Design and fabrication of conformal cooling channels in molds: Review and progress updates

Feng, Shaochuan; Kamat, Amar M.; Pei, Yu

doi:10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2021.121082

Cited by 117 publications

(76 citation statements)

References 144 publications

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“…Considering the relatively high cost of nickel and microalloy additions to these steels, the circular economy possible with additive manufacturing (AM) provides material savings, inasmuch as the recycling of the 18Ni maraging steel powder promises [4]. Additive processing of 18Ni maraging steels is also of avid interest for architecting conformal channels [5,6] for transpiration cooling, so as to mitigate partial reversion of martensite into austenite [7], as well as the accompanying strength losses and geometric instabilities [5,[8][9][10][11], especially during cyclic/extended service at elevated temperatures. To date, this improved cooling efficiency-which was made possible in maraging steel parts designed with novel conformal channels and fabricated using metal AM technologies (particularly with LPBF processing)-has reduced process cycle times in injection molding [12] of plastics and, more recently, in high-pressure die casting of metals [13], where the pressures and temperatures are significantly greater.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Maraging Steel Produced Using Hybrid Additive/Subtractive Manufacturing

Sarafan

Wanjara

Gholipour

et al. 2021

JMMP

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Hybrid manufacturing is often used to describe a combination of additive and subtractive processes in the same build envelope. In this research study, hybrid manufacturing of 18Ni-300 maraging steel was investigated using a Matsuura LUMEX Avance-25 system that integrates metal additive manufacturing using laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) processing with high-speed machining. A series of benchmarking coupons were additively printed at four different power levels (160 W, 240 W, 320 W, 380 W) and with the integration of sequential machining passes after every 10 deposited layers, as well as final finishing of selected surfaces. Using non-contact three-dimensional laser scanning, inspection of the final geometry of the 18Ni-300 maraging steel coupons against the computer-aided design (CAD) model indicated the good capability of the Matsuura LUMEX Avance-25 system for net-shape manufacturing. Linear and areal roughness measurements of the surfaces showed average Ra/Sa values of 8.02–14.64 µm for the as-printed walls versus 0.32–0.80 µm for the machined walls/faces. Using Archimedes and helium (He) gas pycnometry methods, the part density was measured to be lowest for coupons produced at 160 W (relative density of 93.3–98.5%) relative to those at high power levels of 240 W to 380 W (relative density of 99.0–99.8%). This finding agreed well with the results of the porosity size distribution determined through X-ray micro-computed tomography (µCT). Evaluation of the static tensile properties indicated that the coupons manufactured at the lowest power of 160 W were ~30% lower in strength, 24% lower in stiffness, and more than 80% lower in ductility relative to higher power conditions (240 W to 380 W) due to the lower density at 160 W.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Maraging Steel Produced Using Hybrid Additive/Subtractive Manufacturing

Sarafan

Wanjara

Gholipour

et al. 2021

JMMP

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“…Tool channel design in this work was based on human design, contrasted with basic FE modelling. Based on the results of the current work, it is worth noting that the use of FEM-based or even AI-based design methodologies, such as the literature references [ 6 , 7 , 12 ] could lead to optimized solutions and to overall better cooling efficiency in very complex cases.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…In recent years Additive Manufacturing and 3D printing have experienced considerable improvements both on technical results and on cost competitiveness. Their inclusion in forming tools of tailor-designed cooling solutions has been already explored in detail in the plastic molding industry, where the advantage provided by an increase in cooling efficiency quickly translates into shorter cooling time and therefore higher production rate [ 6 , 7 ]. These technologies were already identified as potential ways to obtain complex cooling circuits in press hardening [ 5 ] and significant effort is being dedicated to evaluate their feasibility, with works as early as in 2014 [ 8 ]; a comprehensive review was recently (2020) produced by Chantzis et al [ 9 ], identifying the interest of the application despite the lack of formal experimental studies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Pilot Demonstration of Hot Sheet Metal Forming Using 3D Printed Dies

Pujante¹,

González

Garcia-Llamas³

2021

Materials

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Since the popularization of press hardening in the early noughties, die and tooling systems have experienced considerable advances, with tool refrigeration as an important focus. However, it is still complicated to obtain homogeneous cooling and avoid hot spot issues in complex geometries. Additive Manufacturing allows designing cavities inside the material volume with little limitation in terms of channel intersection or bore entering and exit points. In this sense, this technology is a natural fit for obtaining surface-conforming cooling channels: an attractive prospect for refrigerated tools. This work describes a pilot experience in 3D-printed press hardening tools, comparing the performance of additive manufactured Maraging steel 1.2709 to conventional wrought hot work tool steel H13 on two different metrics: durability and thermal performance. For the first, wear studies were performed in a controlled pilot plant environment after 800 hot stamping strokes in an omega tool configuration. On the second, a demonstrator tool based on a commercial tool with hot spot issues, was produced by 3D printing including surface-conformal cooling channels. This tool was then used in a pilot press hardening line, in which tool temperature was analyzed and compared to an equivalent tool produced by conventional means. Results show that the Additive Manufacturing technologies can be successfully applied to the production of press hardening dies, particularly in intricate geometries where new cooling channel design strategies offer a solution for hot spots and inhomogeneous thermal loads.

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“…According to Ma et al (2007), a good low-cost alternative is to use highly resistant epoxy resin molds. Another advantage of the use of epoxy resin molds is that it allows the manufacturing of high complexity geometry molds with conformal cooling networks which cannot be easily obtained by conventional drilling in metal molds (Feng et al 2021). In the literature, there are studies on the use of these alternative tools.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Epoxy-Copper Composite Materials for Injection Mold Optimal Design: a Low-Run Production Simulative Study

Rodríguez-Alliende

Ramos‐Grez

Miranda

2021

Process Integr Optim Sustain

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Mold injection is an expensive manufacturing method; it involves several engineering-design hours and expensive alloys. Enabling the use of low-cost mold tooling can turn low-run productions economically and sustainably viable. There is a lowcost and more environmentally amicable alternative to injection molding for low-run productions based on epoxy resin molds. However, one drawback is the polymeric nature of the epoxy material, which possess low thermal conductivity, negatively affecting the injection process and thus quality of the molded pieces; as well as its low degradability rate. An opportunity arises for improving the performance of epoxy resin molds by studying the effect of embedding thermally conductive fibers in the matrix. The methodology used in this work consisted in the computational evaluation of a series of molds of composite material models built up from epoxy resin and copper fibers in different geometrical shapes and orientations. Injection simulations were carried out using the software Moldflow and the "effectiveness" of the injected parts was assessed (i.e., injection cycle time, percent volume shrinkage, and injected part deflection). Results suggest that embedding copper fibers within the epoxy matrix resin molds lowers the injection cycle time and reduces volumetric shrinkage while maintaining the deflection amplitude of the injected parts; optimum effectiveness results were obtained when copper is embedded as long fibers oriented along the principal heat flow direction. Moreover, epoxy resin can be replaced by up to a 70% volume of copper fibers, depending upon wall thickness and geometry complexity, thus lowering the impact this resin has on the environment.

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Design and fabrication of conformal cooling channels in molds: Review and progress updates

Cited by 117 publications

References 144 publications

Evaluation of Maraging Steel Produced Using Hybrid Additive/Subtractive Manufacturing

Evaluation of Maraging Steel Produced Using Hybrid Additive/Subtractive Manufacturing

Pilot Demonstration of Hot Sheet Metal Forming Using 3D Printed Dies

Epoxy-Copper Composite Materials for Injection Mold Optimal Design: a Low-Run Production Simulative Study

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