Proceedings of the
9th International Conference of Asian Society for Precision Engineering and Nanotechnology (ASPEN2022)
15 – 18 November 2022, Singapore
doi:10.3850/978-981-18-6021-8_OR-01-0250

Binder Jet 3D Printing of Complex Porous Molds for Thermoforming

YanHan Liew1, Liang Wei Low2, Dennis Wee Keong Neo3 and Su Xia Zhang1,a

1Additive Manufacturing Group, Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology, 73 Nanyang Drive, 637662, Singapore

2Polymer Technology Group, Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology, 73 Nanyang Drive, 637662, Singapore

2Joining & Machining Group, Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology, 73 Nanyang Drive, 637662, Singapore

ABSTRACT

Thermoforming involves heating a plastic sheet until it is soft and/or malleable, followed by stretching the plastic sheet against a single-sided mold; the cooled plastic sheet retains the shape of the mold. A main requirement for a quality product is that air must be extracted rapidly and efficiently from between the plastic sheet and the mold surface. Traditionally, this is accomplished with additional features in the non-porous mold, such as drilling vent holes or machining vacuum channels; such features will cause significant markings on the product, especially for thin plastic sheets. Fabrication of porous molds minimizes such issues. With the advent of binder jet 3D printing (BJP), which allows for the fabrication of porous parts with open-cell porous structures via pores-by-processing, novel designs and processes for fabricating porous molds are available. This paper aims to showcase the capability of BJP for porous tooling, including the flexibility to incorporate complex designs.

Keywords: Additive Manufacturing, Binder Jet Printing, Porous Mold, Thermoforming



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