A Framework for Optimizing the Design of Injection Molds with Conformal Cooling for Additive Manufacturing

This work presents a framework for optimizing additive manufacturing of plastic injection molds. The proposed system consists of three modules, namely process and material modeling, multi-scale topology optimization, and experimental testing, calibration and validation. Advanced numerical simulation is implemented for a typical die with conformal cooling channels to predict cycle time, part quality and tooling life. A multi-scale thermo-mechanical topology optimization algorithm is being developed to minimize the die weight and enhance its thermal performance. The technique is implemented for simple shapes for validation before it is applied to dies with conformal cooling in future work. Finally, material modeling using simulation as well as design of experiments is underway for obtaining the material properties and their variations.