than 1.25 mm cannot be drilled because the power density decreases. ABRASIVE JET MACHINING (AJM)

This process consists of directing a stream of fine abrasive grains, mixed with compressed air or some other gas at high pressure through a nozzle on to the surface of the work piece to be machined. These particles impinge on the work surface at high speed and the erosion caused by their impact enables the removal of metals. The metal removal rate depends on the flow rate and size of abrasive particles. Abrasives may be Al2O3, SiC, sodium bicarbonate, dolomite, glass beads etc. the abrasive particles should have irregular shape consisting of short edges. Round particles are useless. Their size is 10 to 50 microns. The carrier is usually air, CO2 or N2. Characteristics 1. Material removal: by impinging abrasive grains at high speed. 2. Critical parameters: abrasive flow rate and velocity, nozzle tip distance, abrasive grain size. Advantages 1. Low capital investment is required. 2. Brittle materials of thin sections can be easily machined 3. Intricate cavities and holes of any shape can be machined in materials of any hardness. 4. There is no direct contact between the tool and work piece. 5. Normally in accessible portions can be fairly machined with a good accuracy. Disadvantages 1. low metal removal rate 2. un suitable for machining of ductile materials 3. The abrasive powder used in the process cannot be reclaimed or reused. 5.13

4. Machining accuracy is relatively poorer. 5. There is always a danger of abrasive particles getting embedded in the work material. Hence cleaning needs to be necessarily done after the operation Applications 1. Machining of intricate shape on hard and fragile materials. 2. Fine drilling and micro welding. 3. Frosting and abrading of glass articles. 4. Aperture drilling for electronic micro scope. 5. Machining of semiconductors. ION BEAM MACHINING (IBM) Ion beam machining is primarily an etching process. In this process material removal takes place by sputtering of ions. It differs from EBM, LBM etc. in that the base metal is not required to be heated to evaporation stage. The sputter etching mechanism used in this process consists of bombarding the work surface with accelerated ions. These ions collide with the atoms of the work surface and transfer their kinetic energy, there by dislodging them from the surface of the work piece. The equipment used in this process consists of an electron gun, which discharges free electrons in to a gas chamber filled with argon gas. The gas is then ionized by the accelerated electrons. These ions come out of the gas chamber in the form of high velocity continues stream, called ion beam. This ion beam is directed on the work surface to perform the metal removing operation. The work piece is usually mounted on the table, which can be oscillated and rotated so that different points on the work surface can be subjected to ion beam. In IBM both AC and DC can be used, but the use of DC is confined to etching if conductive materials only. The accuracy of IBM is considerably high mainly because of the small amount of metal removed. Tolerances of the order of + 50 Ao can be achieved on the machined surface. Applications of IBM 1. Micro machining of precision electronic components like computer parts. 2. Figuring optical surfaces. 3. Machining of extremely fine wire dies. 4. Machining of hard materials like glass, alumina, silica, quartz, porcelain, cermets etc. Advantages 1. It can be used for the etching of almost all types of materials. 2. Unlike other etching process there is no under cutting in the components. 3. No chemical reagents or etching compounds are required. 4. Etching rates can be controlled easily. Disadvantages 1. It is relatively costly 2. Metal is removed at a very slow rate 3. Although there is no heat is generated there is little possibility of some thermal or radiation damage. LIGA PROCESS The LIGA acronym stands for Lithographie (lithography), Galvano formung (electroplating), Abformung (moulding). Originally the process required X-rays from a synchrotron to pass through the transparent part of a lithographic mask and penetrate several hundred microns into a layer of polymer which is subsequently removed by a developing chemical, leaving a template that can be filled with

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nickel or another material by electrode position and used as a mould for injection molding. This process was hindered by the high cost and scarcity of the synchrotrons required to produce the X-radiation, therefore it was developed to use parallel U-V with a photosensitive resist to produce the template, illustrated in the figure below.

Items through LIGA process

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