Evaluation of Parts Produced by a Novel Additive Manufacturing Process
Rapid prototyping refers to building three dimensional parts in a tool-less, layer by layer manner using the CAD geometry of the part. Additive Manufacturing (AM) is the name given to the application of rapid prototyping technologies to produce functional, end use items. Since AM is relatively new area of manufacturing processes, various processes are being developed and analyzed for their performance (mainly speed and accuracy). This paper deals with the design of a new benchmark part to analyze the flatness of parts produced on High Speed Sintering (HSS) which is a novel Additive Manufacturing process and is currently being developed at Loughborough University. The designed benchmark part comprised of various features such as cubes, holes, cylinders, spheres and cones on a flat base and the build material used for these parts was nylon 12 powder. Flatness and curvature of the base of these parts were measured using a coordinate measuring machine (CMM) and the results are discussed in relation to the operating parameters of the process.The result show changes in the flatness of part with the depth of part in the bed which is attributed to the thermal gradient within the build envelope during build.