China3D printingNet February 11th, now3D printingTechnology has spread throughout the entire industrial manufacturing field, and the value of this technology has become more and more obvious not only as a rapid prototyping tool. Even if they do not use additive manufacturing (AM) to produce end parts, companies are still learning the tools that can be used to manufacture their traditional production processes.In particular, due to the various benefits provided by AM in the manufacture of customized, on-demand and complex parts, it is used for injection molding and die-casting.3D printingMolds and molds have great potential.
3D printingMould
For mass production of plastic parts, the most common injection method is to inject liquid plastic into the mold under high pressure. Fill all the cavities of the mold, the plastic hardens, and then the finished parts are removed. Generally, the polymers used are thermoplastics, which melt at high temperatures and cool down after entering the mold.
The four stages of screw injection molding.
Usually, the mold is precision machined from aluminum or steel, and its cost can be as high as thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Therefore, when producing tens of thousands of parts in large quantities, injection molding is the most cost-effective.For small batches of 50 to 100 partsPlasticforming,3D printingCan be a more cost-effective option.
May choose3D printingOther reasons for mold production include short turnaround time. Printing molds can be completed in days or weeks, while molds made with CNC machines require five to seven weeks of delivery time.
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Used to make sensors3D printingPlastic molds. Image courtesy of Promolding.
According to the exact requirements of the part, the AM technology selected may not necessarily be metal. Instead, material injection and SLA can be used to make molds with high precision and good surface finish. This is especially true for smaller parts with dimensions less than 150 mm.
With aluminum frame3D printingMold. Image courtesy of Formlabs.
As 3D Hubs are3D printingAs explained in the particularly useful design guide for injection molds, aluminum frames are often used for3D printingThe plastic mold inserts provide support to resist pressure and heat during the injection molding process. Without such a frame, the mold is likely to be bent due to continuous use, but the conformal cooling channel can be more easily integrated into the plastic mold.But if you use metal first3D printingMold, don’t worry about it.
3D printingMould
Die casting is a process very similar to injection molding, except that molten plastic is replaced with molten metal. Liquid metal is injected into a metal mold under high pressure (in this case, the same as the mold), which fills the cavity of the mold and hardens to form a metal part. Die casting is usually used for a large number of small and medium-sized parts. You will find die-cast parts used in components such as belt buckles and car engines.
A 3D die-cast insert with integrated cooling channels printed by Exco Engineering. Image courtesy of Exco Engineering.
3D printingMolds have many of the same advantages as those used for injection molding using AM: rapid turnover and the ability to produce complex geometries. When the mold is used for small batch production,3D printingCan be more cost-effective.
Generally, the mold must be made of metal to withstand the high temperature and pressure in the die casting process, which is not necessarily the case for some investment casting techniques.Specialize in3D printingCompanies that use molds and inserts (used to modify molds and molds) report that it is difficult to choose the right material.Canadian company Exco Engineering sometimes chooses maraging steel instead of H13 tool steel (the latter is usually used in traditional die casting), because they have H13 made3D printingThe mold therefore has high porosity and cracking properties.However, as we will discuss in future articles, some technologies are3D printingThe use of multiple metals for molds offers the possibility of achieving certain results.
In subsequent articles in this series, we will introduce the use of injection molding and die casting3D printingSome advantages of molds and molds, as well as some specific AM processes and some specific applications used.Please continue to pay attention to China3D printingnetwork.
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