Study of 3D Metal Printed and Metal Filled Epoxy Materials for Rapid Tooling in Injection Molding

Abstract

Common rapid tooling techniques can be classified as indirect and direct methods. As indirect methods, casting a mixture of epoxy and metallic powder over a pattern to obtain the mold shape is currently a fast and reliable method. As direct methods, Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies such as Selective Laser Melting (SLM) can directly manufacture a mold ready for operation. Recently, progress in Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) materials have brought into play a large variety of 3D printed polymers with high percentage of fiber metals that can be more easily printed using the FDM technology instead of SLM or other more advance techniques. In this paper, a study is conducted to analyze the main characteristics of different FDM materials with metal fibers and different epoxy metal filled materials for rapid tooling in injection molding. The study analyzes the properties of these materials such as yield strength, tensile strength, thermal conductivity and wear resistance, and compares them with those from common traditional machined materials for molding such as tool steels and aluminum. Furthermore, the paper shows a comparison of costs and advantages and drawbacks of using these materials for a standard molding insert in industry.