Additively manufactured injection mould tooling incorporating gradient density lattice structures for mass and energy reduction
The benefits of reducing the mass of injection moulding (IM) tooling include opportunities to also reduce material and energy consumption of the Additive Manufacturing L-PBF (Laser Powder Bed Fusion) processes, leading to lower overall costs for the IM setup. This provides a competitive advantage an...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.
2025-07-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Lightweight Materials and Manufacture |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2588840425000307 |
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| author | Rokas Šakalys Christopher O'Hara Mandana Kariminejad Albert Weinert Mohammadreza Kadivar Bruno Zluhan Karl Costello Marion McAfee Gerard McGranaghan Ramesh Raghavendra David Tormey |
| author_facet | Rokas Šakalys Christopher O'Hara Mandana Kariminejad Albert Weinert Mohammadreza Kadivar Bruno Zluhan Karl Costello Marion McAfee Gerard McGranaghan Ramesh Raghavendra David Tormey |
| author_sort | Rokas Šakalys |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The benefits of reducing the mass of injection moulding (IM) tooling include opportunities to also reduce material and energy consumption of the Additive Manufacturing L-PBF (Laser Powder Bed Fusion) processes, leading to lower overall costs for the IM setup. This provides a competitive advantage and reduces the environmental impact of the tool-making process in comparison to manufacturing heavier IM tooling. Mass reduction of tooling by using complex internal geometries like lattice structures, which are impossible to achieve using subtractive fabrication approaches, can be easily implemented through additive manufacturing (AM). Therefore, this research exploits the combination of lattice structure design and AM to make functional IM tooling. A tooling design with solid infill was initially modified with a lattice structure of uniform strut thickness, and then Finite Element (FE) Structural Analysis was performed to estimate the stress field typical of an injection mould cycle. Based on these results, a field-driven approach was further applied to alter the lattice structure into a variable gradient strut thickness lattice, aiming for an additional mass reduction. The tooling was additively manufactured using L-PBF technology and successfully applied in the IM process. Mass reductions of 21.86 and 23.95 % were achieved for moving and fixed halves respectively; this corresponds to laser energy savings of 11.06 and 13.44 %. The tooling demonstrated complete functionality during the industrial IM process producing parts within the design specification. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-dfd00e848b4b4abbb049e4439dc2bd4d |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2588-8404 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal of Lightweight Materials and Manufacture |
| spelling | doaj-art-dfd00e848b4b4abbb049e4439dc2bd4d2025-08-20T03:17:03ZengKeAi Communications Co., Ltd.International Journal of Lightweight Materials and Manufacture2588-84042025-07-018452253610.1016/j.ijlmm.2025.03.007Additively manufactured injection mould tooling incorporating gradient density lattice structures for mass and energy reductionRokas Šakalys0Christopher O'Hara1Mandana Kariminejad2Albert Weinert3Mohammadreza Kadivar4Bruno Zluhan5Karl Costello6Marion McAfee7Gerard McGranaghan8Ramesh Raghavendra9David Tormey10I-Form, The SFI Research Centre for Advanced Manufacturing, John Hume Institute, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland; South Eastern Applied Materials (SEAM Research Centre), South East Technological University, IrelandI-Form, The SFI Research Centre for Advanced Manufacturing, John Hume Institute, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland; Centre for Precision Engineering Material and Manufacturing Research (PEM Research Centre), Atlantic Technological University, Ash Lane, Sligo, F91 YW50, IrelandI-Form, The SFI Research Centre for Advanced Manufacturing, John Hume Institute, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland; Centre for Precision Engineering Material and Manufacturing Research (PEM Research Centre), Atlantic Technological University, Ash Lane, Sligo, F91 YW50, IrelandI-Form, The SFI Research Centre for Advanced Manufacturing, John Hume Institute, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland; Centre for Precision Engineering Material and Manufacturing Research (PEM Research Centre), Atlantic Technological University, Ash Lane, Sligo, F91 YW50, IrelandI-Form, The SFI Research Centre for Advanced Manufacturing, John Hume Institute, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland; Centre for Precision Engineering Material and Manufacturing Research (PEM Research Centre), Atlantic Technological University, Ash Lane, Sligo, F91 YW50, IrelandSouth Eastern Applied Materials (SEAM Research Centre), South East Technological University, IrelandSouth Eastern Applied Materials (SEAM Research Centre), South East Technological University, IrelandI-Form, The SFI Research Centre for Advanced Manufacturing, John Hume Institute, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland; Centre for Precision Engineering Material and Manufacturing Research (PEM Research Centre), Atlantic Technological University, Ash Lane, Sligo, F91 YW50, IrelandI-Form, The SFI Research Centre for Advanced Manufacturing, John Hume Institute, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland; Centre for Precision Engineering Material and Manufacturing Research (PEM Research Centre), Atlantic Technological University, Ash Lane, Sligo, F91 YW50, IrelandI-Form, The SFI Research Centre for Advanced Manufacturing, John Hume Institute, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland; South Eastern Applied Materials (SEAM Research Centre), South East Technological University, IrelandI-Form, The SFI Research Centre for Advanced Manufacturing, John Hume Institute, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland; Centre for Precision Engineering Material and Manufacturing Research (PEM Research Centre), Atlantic Technological University, Ash Lane, Sligo, F91 YW50, Ireland; Corresponding author.I-Form, The SFI Research Centre for Advanced Manufacturing, John Hume Institute, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.The benefits of reducing the mass of injection moulding (IM) tooling include opportunities to also reduce material and energy consumption of the Additive Manufacturing L-PBF (Laser Powder Bed Fusion) processes, leading to lower overall costs for the IM setup. This provides a competitive advantage and reduces the environmental impact of the tool-making process in comparison to manufacturing heavier IM tooling. Mass reduction of tooling by using complex internal geometries like lattice structures, which are impossible to achieve using subtractive fabrication approaches, can be easily implemented through additive manufacturing (AM). Therefore, this research exploits the combination of lattice structure design and AM to make functional IM tooling. A tooling design with solid infill was initially modified with a lattice structure of uniform strut thickness, and then Finite Element (FE) Structural Analysis was performed to estimate the stress field typical of an injection mould cycle. Based on these results, a field-driven approach was further applied to alter the lattice structure into a variable gradient strut thickness lattice, aiming for an additional mass reduction. The tooling was additively manufactured using L-PBF technology and successfully applied in the IM process. Mass reductions of 21.86 and 23.95 % were achieved for moving and fixed halves respectively; this corresponds to laser energy savings of 11.06 and 13.44 %. The tooling demonstrated complete functionality during the industrial IM process producing parts within the design specification.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2588840425000307Additive manufacturingMass reduction of injection moulding toolingInjection mouldingMass and laser energy savingsSustainability |
| spellingShingle | Rokas Šakalys Christopher O'Hara Mandana Kariminejad Albert Weinert Mohammadreza Kadivar Bruno Zluhan Karl Costello Marion McAfee Gerard McGranaghan Ramesh Raghavendra David Tormey Additively manufactured injection mould tooling incorporating gradient density lattice structures for mass and energy reduction International Journal of Lightweight Materials and Manufacture Additive manufacturing Mass reduction of injection moulding tooling Injection moulding Mass and laser energy savings Sustainability |
| title | Additively manufactured injection mould tooling incorporating gradient density lattice structures for mass and energy reduction |
| title_full | Additively manufactured injection mould tooling incorporating gradient density lattice structures for mass and energy reduction |
| title_fullStr | Additively manufactured injection mould tooling incorporating gradient density lattice structures for mass and energy reduction |
| title_full_unstemmed | Additively manufactured injection mould tooling incorporating gradient density lattice structures for mass and energy reduction |
| title_short | Additively manufactured injection mould tooling incorporating gradient density lattice structures for mass and energy reduction |
| title_sort | additively manufactured injection mould tooling incorporating gradient density lattice structures for mass and energy reduction |
| topic | Additive manufacturing Mass reduction of injection moulding tooling Injection moulding Mass and laser energy savings Sustainability |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2588840425000307 |
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