State of the art in rapid prototyping

Rapid prototyping has quickly grown in use and importance in industrial applications during the past decade. Rapid prototyping, though a relatively new discipline, has proven to be a valuable tool in the reduction of the time and cost associated with developing new products. This paper summaries the working principle and compares the application fields, machining cost and process parameters for four typical RP technology. The author discusses the significant performance for modern industry, analyses the merits and faults and indicates the development object for RP technology.