It is well known that aluminum is a popular raw material for manufacturing. Rapid prototyping is also very popular with engineers for new products.
How does Aluminum Rapid Prototyping work?
For a new product to be successful in today’s fast-paced market, a short time to market is crucial. This doesn’t mean that errors can’t happen during the development phase. On paper, a product may seem good, but have functional or even aesthetic issues. In the case of a product already sent out for mass production, this can be a costly problem. In order to make sure your product works as designed and has a design that appeals to your target customers, it is vital that you can create a working prototype.
Because of this, rapid prototyping should be an integral part of the development process for new products. Extrusion companies with excellent tooling have an on-site lab with CNC machines, metal stamping equipment, and experienced engineers on staff to help with the process.
What are the benefits of aluminum rapid prototyping?
Rapid prototyping is a great application for aluminum for several reasons. In addition to being inexpensive, it has an excellent strength-to-weight ratio and is more suitable for testing designs in a real-life environment. The benefit of using aluminum for prototyping is that aluminum extrusion dies can accommodate an almost infinite variety of shapes, sizes, and thicknesses at a fraction of the cost of using metals such as steel.
It is also possible to design and produce an aluminum extrusion die in one or two weeks instead of the twelve weeks (or longer) required to set up tooling for castings and injection molding machines.
What are the benefits of aluminum rapid prototyping?
As aluminum is widely used in many industries, a rapid prototyping process is often considered to be a dress rehearsal for a product’s mass production. The following industries use aluminum extensively:
- Electronics– Many electronics industry components such as heat sinks, component brackets, cases, and many other thermal management parts are manufactured from aluminum. This makes rapid prototyping for these parts and products an excellent fit to include in the product development process.
- Aerospace & Defense– These industries use aluminum for many parts, structural components, enclosures, and more.
- Automotive– This industry relies on aluminum for the high-volume production of parts such as panels, interior trim, and other hardware.
- Mold Making– Aluminum works well for creating carbon fiber or thermal forming molds for these processes because it is a lot less expensive and time-consuming than constructing an injection mold.
Looking for an Excellent Aluminum Rapid Prototyping Company?
Don’t look any further than Preferred Tool. Our aluminum extrusion services are used to develop aluminum prototypes for a wide range of products across the industry spectrum.
