Investigation into manufacturing injection mold via indirect selective laser sintering

Cooling system of an injection mold is important for the promotion of production rate and the quality of injection plastic components. Conformal cooling channels are newly developed temperature-adjusting method to promote the efficiency of cooling system. They can be made in the injection mold inserts via the method of indirect selective laser sintering combined with traditional powder metallurgy. This work discussed some processes such as thermal transmission, powders removing, and metal melt infiltration during the manufacturing of the mold inserts in detail. The result showed that redundant powders outside of laser-scanned areas might be sintered together with the sintered parts owing to the accumulation of laser energy during sintering process. This was solved by switching the temperature to initial level after one layer had been sintered. A limit length corresponding to some certain power vacuum system was found when the removal of unsintered powders in the cooling channels was carried out. Therefore, some subsidiary channels leading the cooling channels outside were made to help the removal of powders within the cooling channels. Dripping method was adopted during metal melt infiltration process, which was proven to be relevant for maintaining of the final shape of infiltrated inserts.