Jan 25, 2019
From vision to rapid prototyping system with magnetorheological effect
A rapid prototyping system was developed on the basis of the vision of generating 3D surfaces from a stamp dot system in seconds, reproducing them at any time and fixing them with a magnetorheological effect. Among other things, it not only makes it possible to manufacture a wide variety of lightweight designs, but also to quickly configure and store the basic shapes of vehicle bodies in the design process. The design phase of car bodies, which has been very time-consuming up to now and often takes years, could thus be considerably shortened in the future. In addition, the tool can be used again and again.
As a result of the research first tests showed the functional efficiency of the system with newly developed miniature elements in Lego brick size, which enable the fixation and pressure absorption of the individual stamps by means of the magnetorheological effect. In the course of research, it was also possible to produce specially designed MRF dampers and locking elements of the modular system on a 3D printer with the highest precision. The individual elements can be assembled to form demand-oriented units and, depending on the application, can be designed with small to large surfaces without offsets. The MICROSTEP company from Sömmerda, the Institute for Applied Computer Science and the Institute for Automobile Engineering of the TU Dresden were involved in this ZIM project.