COOLING CHANNELS FOR MECHANICAL MOULDS VIA ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING

Abstract

The use of additive manufacturing has proven to be attractive for development of industrial mechanical moulds, allowing construction of lighter, more resistant, more watertight and much more complex molds. Due to its manufacturing characteristics, a mechanical mould needs conduction channels. Having conduction channels that follow the shape of cavity, called conformal channels, are essential to improve heat exchange performance and thus significantly improve production process, improving quality of parts and increasing mass production. The shaped conduction channels can contain several branched circuits and even capillaries if necessary. However, this is only possible via additive manufacturing. With additive manufacturing it is possible to design cooling channels around shape of part to be molded and better distribute coolant fluid reaching all important areas mould and producing parts with a much smaller cycle. Additive manufacturing technology, combined with the use of computer simulations, makes it possible to observe conduction behavior in mould after the injection of raw material. Results analyzed from simulations help finalize design conduction channels by directing and designing more efficient circuits, guaranteeing a greater amount of refrigerant according to the most demanded areas. In formative manufacturing, removing parts from mechanical moulds is a critical process, improving driving system directly impacts production and industrial profit. This research paper on design and construction of mechanical moulds with computational simulation via additive manufacturing presents results of efficiency in conduction of industrial mechanical moulds.