Abstract
To reduce the lead time and costs for developing short run production injection moulding tools the potential of additive manufactured mould inserts is investigated. These hybrid moulds are compared to conventional steel-based moulds, considering mechanical and thermal differences. For part production and insert material, respectively polypropylene and polyamide12 manufactured by Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) are chosen. Moldex3D simulation results show that lower clamping forces and injection pressures are sufficient upon using MJF inserts due to a 20 times lower thermal diffusivity compared to conventional steel, resulting in thinner skin layers and increased solidification times. Practical injection moulding parameters have been optimized by reducing the cooling time with 75 seconds (60%) using forced convectional cooling at 15 °C. Core and cavity inserts show a deviating cooling behaviour linked to the higher amount of insert material and presence of steel. The wear of the mould inserts is minor after producing 360 parts..
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