EOS GmbH Electro Optical Systems, a manufacturer of laser-sintering systems, has released a whitepaper examining the benefits of using direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) to create tooling inserts. Titled “Optimized Mold Temperature Control Procedure Using DMLS,” the study combines descriptions of molding innovations with documented field results from injection-molding projects that use tooling manufactured with DMLS. The whitepaper was written by Siegfried Mayer, application engineer, who has more than 14 years of experience in the tooling sector and is responsible at EOS for tooling and molding customers. Cooling time can account for up to 70 percent of injection molding cycle times, according to EOS. Traditional methods of creating heating/cooling channels in molds involve straight-line drilling, which is limited in its ability to develop channels that reach critical hot spots. DMLS enables built-in, conformal cooling channels that can be optimized to draw off heat more rapidly and more evenly, thus reducing cycle time and eliminating warping and other defects. According to EOS, using DMLS to create injectionmolds and mold inserts with conformal cooling can: - Increase mold productivity 20 percent and allow a 50-hour toolmaking time for a blow-mold
- Reduce cycle times from 15 to 9 seconds, enabling a 75 percent increase in productivity on a 4-bottle blow mold with DMLS inserts
- Reduce cycle time by two-thirds using a DMLS designed core, effectively cooling down a critical hot spot
Other advantages of using DMLS in toolmaking include the ability to rapidly make molding inserts with complex geometries; build tooling inserts on top of a preformed component (hybrid approach); induce and control heat/cooling fluid turbulence for optimized heat transfer; and provide heating channels to maintain a uniform mold temperature. For more information, visit EOS. Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company's website.
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