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Giant prototypes at high speed
Materialise is well-known in the automotive industry for its extensive knowledge in the production of large prototypes. These large components are built in one piece on our exclusive Mammoth prototyping machines and serve as fully functional parts. When several copies of large parts are needed, Reaction Injection Moulding has proven to be the ideal solution. Materialise is able to help car manufacturers gain a significant competitive advantage by providing these unique patented solutions.
We offer two techniques for giant prototypes that complement each other:
After 10 years of experience in the rapid prototyping business, the Materialise team developed a unique machine to build huge stereolithography parts in one piece. The idea of producing large components without any gluing arose out of the growing demand for extremely fast and large prototypes of superior quality. The enthusiasm behind this whole idea resulted in the creation of a Mammoth machine with a build area of 2100x650x600mm. And now, only a few years later, the Materialise machine park houses several machines producing Mammoth parts at full speed and meeting the ever growing demand for larger and larger functional prototypes.
The first Mammoth models were built in Poly1500, a resin perfectly suited for rigid, functional, large components.
A few years on, Materialise has successfully introduced a second resin in its Mammoth technology. This Tusk2700TM* is engineered for Materialise exclusively. It is a strong, rigid resin that retains properties over a variety of environmental conditions. Since many of the properties match those of extrusion grade Polybutylene Terephthalate (PBT) and transparent grade Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS), two common plastics used in manufacturing. Tusk2700 has proven to be very suitable for numerous automotive applications.
The main application of Mammoth stereolithography parts is as show and tell models or as large master elements for Reaction Injection Moulding (R.I.M.).
Besides this, these SLA parts can also be used as more functional, stronger parts through reinforcement with glass-fibre mats. This fibre reinforcement can be applied for parts such as car bumpers and interior trims.
Read more about mammoth stereolithography in our technology overview on this website
| Get a quotation for a Mammoth SLA part |
Many well-known car manufacturers and first tier suppliers have found their way to Materialise, and more specifically to the R.I.M. technology when they are in need of a small number of copies in Polyurethane (PU) of large complex parts.
Based on the SLA master part or directly milled, a resin tool is made and copies are moulded. For large automotive parts (mostly) epoxy tools with fibre backing are used. Materialise has developed a proper hybrid tooling technology that combines rigid and silicone tool halves. The flexibility of the silicone allows the moulding of limited undercuts without the need for any slides. This smart technology enables Materialise to speed up tool manufacturing.
The advantages are quite obvious: apart from the low cost and the fast availability of the parts, R.I.M. is a flexible solution for re-ordering. Automotive parts made by R.I.M. have properties close to the final product and can be made in a very wide range of materials.
R.I.M. products can be (texture) painted or coated thanks to the high-quality surface finish
Read more about R.I.M. in our technology overview on this website
| Get a R.I.M quotation |