Study of laminated object manufacturing with separately applied heating and pressing.

To improve the hot-pressing process currently employed in laminated object manufacturing (LOM), an innovative heating-and-pressing separation system is proposed, and heat transfer problems of this system are investigated. A thermal model is first established. It is solved numerically by the finite element method (FEM) software ANSYS, and verified by experiments. Based on the numerical solution under various operating conditions, it is found that the operating temperature of an adhesive can be reached quickly when the heater is maintained at a higher temperature, corresponding to a deeper heat-affected zone. This shortcoming can be effectively reduced if the speed of the heater is increased. Hence, a higher heater temperature together with a higher moving speed is suggested to shorten processing time and promote manufacturing efficiency. Through analysis, the appropriate distance between the roller and the heater, so as to obtain finished parts of high quality, is determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]