Metal 3D printed conformal cooling injection mold productivity increases by 30%

3D Systems' metal additive manufacturing process and Cimatron mold design software have resulted in significantly reduced cooling cycles for mold inser.

Large temperature changes during the injection cooling cycle can greatly increase the risk of part warpi.

To achieve this, B&J Specialty engineers used 3D Systems' Cimatron® software for mold design, with internal cooling waterways designed to conform to the surface of the pa.

The new Conformally Cooled mold insert reduces temperature variation to 18˚C during cooling and reduces mold shrink cycle time from 1 minute to 40 seconds, increasing overall productivity by 3

According to Jarod Rauch, the ProX® DMP 300 can control tolerances from 1/3,000th to 1/4,000th of an inch

Suboptimal cooling water paths lead to large temperature variations

Conformal cooling molds use modern technology to solve long-standing proble.

B&J Specialty has redesigned the car's ducts to increase cooling efficiency, featuring multiple irregular surfac.

In the past, component manufacturers have addressed this problem by extending the cooling cycle to ensure the part is fully cured before removing it from the mold, and adjusting the inserts to allow for some warpa.

Compared with the traditional straight cooling water circuit, the metal 3D printing conformal cooling water circuit reduces the temperature change by 86%

Mold Improvement with Conformal Cooling Circuits

According to Jarod Rauch (Information Technology and 3D Printing Manager at B&J Specialty), automotive piping is a good example of an improved conformal cooling design that can improve part quality, reduce scrap rates, and shorten cooling cycl.

B&J Specialty presented this solution to a customer (an automotive supplier) who agreed to test the new meth.

Rauch said that B&J Specialty came into contact with Cimatron software while researching the application of conformal cooling to metal 3D printe.

After working with Cimatron, B&J Specialty engineers abandoned the original straight cooling water circuit and replaced it with a conformal cooling water circuit that maintains a constant distance from the surface of the pa.

Such features ensure turbulent flow, further increasing the heat transfer from the mold to the coolant, making cooling more efficie.

Set expectations with accurate simulation

B&J Specialty engineers then imported the mold files from Cimatron software into Moldex3D (injection molding simulation software) for overall cooling simulati.

        The simulation process also pointed out some key areas for improvement, and the cooling strategy of these key areas can be redesigned before actual producti.

Cimatron is fully compatible with Moldex3D, allowing us to easily simulate the injection molding process so that designs can be evaluated digitally

        3D printed mold inserts with conformal cooling waterways

        B&J Specialty engineers then used 3D Systems 3DXpert™ metal additive manufacturing software to design the mold insert in preparation for producti.

        The ProX DMP 300 uses a high-precision laser head using 3D Systems LaserForm® materi.

B&J Specialty uses conformal cooling water to increase production efficiency by 30% with direct 3D metal printing

        “The ProX DMP 300 excels at creating conformal cooling water circuits because of the high level of precision,” Rauch sa.

“We can allow tolerances of 1 part in 3,000 to 1 part in 4,00” 3D Systems’ patented direct metal printing (DMP) technology allows us to use smaller particles of material to create the finest details and thinnest walls thi.

The final part surface roughness of 5μm (200Ra microinch) can be achieved without much post-processi.

        Production efficiency is greatly improved

        After printing, B&J Specialty used a blue-ray 3D scanner to scan the insert into 3D Systems Geomagic® Control X™ inspection metrology software to overlay the mesh over the designed geometry to validate the metal 3D printed mold inse.

The inserts are then sent to the automotive supplier, who installs the inserts on the moulding machi.

        Rauch said: “Benchmark results show that the conformal water circuit makes the cooling process more uniform, thus shortening the cooling cycle time and increasing production efficiency by 3
The shortened cooling cycle time due to conformal cooling reduces the injection pressure, resulting in Die life is greatly improved, which in turn reduces parting line wear and intricate detailing of the d.

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