The year is 2020. Materials and manufacturing technologies came a long way in the last century, but in the past two decades, the advancements have truly liberated the industrial designer. In particular, there have been significant strides taken in tool making, processing equipment, and high-performance resins. Let’s review the radical developments of the past 25 years and look at four examples of their application. Pressure to decrease tooling lead times inspired companies to experiment with stereolithography technology in mold making. For processing equipment, more design controls and modularity improved quality thermoplastic cyclic polyester reactive resins revolutionized very large low-pressure composite
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