Is Conformal Cooling Right for You?
Conformal cooling is a working solution with proven benefits for injection molding. In addition to increasing profits by up to 55 percent, 3D Systems customers have reported the following benefits of using conformal cooling:
Improved Cycle Time
Better Part Quality
Lower Total Cost of Ownership
What Part of the Mold Should be Cooled Conformally?
Conformal cooling can benefit all types of molded parts, especially complex parts. However, you do not necessarily need to 3D print your entire mold—the key is to detect the areas that would benefit from conformal cooling and use AM only for those areas.
The primary issue with traditional cooling methods is that they can't reach the places where cooling channels are needed. Conformal cooling has the most significant effect on injection molds that are experiencing problems with warpage during production because of irregularities or imbalances in the cooling process.
Producing conformally-cooled inserts to address key problem areas in the mold is, with the right tools, straightforward and very effective.
See lf lt's Right for You
Watch an on-demand webinar to learn more about conformal coolino
including how it compares to traditional cooling processes and how
it's accomplished.
“The more even cooling provided by the conformal cooling design created with Cimatron made it possible to reduce the injection molding cycle time and increase productivity throughput by 30%.”
— Jarod Rauch, 3D Printing Manager, B&J Specialty, Wawaka, IN, USA
End-to-End Metal AM Solution for Conformal Cooling
The 3D Systems end-to-end solution for conformal cooling design and production includes:
Together they enable mold makers to detect areas that would benefit from conformal cooling channels, design the mold with an optimal combination of conventional and conformal cooling channels, 3D print the insert, and reap the time, cost, and productivity benefits of conformal cooling.