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29/06/2009
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EOS GmbH Electro Optical Systems, the world-leading manufacturer of laser-sintering systems, has released a whitepaper examining the benefits of using direct metal laser-sintering (DMLS) to create tooling inserts.
 Entitled "Optimised Mould Temperature Control Procedure Using DMLS," the study combines descriptions of moulding innovations with documented field results - time and cost savings and quality increases - taken from injection moulding projects that use tooling manufactured with DMLS.
The whitepaper (see link below) was written by Siegfried Mayer, application engineer, who has more than 14 years of experience in the tooling sector and is responsible at EOS for tooling and moulding customers.
"We have been refining DMLS toolmaking techniques and materials since 1995," says Augustin Niavas, business development manager tooling. "Our technology offerings have proven their benefits to the tooling and mould making markets, particularly in injection moulding."
"Our laser-sintered mould inserts can reduce cycle times in injection moulding by up to 60 per cent," said Ralph Mayer, managing director of LaserBearbeitungsCenter (LBC) in Kornwestheim, Germany. LBC, a service provider with long years of experience in tooling, has two EOS M 270 DMLS systems in operation, successfully co-operating with mid-sized and large-scale industry clients on tooling projects. Mr Mayer adds: "Another important benefit of DMLS in injection moulding is also to cut scrap rates - in some cases from 50 per cent to zero."
Cooling time can account for up to 70 per cent of injection moulding cycle times. Traditional methods of creating heating/cooling channels in moulds involve straight-line drilling, which is limited in its ability to develop channels that reach critical hot spots. DMLS enables built-in, conformal cooling channels (pictured) that can be optimised to draw off heat more rapidly and more evenly, dramatically reducing cycle time and increasing part quality by eliminating warping and other defects.
Other advantages of using DMLS in toolmaking include the ability to rapidly make moulding inserts with complex geometries; to build tooling inserts on top of a preformed component (hybrid approach); to induce and control heating/cooling fluid turbulence for optimised heat transfer; and to provide heating channels to maintain a uniform mould temperature. Today, with tool inserts manufactured with DMLS, millions of injection-moulded plastic products and thousands of metal parts in die castings are produced.
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Author
Andrew Allcock
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