Laboratorija za Rapid Prototyping i Reverse Engineering

Candidate: Adis Fajić, mechanical graduate engineer, topic: ”Analysis of the influence of Three Dimensional Printing process parameters on characteristics of produced prototypes”, (in Bosnian: “Analiza utjecaja procesnih parametara tehnologije 3D printanja na svojstva prototipa”), mentor : Dragi Tiro, PhD, Assistant Professor, April 2007

One of the main driving forces of manufacturing companies is continuous need for short-term development of new products and decrease of expenses, so that profitability and competition is maintained. Technologies of Rapid Prototyping –RP, within numerous of applications, represent significant step forward because they enable easy and early identification of constructive errors and their correction, i.e. they eliminate expensive phases, which so far were present in phases of new products forming. Generally, RP processes produce physical objects in layers and without using tools, and therefore they are appropriate for construction and manufacturing parts without process planning intervening.
The process of Three Dimensional Printing - 3DP, which is based on original MIT 3DP technology (Massachusetts Institute of Technology –MIT) and improved by Z Corporation and nowadays it is intruded in direct and indirect parts manufacturing regardless its level of complexity. However, as most of the other RP processes, there are certain limitations, mostly in number of available materials and its characteristics and the need for additional post-processing of manufactured parts is permanent.
Within domain of available material s and characteristics of 3D printers and with the aim of production improvement there are numerous possibilities for research on influences of process parameters on characteristics of manufactured 3DP parts. Justification of 3DP process is researched in th is paper through practical confirmation of process characteristics defined in theoretical research in function of used materials. The second part of research is based upon analyses of process parameters influences and methods of post -processing on firmness and hardness of manufactured parts.