Development and application of four typical rapid prototyping technologies

Rapid prototyping (RP) is an advanced manufacturing technology and has obtained widely application in recent years. RP technology can be used to machine complex physical part directly from CAD data without any cutter or technical equipments. A variety of new rapid manufacturing technologies have emerged and developed include Stereo Lithography (SL), Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), Laminated Object Manufacturing (LOM), and Three Dimensional Printing (3-D Printing). The paper summaries the working principle and discusses the application fields for four typical rapid prototyping technologies. Finally, the significant performance of rapid prototyping for modem industry is discussed. The investigation is beneficial for choosing an optimal forming process in industry.