Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing in motorsports

[admin]

Rapid prototyping is the process via which any physical object is automatically constructed, using solid free-form fabricating methods. In the world of motorsports, rapid prototyping methods have significantly advanced, leading to a much more efficient manufacturing process.

The earliest Rapid prototyping methods were developed in the late 1980s, when models and prototype parts of cars were designed. In the 21st century, rapid prototyping and manufacturing process in motorsports is a world apart from the earliest techniques.

Solid freeform fabrication methods are used in the manufacturing of solid objects by a series of delivery of energy or material to particular points, in order to construct that solid.

Rapid prototyping and manufacturing in motorsports involve the use of solid freeform fabrication techniques to arrive at the physical model of the sports vehicle, which begin with a blueprint of the final aerodynamic design of the same.
This design is taken from the drawing board to the computer,

The initial stages of the design of any motorsports vehicle comprise of rapid prototyping on virtual design platforms such as computer aided design packages, or 3-D animation modeling software. Such software allows designers to take the initial design and transform them into virtual cross sectional patterns, which are then recreated in physical space side by side, so as to form the complete model.
This WYSISYG (acronym for a computer terminology) process establishes an identical correspondence between the virtual model and the model in 3D space.

There are additional parameters added to the basic virtual 3D graphic design package, which prompts the manufacturing machine to read data from the CAD design, and lay down successive layers of projected material that go into making the vehicle.
This include liquid, powder or sheet material, represented at first as horizontal cross sections corresponding to the CAD model as designed by engineers, which are then fused automatically to form the final shape of the vehicle. With such a procedure, engineers can easily create any sort of shape they wish to, and especially in the context of motorsports create the optimal aerodynamic shapes.

The typical data interface between the CAD software and the manufacturing machine is the STL file format.
The STL file determines an approximate shape of any vehicle part or assembly by employing triangular units. These tiny units produce a high quality finished surface, with a much greater realistic similarity between the virtual and the physical model.
There are solid freeform fabrication methods using two different materials in the process of constructing parts. The first of these is the part material, with the second being that of the support material. The support material holds up the suspended features during construction, which is then removed by heat or dissolved with a solvent.
There are various different prototyping technologies available today, including the Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), and 3D Printing (3DP), among others.

Materials manufacturers are by now using advanced technology as well, giving rise to bring about a drastic improvement in the overall quality of the rapid prototyping and manufacturing product. Commercially used materials for the rapid prototyping and manufacturing of motorsports vehicles, include carbon filled WINDFORM® XT.

In the world of motorsports, time is everything, and with competitive stakes so high, every team wants to be ahead when it comes to the designing, wind tunnel testing, and race track testing of their vehicle. The sooner the model is built, the sooner can it be tested for the tracks, hence the emphasis on rapid prototyping and rapid manufacturing.

The aerodynamic testing in the wind tunnels is a major element in the entire manufacturing procedure, which is arrived at only after a successful rapid prototyping of the final assembly of the vehicle is done.