Edson Costa Santosa, Masanari Shiomia, Kozo Osakadaa Department of Mechanical Science and Bioengineering, Osaka University, Japan Tahar Laoui School of Engineering and Built Environment, University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton, UK

This paper presents an overview on the various research efforts deployed in the past decade or so towards the manufacture of metal components by different laser processing methods using different commercial machines. The materials and applications suitable to rapid manufacturing of metal parts by these techniques are also discussed.

KU Leuven, J.P. Kruth, P. Mercelis, L. Froyen, M. Rombouts

Laura Castillo, AIMME (Instituto Tecnológico Metalmecánico), Valencia, Spain

M. Shellabear, EOS GmbH Electro Optical Systems, Germany / O. Nyrhilä, EOS Finland, Finland

The paper highlights the Direct Metal Laser-Sintering (DMLS) technology and especially materials development for RM. In the past two years the range of materials commercially available for DMLS has greatly increased. Driven by the increasing RM interest, an overview is given on recent metal materials corresponding to materials commonly used in conventional manufacturing.

P. Berce1, H. Chezan1, N. Balc Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Department of Manufacturing Engineering, Romania

The paper presents the manufacturing process of the custom implants, used for skull reconstruction.

Medical applications are some of the most interesting applications of the rapid prototyping and manufacturing technologies. These technologies are able to produce a physical model of the anatomic structures, which is very useful for diagnosis, surgery planning, training, and for design and manufacture of the custom implants.

Soumya Banerjee & Prof. David Ian Wimpenny, RP & RM Group, Faculty of Computing Sciences & Engineering, DeMontfort University, UK

G.E. Knoppers, J. Dijkstra, W.P. van Vliet, TNO Science and Industry, The Netherlands

RM utilizes the application of different materials in parts by stacking a sequence of layers. Based on the requirements of the part, mixtures of materials, so-called Functionally Graded Materials, can be used to compose the product functionality. TNO developed a new computer tool which enables the user to specify Functionally Graded Materials.

Dr. Martin Hedges, Neotech Services MTP, Germany

This paper, originally presented at the  "Cost Effective Manufacture via Net Shape Processing"  NATO-RTO AVT - 139 conference introduced the Laser Engineered Net Shaping (LENS)technology for RM, modification and repair of aerospace and defence components in high performance materials such as titanium, nickel, cobalt and steel alloys.           

Klas Boivie, NTNU, Department of Production and Quality Engineering, Norway

Roald Karlsen, SINTEF Technology and Society, Production Engineering, Norway

Casper van der Eijk, SINTEF Materials and Chemistry, Metallurgy, Norway

Presented at The 17th Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium, August 14.-16. 2006, Austin, Texas, USA

The Metal Printing Process (MPP) is a novel Rapid Manufacturing process under development at SINTEF and NTNU (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) in Trondheim, Norway. This paper addresses some of the most critical material issues at the current development stage of MPP, and the present solutions to these.

Dr.-Ing. Dirk Godlinski,  Fraunhofer-Institut für Fertigungstechnik und Angewandte Materialforschung (IFAM)

T. Laoui, S. K. Shaik, University of Wolverhampton, UK E. Santos, K. Osakada, M. Shiomi, M. Morita, F. Abe, University of Osaka, Japan N.K. Tolochko, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Belarus

This paper discusses the influence of various process parameters on the characteristics of medical implants made by laser forming involving both laser sintering and laser melting. The mechanical properties of the laser processed medical implants are reported.

Laura Castillo, AIMME (Instituto Tecnológico Metalmecánico), Valencia, Spain

This paper deals with a few general questions:

• What is Rapid Manufacturing?How Does Additive Layer Manufacturing Work?
• Why is RM becoming so important to the UK Economy?
• Why is RM different to traditional manufacturing?How will RM affect the traditional supply chain?
• How did we get to where we are today?
• The polymeric to metallic RM divide? So what are the processes available for ‘direct’ metallic RM?

Slavko Dolinsek, University of Ljubljana & RTCZ, Slovenia; Chris Lewis Jones, Delcam plc, United Kingdom, Rafael Valero, AIJU, Spain; Anton Gerrits, TNO Science & Industry, The Netherlands

The ambitious scope of the European initiative CUSTOM-FIT, a Framework 6 Integrated Project, is to create a fully integrated system for the design, production and supply of individualized products. Personalized to fit geometrically and functionally the requirements of the citizen for (initially) the medical & consumer goods sectors.

J.-P. Kruth, B. Vandenbroucke, J. Van Vaerenbergh, P. Mercelis

Division PMA, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium

Kenny Dalgarno, University of Leeds, UK

This paper outlines the current state of the art in the customisation of medical devices and implantable parts and systems, presents details of some projects which are ongoing at the University of Leeds, and outlines future research directions in this field.

In this paper the author looks beyond these „traditional engineering metrics? of process selection, into the socio-economic benefits of RM and how the technology can be used to enable entire new business models and supply chains.

The paper looks at where RM can add value across the product life cycle, from customer engagement and new supply chain configurations to new service and supply models. The paper looks at the environmental and societal benefits of RM and how the technology can and will be used to respond to shifting global demographic and economic patterns, such as the aging population, increasing fuel costs, limited natural resources and ever changing consumer trends.

P.Fischer, V.Romano, University of Bern, Switzerland
H. Weber , S.Kolossov, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland

Ana Cruz García, Instituto de Biomecánica de Valencia, Spain

The objective of this paper is to present a new service concept of Simulation Service Provider for orthopaedic surgery (ORTHOSIM), aimed at the health community and implant industry. ORTHOSIM service shall offer virtual analyses the implant behaviour after implantation in a customized implant-patient configuration. It will be presented in e-challenges.

F. Klocke, C. Wagner, C. Ader, Fraunhofer-Institute of Production Technology IPT, Germany

SINTEF, Casper van der Eijk, Olav Åsebø, Øyvind Kolnes, Terje Mugaas, Roald Karlsen, Rune Skjevdal and Klas Boivie.

Lodererová Michaela, Steidl Josef, Rybníček Jan, Horník Jakub, CTU, Czech Republic
Godlinski Dirk, Fraunhofer IFAM , Germany
Dourandish Mahdi+, Sharif University of Technology, Iran.

Ralf Schindel  FHS Hochschule für Technik, Wirtschaft und Soziale Arbeit, St. Gallen, Switserland

Philip Delamore, Research Fellow London College of Fashion

High performance football boots for professional players have the potential to take the proof-of-concept of an approach focusing on highly individualized products to a market success. At the same time, they point to a long term strategy to enable the development of the manufacturing technologies involved to a cost and performance level that would serve in the production of consumer products on a mass customization scale.

This paper presents the background, motivation and research targets of a research project dealing with various finishing technologies to influence the performance of laser sintered parts with the focus on football boot out soles for professionals.