Design of glass artifacts through rapid prototyping and rapid tooling

The actual competition environment characterized by fast variations and consumer's sharpnecessity in aesthetic satisfaction demands a constant adaptation of the companies, at thedevelopment and production levels.The production of decorating glass parts by thermoforming, with three-dimensional shapes,demands expensive moulds. The complexity associated to the manufacture of these moulds bytraditional methods represents a substantial aggravation in price and development time of thefinal product, makes their production not attractive.The present work presents adequate methodologies for glass artefacts production bythermoforming, which are based on rapid prototyping models and ceramic moulds hardenedby a sol-gel reaction (indirect rapid tooling process). This technology allows the reduction inthe time to market and opens new opportunities in the design of new and bold artefacts