3D printing application in mold industry

The global manufacturing industry is ushering in a transformation, and what is driving this transformation is the constantly emerging new manufacturing technology, and 3D printing plays an extremely important part in it. In the “China Industry 4.0 Development White Paper”, 3D printing is listed as a key high-tech industry. As a new additive manufacturing technology, compared with the traditional subtractive manufacturing process, 3D printing has its unparalleled advantage, such as shortening production cycle, reducing production cost, greatly shortening research and development cycle, and diversified design and customization.

The mold industry is closely related to various fields of manufacturing. Countless products are made by molding madding or urethane casing In the production process of molds and products, 3D printing can participate in all aspects of mold production. From the blow molding stage of molding (blow molding, injection molding, core, etc.), casting mold (molding, sand mold, etc.), molding (thermoforming, etc.), assembly and inspection (testing tools, etc.). In the process of directly making molds or assisting in making molds, 3D printing can effectively shorten the production cycle of products, reduce production costs, make mold design more flexible, and meet the personalized production of molds. At present, the domestic 3D printing technology mainly focuses on the design verification of early mold products, the production of mold templates and the direct production of conformal water-cooled molds.

The most important application of 3D printers in the production of direct molds is conformal water-cooled molds. 60% of the product defects in traditional injection molds come from the inability to effectively control the mold temperature, because the cooling process takes the longest time in the entire injection process, and an effective cooling system is especially critical. Conformal cooling means that the cooling water path changes with the geometry of the cavity surface. Metal 3D printing conformal cooling water path molds provide a wider design space for mold design. The cooling efficiency of conformal cooling molds is significantly better than traditional mold Waterway design, generally speaking, cooling efficiency can be increased by 40% to 70%.

Traditional water cooling mold 3D printed water cooling mold

3D printing with its high precision (the maximum error can be controlled within ± 0.1mm / 100mm), high efficiency (finished products can be produced within 2-3 days), low cost (in terms of single-piece production, the cost is only 20%-30% of traditional machining) and other advantages, also widely used in the inspection tool industry. A trading company in Shanghai engaged in casting, due to problems with the matching of products and inspection tools, re-made inspection tools using a 3D printing scheme, thereby quickly finding and solving problems at a very low cost.

3D printing inspection tool assists size verification
If you have a need for 3D printing molds or want to learn more about the application of 3D printers in the mold industry, please feel free to contact us!