Abstract
RP techniques have their unique characteristics according to the working principles : star-stepped surface of parts due to layer-by-layer stacking low build speed caused by line-by-line solidification to fish one layer and post processing to improve surface finish etc The objective of this study is to propose a new RP technique Variable Deposition Mnanufacturing (VDM) which can make up for the disadvantages of the existing RP techniques and to develop an apparatus to implement the technique. The proposed process can greatly reduce the build time and improve the surface finish of parts generated. Experiments are carried out to obtain the range of temperature of molten material to maintain its fluidity and to investigate the effect of gas cooling on the preservation of the slopes. Some simple shapes such as a line-shape an S-shape and a circle-shape are fabricated from Ethylene Vinyl Acetatecopolymer(EVA) In order to examine the applicability of VDM to more general shapes a tensile specimen and a yo-yo shape were manufactured by the proposed RP method using EVA material as a trial approach. The current basic study shows a high potential of practical use of the proposed VDM process to prototyping of a general three-dimensional shape.
