3D Rapid Prototyping Fast Tracks GM Fuel Efficiency Gains
/PRNewswire/ -- Deep inside the GM Design building where future products from Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac take shape and substance, an elite team fashions components, intricate sub assembles and entire scale model cars from highly specialized three-dimensional rapid prototyping manufacturing equipment.In an already secure building, access to the RP Lab requires additional clearance because of the work performed there, Operating around the clock, the highly trained team of technicians is vital to the global base of GM designers, aerodynamicists and engineers who achieve huge gains in creativity, flexibility and accuracy along with dramatic savings in time and money.
The Rapid Prototype Laboratory features two fabrication processes -- selective laser sintering (SLS) and stereo lithography apparatus (SLA). Both processes build up finished products from raw material in layers.
"Think of it as the reverse of slicing off cold-cuts at the deli counter, where each slice is created and joined back to the whole," said , director of GM Design Fabrication Operations. "RP technology eliminates tooling plus it permits the production and testing of multiple iterations of a part or assembly with superb precision at little to no incremental expense. It's a game-changer of epic proportion."
Selective laser sintering (SLS) machines are used to fuse plastic, metal, ceramic or glass powders in cross- sections. A laser scans a pattern on the surface of the powder, fusing the particles together adding a layer four-thousandths of an inch thick. As each new layer of powder is added, scanned and fused to the previous one the part gradually takes shape within the 28-inch-cubed reservoir. To the naked eye, the plastic used in the SLS process looks much like powdered sugar with individual grains measuring just 550 microns or about two-hundredths of an inch across.
Technicians carefully position as many jobs as they can together within that space to maximize the throughput of each build request. The SLS manufacturing process is self-supporting, meaning un-fused powder cradles the part as it is being fabricated, often without need for additional finishing or trimming.
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To the naked eye, the plastic used in the SLS process looks much like powdered sugar with individual grains measuring just 550 microns or about two-hundredths of an inch across. Technicians carefully position as many jobs as they can together within
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An 1800-pound load of plastics can be processed in an hour and almost 90% of the plastic's hydrocarbon content is converted into fuel. The remaining waste, about 2% of the original input, can be landfilled or burned for heat. JBI is looking to add more
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