Designing die inserts by additive approach: A test case

The die manufacturing industry is widely based on the use of conventional machining tools. However, several studies have proposed Additive Manufacturing (AM) for molds and die inserts in the last ten years. The AM flexibility allows designing and manufacturing complex surfaces. This flexibility can be used to optimize the cooling channels of die inserts (conformal cooling). The research aims to evaluate whether Design for Additive Manufacturing commercial tools can be employed in redesigning die inserts. Besides, the paper describes a method to redesign a die insert for High-Pressure Die Casting using Selective Laser Melting. A test case is proposed to analyze an AM die insert's redesign process for improving the thermal exchange and the material distribution. The simulation of the AM process supports the drafting conclusions from the results.