To achieve a certain visual quality or acceptable surface appearance in injection-molded components, a higher mold surface temperature is needed. In order to achieve this, injection molds can be dynamically tempered by integrating an active heating and cooling process inside the mold halves. This heating and cooling of the mold halves becomes more efficient when the temperature change occurs closer to the mold surface. Complex channels that carry cold or hot liquids can be manufactured close to the mold surface by using the layer by layer principle of additive manufacturing. Laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF), as an additive manufacturing process, has special advantages; in particular, so-called hybrid tools can be manufactured. For example, complex tool inserts with conformal cooling channels can be additively built on simple, machined baseplates. This paper outlines the thermal simulation carried out to optimize the injection molding process by use of dynamic conformal cooling. Based on the results of this simulation, a mold with conformal cooling channels was designed and additively manufactured in maraging steel (1.2709) and then experimentally tested.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.