ORIGINAL ARTICLE Design and manufacturing of parts for functional prototypes on five-axis milling machines Tammam Salloum & Bernard Anselmetti & Kwamivi Mawussi Received: 25 September 2008 / Accepted: 9 March 2009 / Published online: 31 March 2009 # Springer-Verlag London Limited 2009 Abstract This paper presents the manufacturing process for complex parts in the aim of building functional prototype mechanisms. Functional prototypes are used during testing in order to validate new product design. Their layouts are very similar to the final product, wherein lies the interest of testing many modifications. The mechanism must respect the functional geometrical require- ments and be capable of withstanding forces or, for example, ensuring a tight seal. The principle being proposed consists of decomposing the complex parts into several simple ones that can then be manufactured on a five-axis, high-speed milling machine from thick (approx- imately 40 mm) sheets made of resistant materials, notably aluminum. The problem at hand is threefold: the choice of slicing in order to avoid cutting functional areas; the choice of both positioning mode and sheet fastening mode; and lastly, the choice of machining process. This paper also presents a detailed application with a machining simulation, using CATIA (Dassault Systèmes) for a five-axis MIKRON UCP 710 milling machine. Keywords Rapid prototyping . Part decomposition . Tool accessibility . Sheet thickness . Design and machining of complex parts 1 Introduction 1.1 Rapid prototyping Rapid prototyping is a technology directly associated to computer-aided design (CAD) that allows fabricating a three- dimensional (3D) physical solid model from a 3D virtual model. According to the process used, parts can be produced using several materials, such as paper, plastic, wood, or metal, yet they are always manufactured in thin layers [1]. While virtual prototypes based on 3D models give rise to numerical simulations, physical prototypes enable actual usage and prove to be more representative of the final product because of the development of rapid prototyping techniques. A functional prototype should serve to validate, during testing, most of the functional requirements and special constraints listed in the set of specifications for application to an operational situation. Prinz and colleagues [2] described several thermal deposition processes for directly fabricating prototype metal shapes using robotically manipulated material deposition systems. A robotic palletizing/part transfer system is also described which integrates multiple deposition and shaping processes into a single facility for rapidly manufacturing functional shapes. Hur et al. [3] studied a new form of hybrid rapid prototyping system, which performs both deposition and machining at a single station. Their proposed system fulfills the requirements of material deposition (rapid prototyping) and material removal (machining) at the process planning and manufacturing levels. This system offers an optimal manufacturing solution by incorporating the dual advantages of rapid prototyping and computer numerical controlled (CNC) systems. These authors describe system architecture and the fabrication process in detail and present the process planning system framework and geometric algorithm con- cepts involved in developing such an environment. Today, prototype parts built from powder or liquid do not possess the sufficient mechanical properties or dimen- sional quality to be placed into operational mechanisms. The latest technologies have just begun to offer such possibilities, i.e., direct metal laser sintering (DMLS). Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2009) 45:666–678 DOI 10.1007/s00170-009-2013-z T. Salloum (*) : B. Anselmetti : K. Mawussi ENS de CACHAN, University Paris 11 & 13, Cachan, France e-mail: tammam.salloum@lurpa.ens-cachan.fr