Originally was placed at http://ltk.hut.fi/~koukka/RP/rptree.html
[ Russian ]
[ Next version of "The whole RP family tree" in wiki (under development)]

The whole RP family tree

Methods are mostly sorted by nature of material


TRY ALSO THIS: Rapid Prototyping System Selector

= Method not commercially available anymore or research is ended
= Method under research
= Commercial method
= Equipment manufacture
= Link checked

LIQUIDS

PHOTOCURABLE LIQUIDS CURING BY LIGHT THROUGH MASKS
Solid Ground Curing (SGC) by Cubital Inc.
    Dead link, look to Internet archive
(?) Design-Controlled Automated Fabrication (DESCAF) by Light Sculpting Inc.
Rapid Micro Product Development (RMPD) by MicroTEC
Microstereolithography by Ecoles Polytechniques f?d?rale de Lausanne (EPFL)

CURING WITH A VISIBLE LIGHT LASER

Mark 1000 by Quadrax Laser Technologies Inc. (company merged to 3D Systems 1992)

CURING WITH AN UV-LASER (SINGLE BEAM)1

StereoLithography (SLA)2 by 3D Systems
Stereolithography by Aaroflex Inc.
Stereolithography by Russian Academy of Sciences
Stereos (Stereos line was sold to 3D System 1997) by EOS
LMS by Fockele & Schwarze
Solid Laser Diode Plotter System (SLP) by Denken
Solid Creation System (SCS) by Sony/D-MEC
Soliform by Teijin-Seiki
UniRapid by Unirapid Inc.
Solid Object Ultra-Violet Laser Plotting (SOUP) by Mitsubishi/CMET
Meiko by Meiko
Air Bubble Stereolithography by Osaka Sangyo University

CURING WITH TWO LASER BEAMS SIMULTANEOUSLY

Holographic Interference Solidification by Quadtec
Beam Interference Solidification by Batelle Development Corporation
Photochemical Machining by Formigraphics Inc.

CURING BY VISIBLE LIGHT WITH A DVD-DEVICE

Direct Photo Shaping (DPS) by SRI International (1998-2001)
    Dead link, look at Internet archive

HYBRID, COMBINING INKJET-TECHNIQUE AND CURING WITH AN UV-LAMP

Objet 3D-printer by Objet Geometries Ltd.

ELECTRICAL CONDUCTING LIQUID (ELECTROLYTE)

ELECTROPLATING
Electrochemical Fabrication (EFAB) by Information Science Institute, University of Southern California

WATER

FREEZING OF WATER
Rapid Freezing Prototyping (RFP) by University of Missouri - Rolla

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POWDERS

MELTING OF POWDER SINTERING WITH A HEAT TRANSFERRING LASER
Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) by DTM Corporation (was sold to/eat by 3D System at 2001), dead link, web site content lost: Internet archive can't show history
SLS (Solid Imaging Solutions) by 3D Systems
Direct Plastic/Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) by EOS
Selective Laser Sintering of Ceramics by Rheinisch-WestfДlische Technische Hochschule Aachen
Selective Laser Reaction Sintering (SLRS) by University of Texas
Direct Metal Fabrication (DMF) by Rockwell Scientific
Compacted-powder SLS by The University of Manchester

MELTING WITH A HEAT TRANSFERRING LASER

Laser Engineered Net Shaping (LENS) by Optomec/Sandia National Laboratories (nowadays method is called DMDS - Direct Material Deposition System)
Lasform by AeroMet
Direct Metal Deposition (DMD) by Precision Optical Manufacturing/The University of Michigan
Direct Light Fabrication (DLF) by Los Alamos National Laboratory
Controlled Metal Buildup (CMB) by Fraunhofer IPT
Direct Light Fabrication by University of Birmingham's School of Metallurgy and Materials
Laser Aided Direct Rapid Prototyping (LADRP) by University of Central Florida
Laser-aided Powder Solidification / Powder Jet (LAPS-J) by Institute fЭr Strahlwerkzeuge (IFSW), The University of Stuttgart
USING CONVENTIONAL SINTERING AND HIP Freeform Powder Molding (FPM) by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)
BINDING POWDER BY ADHESIVES METHODS BASED ON MIT's 3D PRINTING
3D-Printing by Z Corporation
(?) Direct Shell Production Casting (DSPC) by Soligen (1992-2004?)
Prometal by ExOne
There is also two other firms which have 3DP licence. Therics makes medicine (time release pills) and Specific Surface uses 3DP to produce ceramic filters for power plants.

EXTRUSION OF CERAMICS WITH MELTED BINDER
Fused Deposition of Ceramics (FDC) by Rutgers University

OTHER METHODS
Topographic Shell Fabrication (TSF) by Formus
Multiphase Jet Solidification (MJS) by Fraunhofer IFAM and Fraunhofer IPA

[Back to the top]


SOLID MATERIALS

EXTRUSION OF MELTED MATERIAL

EXTRUSION OF PLASTICS
Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) by Stratasys
Melted Extrusion Manufacturing (MEM) by CLRF, Tsinghua University/Fang Ming Da Co.
Contour Crafting (CC) by Dr. Khoshnevis, University of Southern California

METHODS BASED ON WELDING

Shape Melting by Babcock & Wilcox
Shape Welding by Thyssen Ag
3D Welding by Cranfield University
Droplet Welding (DROW) by AeroChem Research Laboratory, Division of Titan Corp.

SPRAYING OF METAL Incremental Fabrication by Incre Inc.
Recursive Mask and Deposit MD* by Carnagie Mellon University

EXTRUSION & MILLING OF MULTIPLE MATERIALS
Shape Deposition Manufacturing (SDM) by Carnegie Mellon University

INKJET TECHNIQUES Multi Jet Modeling by 3D Systems
3D Plotting by Solidscape Inc. (formerly known as Sanders Prototype Inc.)
Ballistic Particle Manufacturing (BPM) by BPM
Liquid Metal Jetting by University of Texas
Photo Chemical Machining (PCM) by Texas Instruments

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SHEETS

BOND-FIRST LAMINATION

CUTTING MATERIAL WITH A LASER
Laminated Object Manufacturing (LOM) by Helisys Inc.
Curved-layer LOM by University of Dayton and Helisys Inc.
Laminated Object Manufacturing (LOM) by Landfoam Topographics
Slicing Solid Manufacturing (SSM) by CLRF, Tsinghua University
Computer-Aided Manufacturing of Laminated Engineering Materials (CAM-LEM) by CAM-LEM Inc./Case Western Reserve University
LOM which uses ceramic material by Ceramic Composite Inc.

CUTTING MATERIAL WITH A KNIFE
Paper Lamination Technology (PLT) by Kira Corporation

CUTTING MATERIAL WITH A MILLING MACHINE
Layer Milling by Helsinki University of Technology / Pro Tooling Oy

CUT-FIRST LAMINATION

CUTTING MATERIAL WITH A LASER
Laser Profiling Machine (LPM) by Liptool Ltd

CUTTING MATERIAL BY WATER
TruSurf by Gilmore Engineers Pty Ltd

CUTTING MATERIAL WITH A KNIFE
Offset Fabrication by Ennex Corporation
JP System 5 by Schroff Development Corporation

CUTTING MATERIAL WITH A HEATED ELECTRODE HotPlot by Sparx AB

CUTTING MATERIAL WITH A MILLING MACHINE
Staratoconception by Charlyrobot / Cirtes

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GAS, ATOMS AND OTHER ODD STUFF

MISCELLANEOUS

GAS
Gas Phase Deposition (GPD) by University of Texas
Laser-Assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition (LCVD) by Georgia Institute of Technology
Selective Area Laser Deposition (SALD) by University of Connecticut
Selective Laser Reaction Sintering (SLRS) by University of Connecticut and University of Texas
Laser Assisted Selective Area Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (huh?) LASAMOCVD by University of Connecticut

INDIVIDUAL ATOMS OR MOLECULES
Manipulation of individual atoms with a scanning tunnel microscope by Eigler and Schweizer, IBM Inc.
Molecular nanotechnology by Institute for Molecular Manufacturing

[Back to the top]


MISC

RESEARCH IN CHINA

CASTINGS
Patternless Casting Modeling (PCM) by Center of Laser Rapid Forming, Tsinghua University

MACHINE FOR ALL KIND OF METHODS

M-220, Chinese machine for SSM, MEM, SLA, SLS, PCM, etc. by Center of Laser Rapid Forming, Tsinghua University [Back to the top]

Footnotes:
1 These methods are more or less same as stereolithography. Back
2 Yes, I know that SLA refers to an apparatus, but an acronym SLA is more familiar to masses than SL. Back

All data has been collected from following resources:

Internet
Direct contacts to persons
Rapid Prototyping Mailing List, rp-ml
Rapid Prototyping Report by CAD/CAM Publishing
State of The Industry Report by Terry Wohlers, Wohlers Associates
Automated Fabrication by Marshall Burns, Ennex Corporation
Rapid Prototyping and Tooling by David Atkinson, The University of Nottingham
Proceedings of SFF Symposium 1997, Austin Texas
Proceedings of Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing '98, Dearborn Michigan
DISCLAIMER
Please do not read this list as word of God. I'm only a human and mistakes are more than possible.

Page originally was composed by Henri Koukka, Helsinki University of Technology, Lahti Centre.
All comments and questions are more than welcome
laser [at] shatura.laser.ru

Updated 2th of June 2006

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