Cooling configurations for rapid tooling -: "A comparison study"

With advances in solid freeform fabrication and rapid tooling methods, true conformal cooling is becoming more feasible each year. As conformal cooling becomes more commonplace, methods for comparing cooling configurations are increasingly necessary. Milwaukee School of Engineering has developed a "simulated core-cavity" which was used to compare various cooling methods. The simulated core-cavity combines many features one might find in typical molds. In addition to developing a simulated core cavity, we have also developed a test fixture for collecting heat-removal-rate information. Heat removal rate information was gathered from difficult to cool locations on each simulated core-cavity. Several cooling configurations were tested, including conformal cooling and traditional cooling. Conclusions and recommendations for the use of conformal cooling with Various tooling materials will be presented.