Modeling of cooling times for molds with conformal cooling channels and heat sinks

In injection molding and die casting, cycle time of the process is dominated by the heat transfer during the solidification and cooling of the part. Molds with conformal cooling and heat sinks with high thermal conductivity can reduce the cycle time considerably. Direct Metal Deposition (DMD) process offers the flexibility of fabrication of conformal cooling and heat sink directly from Computer Aided Design(CAD) packages. DMD uses laser to melt stream of metal powder delivered via concentric nozzle. Relative motion of the nozzle and substrate is controlled by a computer. This paper presents the cycle time calculated by a computer simulation package “Moldflow” for parts with different geometry and molds with conformal cooling and heat sinks. Such theoretical calculation can aid mold designers to make the most efficient mold.