Rapid prototyping - a technology transfer approach for development of rapid tooling

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to apply rapid prototyping (RP) philosophy as a technology transfer in industries to take its time and cost-effective advantages for development of rapid tooling (RT).Design methodology approach - Experimentations are performed for development of RT for sand casting, investment casting and plastic moulding applications.Findings - This paper reports the procedures developed for manufacture of production tooling using RP. A cost benefit model is developed to justify implementation of RP as a technology transfer in industries.Research limitations implications - The examples are limited to parts build by fused deposition modelling RP process. However, the concepts experimented may be applied for other RP processes.Practical implications - RP has proved to be a cost-effective and time-efficient approach for development of RT, thereby ensuring possibility for technology transfer in casting as well as plastic industries.Originality value - This is the pioneer attempt towards quantifying RP benefits, in view of technology transfer. This paper presents original case studies and findings on the basis of experimentations performed in foundries.