
In recent years, 3D printing has hugely developed with a positive impact on technology upgrades in various industries. At the same time, with the popularity of 3D printing and the reduction of equipment prices, it is gradually being adopted by more and more companies, as well as personal use.
The application of 3D printing technology in mold manufacturing has shown many successful cases. Taking the automobile manufacturing industry as an example, automobile molds need to go through dozens of processes under traditional manufacturing methods, which is time-consuming and costly. With the help of 3D printing technology, the manufacturing time of automobile molds can be greatly shortened, and it can also quickly respond to design changes, improve production efficiency and reduce costs. Through additive manufacturing, automobile manufacturers can customize unique molds for each model to achieve personalized production. Similar applications can also be found in aircraft manufacturing, medical device manufacturing and other fields.
3D printing shortens mold making cycle
The traditional mold manufacturing method requires drawing design, process review, manufacturability analysis, design process, programming, processing and other processes. It requires the participation of many people and tools, and the cycle is long. Through computer modeling and rapid printing, 3D printing can quickly and effectively verify designs, optimize solutions, speed up the product development process, and bring enthusiasm to enterprises for new product development and product innovation.
3D printing used in the injection mold making
Rapid prototyping: Traditional mold manufacturing often requires making a physical model for verification and testing. With the help of 3D printing technology, accurate model prototypes can be quickly produced for design evaluation, functional testing and assembly inspection. This saves time and cost and increases design accuracy. In the past, the patterns served as the basis for optimizing the tooling for later injection molding processes. In the past, injection molds were usually produced by machining from steel or aluminum and then hardening. This takes a lot of time and is expensive. Now, through 3D printing, the cost can be greatly reduced and the development phase can be shortened. The possible problems of design that may occur in the future production process can be prevented and timely improved because the later improvements in the late period of the project will cause a great waste of resources.
Conformal cooling: Using additive manufacturing processes to produce complex geometries such as free-form surfaces, undercuts, and cavity injection molds is easier than before. More popular is the application of metal 3D printing in the field of conformal cooling to build the complicated shape and profit from the much higher productivity about 30% to 70%, it is amazing technology in the tooling industry.
Manufacturing molds with complex structures: 3D printing technology can create molds with complex structures, such as molds with internal cavities, small structures or curved shapes. Compared with traditional processing methods, the use of 3D printing technology can more easily realize these complex structures, reduce restrictions in the manufacturing process, and improve the production efficiency of molds.
Customized mold manufacturing: Through 3D printing technology, customized molds can be manufactured according to specific needs. Different customers or products may have different shapes, sizes and special requirements, and traditional mold manufacturing often requires a lot of time and resources. Using 3D printing technology, customized molds that meet the requirements can be quickly manufactured by directly converting CAD files into 3D printer instructions.

Usual 3D printing technologies
SLM: Selective Laser Melting
SLM 3D printing, which is one of the metal 3D printing technologies, mainly uses uses high-power lasers with excellent beam patterns. Its laser power density is extremely high and can completely melt metal powder. During daily printing, you only need to use professional software to layer the CAD three-dimensional model slices into two-dimensional cross-sections and plan the scanning path; then use a scraper to evenly spread the powder to the laser processing area, and the computer will control the laser beam through the scanning galvanometer. To selectively melt the metal powder and obtain the entity corresponding to the cross-section, the elevator descends a thickness, repeats the above operation, and finally stacks up layer by layer to form a three-dimensional entity that is the same as the model.
SLA: stereolithography
SLA is the earliest rapid prototyping process. The principle is based on the photopolymerization of liquid, photosensitive resin. The liquid material can rapidly undergo photopolymerization under the irradiation of ultraviolet light of a certain wavelength (x = 325 nm) and intensity (w = 30 mw). The molecular weight sharply increases, and the material changes from a liquid state to a solid state.
SLS: Selective Laser Sintering
SLS, also known as selective laser sintering, was developed in 1989 by C.R. Dechard of the University of Texas at Austin. SLS is formed using a powdered material. The material powder is spread on the upper surface of the formed part and scraped; the high-strength CO2 laser is used to scan the cross-section of the part on the freshly laid layer; and the material powder is sintered together under high-intensity laser irradiation to obtain The section of the part is bonded to the formed part below; when the section is sintered, a new layer of material powder is applied, and the lower section is selectively sintered.
FDM: Fused Deposition Modeling
Fused Deposition Modeling, main materials ABS and PLA The material of the FDM process is generally a thermoplastic material such as wax, ABS, PC, nylon, etc., which is fed in the form of a filament. The material is heated and melted in the spray head, which moves along the cross-sectional profile and fill path of the part while extruding the molten material. The material solidifies quickly and bonds to the surrounding material. Each layer is stacked on the upper layer, which plays a role in positioning and supporting the current layer.
What are the common materials for 3D printing?
1. Metallic material
The metal material exists in the form of metal powder, metal foil, and wire. Metal materials can be used in industrial-grade 3D printers, such as selective laser sintering (SLS), direct metal laser sintering (DMLS), and electron beam melting (EMB). By adding the metal to certain engineering plastic materials (such as ABS), it can be made into a wire with certain metal properties suitable for FDM models.
2. Plastics
Plastic materials are widely used in 3D printing. The FDM plastic 3D printer is characterized by high strength, high wear resistance, heat resistance, non-toxicity, and no pollution. The more common plastic materials are ABS, PC, and PLA.
3. Photosensitive resin
Due to its fast curing speed, the photosensitive resin has excellent surface dryness, and the product has a smooth appearance after molding and can be transparent to translucent frosted. Due to its good liquid flow and instant photocuring properties, liquid photosensitive resin is the material of choice for 3D printing consumables for high-precision product printing.
4. Ceramic powder
The ceramic powder material is sintered by SLS technology. The glazed ceramic products can be used to hold food. Using ceramics to print personalized cups and then burning them at high temperatures after printing
5. Graphene
Graphene is the new darling of the material industry. It is the world's thinnest and hardest new nanomaterial. Scientists have combined it with 3D printing technology to refill new 3D-printed materials. Scientists believe that 3D-printed graphene materials are a magical material that will change the world forever.
The advantages of 3D printing and mold making
The advantages of 3D printing and mold making
Injection Molding is required to produce plastic parts. Then the plastic will be injected into the mold cavity. After a short cooling period, the finished plastic part is deformed. This process can be repeated as needed and can efficiently produce hundreds of thousands of plastic parts.
However, the process of manufacturing an injection mold is a time- and cost-intensive one. To do this, first create a model in the CAD area. The NC program is then created in the CAM department. In production, the electrode needs to be machined and then used to etch the mold.
However, if you want to quickly produce the first prototype or small series, the above process usually takes too much time. Here, 3D printing has important significance for mold making.
Automation of additive manufacturing
When we look at the production of an industrial company, we frequently discover that robots or handling systems frequently automate the manufacturing process from one step to the next. With current technology, additive manufacturing still requires a large amount of manual work. Thus, 3D printing represents a breakthrough in the traditional manufacturing process.
The automation of the plastic injection molding process has not yet been achieved. In the past, additive manufacturing did not focus on automation. Rather, it was about the fast and flexible creation of a prototype. However, as long as 3D printing can produce a large number of products, the subject of automation and process integration will be on the agenda.
Challenges from 3D printing
However, 3D printing technology still faces some challenges in mold manufacturing. At present, the material selection and mechanical properties of 3D printing technology still need to be improved. Mold manufacturing has very high requirements on materials, which need to have high temperature resistance, wear resistance, high strength and other characteristics. However, existing 3D printing materials often cannot meet these requirements. In addition, the price of 3D printing equipment is relatively high, and for some small and medium-sized enterprises, the investment cost is relatively high. However, with the continuous advancement of technology and reduction of costs, 3D printing technology will gradually become the mainstream in the field of mold manufacturing.
To sum up, 3D printing technology is accelerating the revolution in mold manufacturing and bringing huge changes to the traditional manufacturing industry. With the continuous advancement of technology and reduction of costs, it is believed that 3D printing technology will be more widely used in mold manufacturing in the future. The mold manufacturing industry needs to actively embrace this technological innovation and continuously improve its technical level and innovation capabilities to cope with future challenges. Only by continuous innovation can we remain invincible in the fiercely competitive market.