Analysis of advantages and disadvantages of 3D printing mold manufacturing
The mold industry is one of the largest industries, and it has a relationship with all areas of manufacturing. In modern society, manufacturing and molds are highly dependent, and parts of numerous products are manufactured by molding (injection, blow molding, and silica gel) or by molding (molding, sanding, and spinning). Regardless of the application, manufacturing molds can improve quality and profit while ensuring quality.
CNC machining is the most common technique used in the manufacture of molds. Although it provides highly reliable results, it is also very expensive and time consuming. So many mold manufacturers are also looking for more effective alternatives. Making molds by additive layer manufacturing (ALM, or 3D printing or additive manufacturing ) has become a more attractive method, especially since molds are generally produced in small batches and are more complex in shape, making them ideal for 3D. Print to finish.
Today, 3D printing and a variety of printing materials (plastics, rubber, composites, metals, waxes and sands) have brought great convenience to many industries, such as automotive, aerospace, and healthcare and medical. Companies are integrating 3D printing into their supply chain, including mold making.
So what benefits can be obtained mold manufacturing it from the 3D printing technology?
In fact, the following aspects of mold manufacturing are able to use 3D printing technology:
Molding (blow molding, LSR, RTV, EPS, injection molding, pulp molds, soluble cores, FRP molds, etc.)
Mold (melting mold, sand mold, spinning, etc...)
Molding (thermoforming, metal hydroforming, etc...)
Machining, assembly and inspection (fixed fixtures, mobile fixtures, modular fixtures, etc...)
Robot end effector (gripper)
There are many advantages to making a mold with 3D printing:
1) Shorter mold production cycle
3D printing molds shorten the entire product development cycle and become the source of drive innovation. In the past, companies sometimes chose to postpone or abandon product design updates because they also needed to invest heavily in new molds. By reducing mold preparation time and enabling existing design tools to be quickly updated, 3D printing enables companies to withstand more frequent replacement and improvement of molds. It enables the mold design cycle to keep pace with the product design cycle.
In addition, some companies have purchased 3D printing equipment to manufacture molds, which further speeds up product development and increases flexibility/adaptation. Strategically, it enhances the ability of supply chain defenses to extend deadlines and develop stagnation risks, such as obtaining inappropriate molds from suppliers.
2) Reduced manufacturing costs
If the cost of current 3D printing of metal is higher than the cost of traditional metal manufacturing processes, the cost reduction is easier to achieve in the field of plastic products.
Metal 3D printed dies have economic advantages in the production of small, discontinuous series of end products (because the fixed costs of these products are difficult to amortize), or for specific geometries (optimized for 3D printing) More economic advantages. Especially when the materials used are very expensive, and the traditional mold manufacturing leads to a high material scrap rate, 3D printing has a cost advantage.
In addition, the ability of 3D printing to produce precision molds in a matter of hours can have a positive impact on manufacturing processes and profits. Especially when production downtime and / or mold inventory is very expensive.
Finally, it is sometimes the case that the mold is modified after the start of production. The flexibility of 3D printing allows engineers to experiment with countless iterations at the same time and reduce upfront costs due to mold design modifications.
3) Improvements in mold design add more functionality to the end product.
In general, the special metallurgical methods of metallic 3D printing can improve the metal microstructure and produce fully dense printed parts that are as good or better than those of forged or cast materials (depending on heat treatment and test direction). Additive manufacturing offers engineers unlimited options to improve mold design. When the target part consists of several sub-parts, 3D printing has the ability to integrate design and reduce the number of parts. This simplifies the product assembly process and reduces tolerances.
In addition, it is able to integrate complex product features, enabling high-performance end products to be manufactured faster and with fewer product defects. For example, the overall quality of an injection molded part is affected by the heat transfer between the injected material and the cooling fluid flowing through the fixture. If manufactured using conventional techniques, the passages that direct the cooling material are generally straight, resulting in a slower and uneven cooling effect in the molded part.
And 3D printing can achieve any shape of cooling channels to ensure that the shape of the cooling, more optimized and uniform, ultimately leading to higher quality parts and lower scrap rate. In addition, faster heat removal significantly reduces the cycle time of the injection molding because in general the cooling time can account for up to 70% of the entire injection cycle.
4) Optimization tools are more ergonomic and improve minimum performance
3D printing reduces the threshold for validating new tools that address unmet needs in the manufacturing process, enabling more mobile fixtures and fixtures to be built into the manufacturing process. Traditionally, because of the considerable cost and effort required to redesign and manufacture them, the design of the tool and the corresponding device are always used for as long as possible. With the application of 3D printing technology, companies can refurbish any tool at any time, not just those that have been scrapped and do not meet the requirements.
Due to the small time and initial cost required, 3D printing makes it more economical to optimize tools for better marginal performance. Technicians can then design ergonomics more to improve their operational comfort, reduce processing time, and make them easier to use and easier to store. Although this may only reduce the assembly operation time of a few seconds, it can't stand up. In addition, the optimization tool design can also reduce the scrap rate of parts.
5) Customized molds help to customize the final product
Shorter production cycles, the ability to create more complex geometries, and lower final manufacturing costs enable companies to create a wide range of personalized tools to support the manufacture of custom components. 3D printing molds are very conducive to customized production, such as medical equipment and the medical industry. It provides surgeons with 3D printed personalized devices such as surgical guides and tools that enable them to improve their surgical results and reduce surgical time.
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