Heterogeneous Material Additive Manufacturing for Hot-Stamping Die

Additive manufacturing (AM) has recently been receiving global attention. As an innovative alternative to existing manufacturing technologies, AM can produce three-dimensional objects from various materials. In the manufacturing industry, AM improves production cost, time, and quality in comparison to existing methods. In addition, AM is applied in the fabrication and production of objects in diverse fields. In particular, metal AM has been continuously commercialized in high value-added industries such as aerospace and health care by many research and development projects. However, the applicability of metal AM to the mold and die industry and other low value-added industries is limited because AM is not as economical as current manufacturing technologies. Therefore, this paper proposes an effective solution to the problem. This study examines a method for using direct energy deposition and heterogeneous materials, a heterogeneous material additive-manufacturing process for metals used to optimize the cooling channels and a key process in manufacturing hot-stamping dies. The improvements in the cooling performances and uniform cooling were evaluated by heat-flow analysis in a continuous process. Finally, trial products were fabricated using the proposed method, and a trial for hot stamping was conducted to examine the possibility of it being used in commercial applications.