Rapid freezing prototyping with water

Rapid Freezing Prototyping (RFP) with water is a novel solid freeform fabrication technique that can generate three-dimensional ice objects by depositing and rapidly freezing water layer by layer. It provides a means to build a solid part (ice part) with the potential of better performance than other solid freeform fabrication techniques in many aspects. The support, where necessary, is made of brine whose freezing point is lower than pure water. After building the part, the support can be removed by utilizing the melting temperature difference between brine and water. Preliminary experiments have shown that the ice patterns can be used for design visualization and silicone molding. This paper will present the concept and some experimental results of the RFP process as well as its potential applications. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.