Prototype specialist creates King Tut replica for US exhibition

A YORKSHIRE-based rapid prototype specialist, which works with major suppliers in the aerospace and automative industries, has created a replica of King Tut’s mummy for a major US exhibition.

Materialise UK, based at the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) in Rotherham, was contacted after the exhibit’s US tour organisers wanted to add a new centrepiece for its last stop in New York.

The organisers decided to create a replica of King Tut and commissioned Gary Staab, natural history and prehistoric model maker, to recreate the mummy.

CT scans of the Tutankhamen mummy were then imported into the Materialise software to create an exact 3D model of the actual mummy.

Having been virtually transformed, King Tut came to life on Materialise’s mammoth stereolithography machine in Belgium.

Stereolithography is a process that cures photosensitive resins by a laser that builds up the parts geometry layer by layer.

Once completed King Tut’s model journeyed to the US where Mr Staab added detail, colour, and texture to complete the replica and make it look identical to King Tut’s actual remains.

Philip Hudson, managing director of Materialise UK, said: “The fact that additive manufacturing technologies like stereolithography are being used more frequently in these types of applications is proof that the techniques and materials have improved in such a way that they can be used in production environments.

“There are also numerous industrial applications where the quantities required are too small to justify a conventional production mould investment. The use of additive manufacturing processes does not only offer obvious cost and lead-time advantages, but also provides increased design freedom and the possibility to customise products.”

King Tut’s prototyped body, as well as the other famous artifacts of his tomb, is being showcased in New York until January 2011.