Extrusion Freeforming of Nylon 6 Materials

Numerous commercial rapid prototyping (RP) processes are capable offabricating complex shaped components. These processes build prototypes "from the ground up" by first reducing a CAD design ofthe desired prototype to a series ofgeometrical slices followed by the precise sequential deposition ofraw material layers upon one another. Unfortunately, these RP processes are limited to producing prototypes from polYmers that exhibit inferior mechanical properties compared to commercial engineering thermoplastics. Consequently, there are significant advantages in extending the materials processing capabilities ofRP technology into the realm ofproducing tough, high strength functional prototypes from engineering polYmers.