Design, Simulation and SFF Techniques for Functional Components

Development of Solid Freeform Fabrication (SFF) systems has created the opportunity for new approaches in design of functional components, which leverages the inherent strengths of both experiment and numerical simulation. This paper describes an approach in which the computational models are integrated with the rapid prototyping fabrication processes. The parts are fabricated using different materials including wax, PZT, silicone nitride, and 17-4PH stainless steel powders for the SFF hardware (Langrana et al, 2000, Qiu et al, 1999, Danforth et al, 1998) and Ciba-Geigy SL-resin for SLA hardware (Higgins and Langrana, 1998, Higgins and Langrana 1999). The components such as turbine blades, actuators, and fixtures have been designed, simulated and fabricated. The properties of parts have been and are being quantified in terms of accuracy and quality.