Manufacture of Mould with a High Energy Efficiency Using Rapid Manufacturing Process

The aim of this paper is to investigate into the manufacturing technology of injection mould with a high energy efficiency using rapid manufacturing (RM) process. Two types of injection moulds, including thermally conductive mould with volumetric heat sink and uniform cooling mould with conformal cooling channels, were manufactured from hybrid RM process combining direct metal rapid tooling process with machining process to reduce the cooling time and the used energy in moulding of the plastic parts as well as to improve the product quality. Through the injection moulding experiments using the manufactured moulds, it was shown that the designed moulds can highly reduce the cycle and cooling times in comparison to conventional moulds with only injection tool steel and linear cooling channels. In addition, it was noted that the designed moulds can improve the qualities of the moulded product induced by uniform heat transfer from the mould surface to cooling channels. From these results, it was considered that the two types of injection mould can remarkably improve the energy efficiency and the environmental impact of the injection moulding process.