Rapid parts prototyping brings duckbill dinosaur to life
Ford used its rapid parts prototyping expertise to create a life-size model of Leonardo, a 77-million-year-old duckbill dinosaur fossil found in Montana. Leonardo is considered one of the most complete brachylophosaurus dinosaur fossils uncovered to date.
Rapid prototyping allows Ford to generate three-dimensional solid models of complicated virtual designs and parts such as engine manifolds quickly and economically. In the case of the pro-bono Leonardo work, the technology was used to create a prototype of the fossil that’s ready for molding and casting.
To recreate Leonardo, Ford used a process called Stereolithography Apparatus, which uses intersecting laser beams to solidify a ‘vat’ of engineered liquid plastic. The lasers scan through the vat and build a solid model layer by layer with very fine resolution – as fine as 10 one-thousandths of an inch.
A documentary crew visited Ford’s Non-Destructive Evaluation Laboratories to film the process. The show is scheduled to air on the Discovery Channel later this year.
The replicas created from the Ford prototype likely will tour the world, including the U.S., Asia and Europe for at least six years.
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"Leonardo is an once-in-a-lifetime discovery with skin, internal soft tissue and even intact stomach contents. If we would have had to create a typical mold and cast of Leonardo like we do with most dinosaur fossils, we could have greatly damaged him, especially his delicate skin," said Joe Iacuzzo, Leonardo project manager.
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