Mold
Injection moulding is the technology used to mass-produce end-use parts and products. Moulds are at the heart of this process, however their development is often complex, highly expensive and time intensive. Moulds made from tool steel are used for mass production, lasting for millions of cycles. When just tens of thousands of injection moulded parts are needed, aluminium is an option. These moulds are less expensive, and faster to produce than steel tools, the lead time for which is months. But for a few hundred parts, cost effectiveness is also a concern. It is with these issues in mind that manufacturers have begun to embrace the use of 3D printed moulds to produce parts directly or, following a more recent trend, to make moulds that will be used to create functional prototypes.
Other scenario is when you need to increase productivity to millions of parts , we also support conformal cooling moulds made from DMLS which can be used for mass production, lasting for millions of cycles with reduced cycle time.