Manufacture of Near Net Shaped 3-Dimensional Components for Industrial Applications

The development of near net shape 3-Dimensional products for industrial applications has been one main goal for Manufacturing Industries over the last few decades. Processes such as polymer blow moulding and its various stages of development, glass forming, extrusion, forging, centrifugal and sand casting, bulge forming and vacuum forming are typical processes that have contributed to this development. Current practices centre on Surface coatings, Rapid Prototyping, laser forming and nanotechnology manufacture of complex 3-D shapes and assemblies. The work described in this paper is a new and highly efficient and cost effective technique for producing 3-Dimensional thin walled shapes by using compressed gases to form and shape molten materials in a mould or die. A number of rectangular and cylindrical shapes have been produced to prove the concept and it proves to be successful in manufacturing near net shaped 3-D components of industrial standard.