3D PRINTING | INNOVATION
3D printing: the next move
Injection moulders can now make use of 3D printing for production as well as prototyping and mouldmaking. Peter Mapleston reports on processes and new materials
Additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing, call it what you will, what matters to injection moulding companies is that it provides them with another weapon in their development and manufacturing armoury. AM can now be considered a mature industrial process that deserves its place in injection moulding operations. Options increase and improve, both in terms of
the materials available and the equipment they can be processed on. Often, developers from both sides are working together to create fit-for-purpose solutions. So whether you want to create proto- types quickly, produce short runs that may or may not preface high-series production, or make development and even production moulds, there are plenty of things happening in the AM world that are worth looking at. For injection moulding companies, additive manufacturing has the potential to be used in several parts of the development and manufactur- ing operation. First and foremost, it can be used for production of prototypes, functional and non-func- tional. AM can also be used to produce limited
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commercial runs of a part, either before the company moves onto high series production with traditional injection moulding, or simply because the demand for the part is limited, and AM is the most cost-effective option. Then there is the use of AM in injection moulding
moulds, but here the discussion is generally about AM with metals. Because AM can be so much faster and versatile than machining, it is great for produc- tion of such things as conformal cooling channels for example. Metal AM can also be used to produce cavity and core inserts that fit into the cavity and core plates that make up the bulk of the mould. But AM can also be used to produce injection moulds in plastics. There’s nothing new about using plastics to make core and cavity inserts for tradi- tional injection moulds, but it’s not really the application that plastics are made for, since the temperatures and pressures involved in the process normally mean that the inserts will last only for a few cycles. But what if the inserts were specifically designed to last for one cycle only? Enter Addifab. Addifab has recently begun a collaboration with
Main image: Part or prototype? 3D printing materials and processes can make both, as well as injection moulds
June 2022 | INJECTION WORLD 29
IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK
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