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Application and modelling of hybrid stereolithography injection mould tooling

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posted on 2008-07-30, 07:43 authored by Daniel C. Attanasio, Neil Hopkinson, Ralf Kehrberger, Ashok Sridhar, Gerd Witt
The use of stereolithography (SL) to make injection moulding tools has been shown previously to be an efficient way of producing rapid tools for simple geometries, aiming at small lot sizes with an acceptable degree of accuracy. This paper highlights the unexplored potential of using SL inserts in hybrid tools using practical experiments and FEA mould filling models. The practical experiments reveal problems incurred by uneven flow as a result of differential thermal conductivity between dissimilar mould materials in a hybrid tool. The FEA flow models confirm that this uneven flow would be anticipated when using FEA software. A further FEA stress analysis predicts that catastrophic mould failure will be expected under some conditions and these reflect the results found in the practical experiments. The use of a homogeneous SL tool eliminates the issues caused by uneven mould filling but results in thermal distortion of the female mould. Ultimately a SL tool backfilled with low melt point alloy provides a solution that eliminates the problems of uneven filling and thermal distortion.

History

School

  • Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering

Citation

ATTANASIO, D.C. ... et al, 2006. Application and modelling of hybrid stereolithography injection mould tooling. Virtual and physical prototyping, 1(3), pp 197-206 [DOI: 10.1080/17452750600924614]

Publisher

© Taylor & Francis

Publication date

2006

Notes

This is a journal article. It was published in the journal, Virtual and physical prototyping [© Taylor & Francis]. The definitive version is available at: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/17452759.asp

ISSN

1745-2767;1745-2759

Language

  • en