design and fabrication of multimaterial flexible mechanisms with ...

Chapter 3Cross-boundary embedding offlexible componentsAs mentioned in Chapter 1 and 2, an important advantage of SDM with respectto other rapid prototyping processes is that it is relatively easy to embed components.In comparison with commercial layered manufacturing processes such as fuseddeposition modeling and stereo-lithography, SDM has a relatively small number ofcycles, which generally correspond to transitions between upward- and downwardfacing part surfaces (with respect to the growth direction) or to changes in the partmaterial. The breaks between cycles create a natural point at which discrete partscan be added. Many examples of multi-material parts, including parts with embeddedcomponents, have been created and the process planning for such parts has beendescribed in previous work (Cham et al., 1999) (Binnard, 1999). However, a numberof unsolved problems remain. Foremost among these are the problems associatedwith embedding components that traverse material boundaries, especially when embeddingflexible components. The treatment of flexible elements that cross materialboundaries in SDM is covered in this chapter.18