The effect of copper alloy mold tooling on the performance of the injection molding process

Kelly, Adrian L.; Mulvaney-Johnson, Leigh; Beechey, R.; Coates, Phil

doi:10.1002/pen.21975

Cited by 11 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…In terms of processing properties, bronze offers very good castability at moderate melting temperatures. Furthermore, bronze is relatively corrosion-resistant and has a high thermal conductivity which makes it a material of choice for variothermal injection moulding 8 , 30 . Similarly, brass has good processing properties but can also be nickel-plated without pretreatment, which results in a considerable increase in hardness 31 .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Replicative manufacturing of metal moulds for low surface roughness polymer replication

et al. 2022

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Tool based manufacturing processes like injection moulding allow fast and high-quality mass-market production, but for optical polymer components the production of the necessary tools is time-consuming and expensive. In this paper a process to fabricate metal-inserts for tool based manufacturing with smooth surfaces via a casting and replication process from fused silica templates is presented. Bronze, brass and cobalt-chromium could be successfully replicated from shaped fused silica replications achieving a surface roughnesses of Rq 8 nm and microstructures in the range of 5 µm. Injection moulding was successfully performed, using a commercially available injection moulding system, with thousands of replicas generated from the same tool. In addition, three-dimensional bodies in metal could be realised with 3D-Printing of fused silica casting moulds. This work thus represents an approach to high-quality moulding tools via a scalable facile and cost-effective route surpassing the currently employed cost-, labour- and equipment-intensive machining techniques.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Replicative manufacturing of metal moulds for low surface roughness polymer replication

et al. 2022

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“…Injection moulding is amongst the most widely used plastic manufacturing processes in industry today, mostly used for mass production of products. The injection moulding cycle comprises multiple phases; however, the cooling phase is responsible for up to 80% of the overall cycle time [2][3][4][5]. During the cooling phase, coolant is circulated through cooling channels which are designed and manufactured into the mould's cavity plates and cores, thereby cooling the molten plastic inside the mould cavities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards sustainable injection moulding using 3D printed conformal cooling channels: a comparative simulation study

Clark,

Rochman,

Refalo

et al. 2024

Prog Addit Manuf

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In recent years, studies have proven that conformal cooling channels (CCC) in an additively manufactured mould result in a more efficient and effective injection moulding process. This can be achieved since CCCs are designed to follow the contour of the part being moulded so that the surface of the part is equidistant from the channel at all points. However, no studies were found which explored the combined effect of mould material thermal conductivity and varying cooling channel designs on the cooling performance of the mould from a sustainability point of view. Within this context, a study was carried out to explore the effect of the tool material’s thermal conductivity on the performance of various CCC designs in comparison with conventional, straight drilled cooling channels. The performance of the cooling channels was analysed from a sustainability point of view by comparing the channel performances in terms of energy consumption, financial implications, and the resulting quality of the part. The results of this study showed that the higher conductivity alloys were especially effective at reducing the cycle time and improving the energy performance of the process in the conventional cooling channel designs. These materials were also capable of reducing the overall cost of the process which was calculated in terms of material costs and electricity consumption. For the CCC designs, however, the high conductivity alloys were less effective in all aspects of this analysis, namely cooling time, energy efficiency, and overall costs. However, it is worth noting that based on the melt flow simulations, the alternative materials had little to no effect on the resulting quality of the part.

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“…Experimental work with focus on the influence of the thermal properties of the mold material on cycle time, part quality, and energy consumption was presented by Kelly et al [ 4 ]. In their study, the authors compared a conventional tool steel with a thermal conductivity of 20 W·(m·K) −1 to beryllium-free copper alloys with rather high copper contents from 85% to 96% and thermal conductivities up to 208 W·(m·K) −1 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the presented work, a parameter study using the commercial injection molding simulation software Autodesk Moldflow Insight 2016 (AMI) was performed to better understand the influence of the polymer itself on the effectivity of the mold material in terms of cycle time reduction. Due to the aforementioned difficulties in temperature measurement described by Kelly et al [4] and based on the positive evaluation of the cooling simulation accuracy with the software AMI [6], a simulation approach was chosen but was still additionally attempted to validate experimentally using an IR-camera. In order to obtain a representative overview on industrially relevant materials, 18 different polymer types were investigated covering the most common polymer families also considering different morphologies (amorphous vs. semi-crystalline or unfilled vs. fiber reinforced).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of the Mold Material on the Injection Molding Cycle Time and Warpage Depending on the Polymer Processed

2021

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The thermal properties of the mold influence the cooling situation in the injection molding process. While there are experimental studies investigating the influence of special mold materials, they are limited to few polymers. In this work, an extensive parameter study with the simulation software Autodesk Moldflow Insight was performed to analyze the influence of the polymer itself on the impact of the mold steel on cycle time and warpage. The investigated part was a box with two thickness variations. A conventional mold steel was compared with a steel grade featuring approximately double the thermal conductivity. Simulations were performed with 18 polymers covering the most common material families. The main finding of this study was that the influence of the higher mold conductivity on cycle time ranged from an almost negligible reduction (3%) up to a strong effect (24%), depending mainly on the used polymers, but also on the part thickness. For the cycle time reduction, a correlation was found, with the melt, mold and ejection temperature being the dominant influencing factors of the polymers. With this correlation, it was possible to estimate the potential of cycle time reduction for other polymers. The simulations also showed a positive influence of the higher mold thermal conductivity on part warpage.

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The effect of copper alloy mold tooling on the performance of the injection molding process

Cited by 11 publications

References 23 publications

Replicative manufacturing of metal moulds for low surface roughness polymer replication

Replicative manufacturing of metal moulds for low surface roughness polymer replication

Towards sustainable injection moulding using 3D printed conformal cooling channels: a comparative simulation study

Influence of the Mold Material on the Injection Molding Cycle Time and Warpage Depending on the Polymer Processed

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