Laminated injection mold die made by CO₂ laser cut steel sheets

A method for manufacturing the injection mold is introduced by using the laminated steel sheets which have cut by the CO₂ laser, CW and pulse beams. The 5 mm thick STD11 alloy tool steel sheets was cut with a laser power of 1.2 kW and the travel speeds between 0.4 and 0.7 m/min. The laminated injection molding processes with a simple mold geometry and the cooling efficiency of the kinds of mold with the filling phase and cooling analysis have been evaluated. The results show that the laminated injection mold process made by CO₂ laser cut-sheets takes much shorter time in assembly and tooling, and temperature distribution is more uniform in mold die than that of conventional method.