Rapid Prototyping(RP)-A virtual tool in Manufacturing In the recent years it has become apparent that one of the keys to profitability when introducin

In the recent years it has become apparent that one of the keys to profitability when introducing new products to the market is that it takes from idea to production.More importantly it was discovered that,it cost much less to make changes in the part design during the early stages than in the later stages in manufacturing.Two significant bottlenecks have been identified in the product development cycle as practiced today.The first has to do so with getting the design right and the second one has to do with the cost and lead time associated with obtaining a physical prototype.The object here is to use software tools to realize the final design in a timely and cost effective manner.The Virtual prototype offers much greater flexibility in terms of the ability to vary design parameters and the environment in which the part will function.A physical prototype, however, becomes essential for communicating the design for tooling designers to begin planning for manufacturing.Also physical protypes are extremely important in the case of components where the contours and dimensions play a critical role.

The term Rapid Prototyping (RP) refers to a class of technologies that can automatically construct physical models from Computer Aided Design (CAD) data.RP allows to quickly create tangible prototypes of their designs,rather than just two-dimentional pictures.Such models have numerous uses.They make excellent visual aids for communicating ideas with co-workers or customers.In addition, prototypes are used for design testing,Designers have always utilized prototypes,RP allows them to be made faster and expensively. In addition to prototypes,RP techniques can also be used to make tooling(referred to as Rapid Tooling ).For small production runs and complicated objects,Rapid prototyping is often the best manufacturing process available. These dramatic timesaving allow manufacurers to bring products to market faster and more cheaply. Rapid prototyping is an "additive" process.RP's additive nature allows it to create objects with complicated internal features that cannot be easily manufactured by other means.The prototype is an original model of the design built to evaluate operational features before the start of full production of the product.The style of the prototypes is dictated by the tests that are planned.

Rapid prototyping refers to the class that enable physical realization of a shape without the use of any tooling or material removal.Directly driven by a CAD model,these processes build the part layer by layer either by deposition of material or by changing the phase of the material.