Laser micromachining for mould manufacturing: II. Manufacture and testing of mould inserts

Abstract

PurposeLaser milling is a non‐conventional layer‐by‐layer material removal technology suitable for machining a wide range of materials. This technology is particularly suitable to produce microstructures inside cavities, also obtained by other conventional processes, though with larger material removal rates, or for the direct development of microcavities not requiring high removal rates. This paper seeks to evaluate the capacity of laser milling for manufacturing of mould inserts.Design/methodology/approachThe paper examined several specific features of laser milling, important for the manufacturing of mould inserts, such as walls verticality, unselected illuminating areas, due to an incorrect STL removal volume definition, aspiration process and orientation, to prevent welding of re‐solidified particles on the surface. Two mould inserts were produced too, assembled on a metallic mould frame and tested with different injection conditions.FindingsThe findings suggest that laser milling is a suitable technology to produce small mould insert for injection moulding, though injection conditions are different as one moves from macroscopic to microscopic injected parts. New design guidelines must be undertaken jointly with the assessment of laser milling performance to make mould microcavities. One of the major difficulties of this process is to keep the side walls vertical plus the generation of undesirable machined volumes, due to unselected illuminating areas below the STL volume, corresponding to the volume to be removed, whenever laser milling is used to operate with structures previously machined. To prevent welding of re‐solidified particles on the surface a proper aspiration must also be considered.Originality/valueThe paper describes the benefits of laser milling technology.