Date on Master's Thesis/Doctoral Dissertation

7-2018

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

M. Eng.

Department

Industrial Engineering

Committee Chair

Atre, Sundar V.

Committee Co-Chair (if applicable)

Usher, John

Committee Member

Usher, John

Committee Member

Gerber, Erin

Author's Keywords

injection molding; additive manufacturing; molds; tooling; 3D printing; Laser powder bed fusion

Abstract

Laser-Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF) has been considered for some time by the injection molding industry for the fabrication of tooling for injection molding in order to address large lead times and costs for tool-making. Computer-aided simulations are also routinely used to evaluate new part and mold designs as well as understanding the effects of material compositions and processing conditions on part quality and overall productivity. However, there remains a significant need to integrate the perspectives from injection molding, 3D printing, metal powders, and component design and process simulation to better utilize LPBF for fabricating tooling required for injection molding. The present research addressed this need and built a supply-chain collaboration that used a combination of experiments and modeling to evaluate the performance of L-PBF fabricated molds as a function of machining, part design, simulation tools, material composition and conformal cooling channels. The results helped advance the understanding on the opportunities and barriers in the design and fabrication of tooling for injection molding using L-PBF.

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