Title (150 characters) Metal hybrid rapid manufacture for prototyping precision parts

- Prototyping precision parts from metal can be very expensive and post processing
adds a significant delay to lead times.
- Iterative designs amplify this cost and time.
- An example of this is the generation of metallic formers used in the Superconducting
Magnets Division research team at CERN.
o Each magnet may require multiple prototype formers before a design is
finalised.
o These formers are produced from stainless steel using Selective Laser
Sintering (SLS) and then requiring significant post-processing. This includes
machining, surface treatment and then joining (laser welding) of smaller subparts to produce the full part.
- Hybrid manufacture combines subtractive and additive manufacturing, reducing postprocessing and allowing the modification of previously manufactured parts.
- The use of a Direct Laser Deposition (DLD) system could reduce raw material use,
machine cost, and allow integration with a subtractive manufacturing process.
- This technique could both simplify and reduce the cost and time to iterate prototypes
of precision parts from metal.
- This research proposal recommends the investigation of a metal hybrid rapid
prototyping methodology; combining both additive and subtractive manufacturing
methods to reduce manufacturing time and production costs of precision parts.
- Tightly coupled (hybrid) manufacture may also offer additional design freedoms that
are not possible through subtractive or additive in isolation.