2023-09-19 22:00:00
Polymer additive manufacturing is growing rapidly in different sectors such as the automotive, medical and aeronautics sectors.
Polymer additive manufacturing has established itself as an essential means for producing prototypes or models. Printing a prototype makes it possible to handle a part before launching the manufacture of more expensive metal tools, which will be used for the manufacture of large series.
Polymer additive manufacturing, however, remains a delicate process for mass production. Although numerous counter-examples exist, polymer additive manufacturing does not make it possible to achieve production rates competitive with plastic injection and series of more than 1,000 parts are rare.
Furthermore, in certain areas, parts obtained by additive manufacturing do not meet customer requirements: mechanical performance and durability are not equivalent to those of an injected part, the surface condition does not allow the use of the same metallization techniques and material grades are different from those used in injection. The transition from a part produced in plastic injection to a part in additive manufacturing remains a challenge for the plastic processing industry: it is necessary to requalify a material and readjust a design in order to adapt to the constraints of the process.
However, polymer additive manufacturing can also bring flexibility and agility to conventional plastics processing processes (injection, thermoforming, extrusion): it is possible to print imprints of complex geometries as well as their thermal regulation channels ( injection molds, shapers or thermoforming molds) in a very short time and at a controlled price: injection tooling up to 300 cm3 can be produced in less than 24 hours. While the conventional manufacturing of metal tools requires several steps (machining, wire cutting, electroerosion, texturing), additive polymer manufacturing makes it possible to reduce the number of steps and thus bring reactivity to the manufacturing of polymer tools . On the other hand, the tools produced have a limited lifespan compared to conventional metal tools, particularly when using abrasive materials, and lower productivity: the polymer being insulating, the plastic material-tool heat transfer will be lower and the time required for the plastic to cool is therefore increased. Today, polymer additive manufacturing mold inserts are therefore not suitable for mass production (series greater than 5,000 pieces).
In this article, the different polymer material/additive manufacturing technologies couples available for the tooling application are briefly presented. Then, concrete cases of use in injection, thermoforming and extrusion are described in order to give an overview of the technology and its interest for plastic processing. These examples are followed by a technical-economic analysis. Finally, the advantages and limitations of the technology are summarized in a conclusion.
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