Injection Molding Tooling Fabricated by 3D Printing

摘要

3D Printing can be used to create metal tooling for forming processes such as injection molding directly from a computer model. This paper presents several examples of tools made of 316 stainless steel powder and a bonds infiltrant. The focus of this paper is on the ability to create tooling with internal structure which can be used for thermal management during the forming operation. Tools with cooling channels have been fabricated and have been shown to produce results far superior to tools with conventional straight drilled cooling channels.