Can metal 3D printing reduce the cost of mold trial production?

1. Material cost: from "cutting down on material waste" to "making better use of materials."
Traditional mould trial production uses subtractive processing, which means that less than 50% of the material is used. This is especially true for moulds with complex structures, like conformal cooling water channel moulds, which need to have internal flow channels cut off through drilling, milling, and other processes. This means that a lot of material is wasted. For example, to make a certain electric toothbrush handle mould insert, you need 2.1 kg of stainless steel, but you only get 1 kg of useful mould in the end, which means that 52% of the material is wasted.

Metal 3D printing uses additive manufacturing, which means that materials are added as needed and there is very little waste. For instance, the material utilisation rate of Yishu ESU-EM201 high thermal conductivity stainless steel powder can be more than 95%. After 3D printing the identical mould insert, just 1.05 kg of material is needed to finish the job, which cuts the cost of materials in half. Also, the leftover powder can be reused, which will lower the cost of materials over time even more.

2. The cost of processing goes from "multi-process collaboration" to "single equipment integration."
Traditional mould trial manufacturing needs a lot of steps, including cutting, EDM, wire cutting, and polishing. It also needs a lot of tools, like CNC milling machines, machining centres, and EDM machines. This means that the cost of equipment and labour is considerable. For example, making a mould for a given car part using traditional methods takes 5 sets of equipment, 3 workers, and 72 hours of work, and costs 12000 yuan.

With metal 3D printing, all manufacturing steps can be done with just one device, thus there is no need for multiple processes to work together. For example, the EP-M250 Pro dual laser metal 3D printer can spread powder in one layer in less than 8 seconds. Its highest printing speed may be 2.5 times that of the single laser 50 μm layer thickness process, and the parts' relative density is above 99.99%. After 3D printing the identical mould for an automotive part, just one machine, one operator, and 24 hours of printing time are needed. This cuts the processing cost by 67% to 4000 yuan.

3. Cycle cost: from "months of iterations" to "days of validation"
The traditional mould trial manufacturing cycle is long, especially for moulds with complicated structures that need to be tested and repaired over and over again. This might take several months. For example, it takes 6 months to go from design to trial production for a given aviation engine blade mould. During that time, 5 repairs are needed, with each repair cycle costing 2 weeks, which makes the cycle costs quite high.

Metal 3D printing makes it easy to make changes to a design and create new moulds in just a few hours, which saves a lot of money compared to "overturning and starting over." Using a certain electronic product shell mould as an example, the design team finished five iterations in three days with 3D printing. Each iteration cost only 200 yuan, while the old way took two weeks and cost 5000 yuan per iteration. Also, 3D printing allows for "on-demand production," which means that small batch orders of 1 to 1000 pieces don't need moulds, which speeds up the trial production process even more.

4. Quality Cost: From "Local Uneven Cooling" to "Global Temperature Optimisation"
The design of the typical mould cooling system is limited, which makes it hard to cool moulds with complicated structures evenly. This can lead to problems such product distortion and warping, with a failure rate of up to 15%. For a given injection mould, the traditional design of the cooling water circuit causes a 10 ℃ differential in temperature in the product, a 12% fault rate, and a quality cost that is 8% of the total cost of manufacturing.

Metal 3D printing can make a conformal cooling water circuit that spreads the heat more evenly. The spiral waterway design of the mould inserts printed by Yisu ESU-EM201 cuts the time it takes for the product to reach the top out temperature from 19.5 seconds to 13.02 seconds. It also cuts the overall temperature difference from 10 ℃ to 3 ℃, shortens the cooling cycle by 33%, lowers the defect rate to 2%, and lowers the quality cost ratio to 1.5%. In the long term, the design of conformal cooling water channels can make moulds last longer, cut thermal fatigue, and lower quality expenses even further.

5. Design optimisation: moving from "structural compromise" to "functional integration"
Traditional mould design is constrained by the technique, and making complicated structures is hard, so designers have to make compromises to keep prices down. For example, in order to make the cooling water circuit design easier, standard methods necessitate giving up mould strength, which cuts the life of the mould by 30%.

Metal 3D printing gives you a lot of versatility when it comes to design. It can make complicated shapes like flexible cooling channels and internal reinforcement ribs without losing quality. Using Audi's hot forming section mould as an example, 3D printing has improved the mold's internal design topology for cooling channels, which has increased cooling efficiency by 25% and extended mould life by 40%. 3D printing also makes it easier to create things that are light, which lowers the weight of the mould by getting rid of extra materials. This also lowers the price of materials and shipping.