Product category:
Fast prototyping equipment, pattern-making and services
News Release from: Solidica | Subject: Direct-to-metal aluminum tooling solution
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 01 May 2002
Ultrasonics consolidate rapid tooling
materials
'Ultrasonic Consolidation' builds metal tools, cores and cavities in a single system, eliminating time and cost of secondary processes.
'Ultrasonic Consolidation' builds metal tools, cores and cavities in a single system, eliminating time and cost of secondary processes Solidica, an advanced manufacturing company, today announced the official launch of the company and introduction of its novel direct-to-metal Form-ation 2030 machine, a manufacturing platform for Solidica's patented Ultrasonic Consolidation (UC)
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 13 May 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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Solidica is addressing an unmet need in manufacturing for functional components, a segment which represents approximately 50 percent of the entire $1 billion rapid prototyping/rapid tooling (RP/RT) market.
The UC process combines the features of machining and rapid tooling to provide the benefits of both additive and subtractive manufacturing in a single system, allowing manufacturers to produce functional parts to design intent.
UC applies sound to merge layers of metal and create true metallurgical bonds, in order to create tooling with specific feature-to-feature accuracy within 0.002- 0.005in over the machine work envelope of 20 x 30in.
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The combination of UC and the Form-ation 2030 offers manufacturers a long-awaited technology solution that directly forms metal tooling through a material deposition method that eliminates the need to create a plastic or wax pattern, make a mold, then cast and finish a metal part.
Early beta testing demonstrates that the process cuts in half the time and cost of obtaining functional parts during the product development cycle.
With the Solidica system, end-users have the advantage of a single machine able to create deep slots and complex features; high speed material deposit at a rate which dramatically exceeds other direct metal RP/RT processes; the dimensional accuracy of machining; and conformal cooling capability.
Among its many high value applications, UC enables low volume manufacturing, and provides engineers and product developers with a substantially improved method for visualization and testing tooling in end-use materials.
By way of example, manufacture of a 10in x 12in x 3in injection molding tool typically requires multiple manufacturing processes over a period of two to four weeks at a cost of up to $20,000.
Using Solidica's system, this same tool is built over seven consecutive days for a cost of only $5,000.
Beta developers include Ivex Packaging Corporation, the nation's largest manufacturer of food, drug and microchip packaging; Raytheon Company, a major defense contractor; and the gas turbine industrial power systems division of a Fortune 50 company.
"Since the early days of rapid tooling, there has been a pent-up demand from manufacturers for a proven direct-to-metal solution that is accurate, repeatable and reliable.
Solidica has brought together some of the best talent in the business to deliver on that long-held promise of functional metal tools," says Dawn White, Ph D, founder and president of Solidica.
"We believe our system will advance the way manufacturers produce aluminum tooling to a new level, as well as bring down costs and time-to-market." Solidica's goal is to provide a continuous stream of innovative technologies to the RP/RT marketplace that will not only improve the current market, but also open the door to an entire suite of direct manufacturing applications.
As part of Solidica's strategic research and development program, a variety of metal materials and applications are currently in development.
Dr Dawn White, the company's president and founder, has held technology development positions in rapid tooling and other manufacturing areas with Ford Motor Company, MTS Systems and the US Army.
She has published more than thirty technical papers in peer-reviewed journals.
Jerry Janson, vice president of sales and marketing, has also cultivated extensive experience and industry relationships in lead sales roles at 3D Systems, Applicon and others.
Solidica is an advanced manufacturing company providing direct-to-metal technology solutions for the RP/RT industry.
The company is based in Ann Arbor, MI, the center of a region containing the fifth largest RP/RT market in the world, and maintains regional sales offices strategically located across the United States.
(This was Manufacturingtalk's Top Story on 30 April 2002).
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