EVALUATION ANALYSIS OF METAL EPOXY COMPOSITE (MEC) MOLD INSERTS IN RAPID TOOLING FOR INJECTION MOLDING
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11113/jurnalteknologi.v88.24620Keywords:
Rapid Tooling (RT), Hybrid Mold Inserts, Metal Epoxy Composite (MEC), Injection Molding; Cycle TimeAbstract
Developing mold inserts for Rapid Tooling (RT) using Metal Epoxy Composite (MEC) material offers a commercially viable alternative for injection molding applications. However, existing research on actual MEC mold performance and the quality of the molded parts produced is limited. This study aims to analyze the performance of MEC mold inserts for injection molding applications, focusing on their cooling efficiency and the quality of molded parts produced. An indirect RT method was employed to fabricate MEC mold inserts, with a filler composition of 60% wt. Core and cavity inserts were designed with integrated cooling channels and tested using an injection molding machine. Cooling time was measured experimentally and compared to simulation results obtained via Moldflow software. The experimental findings revealed an average cooling time of 23.3s for the MEC mold inserts, compared to 21.9s in the simulation. Molded Parts with MEC inserts demonstrated improved tensile modules and reduced elongation compared to those molded parts with P20 steel mold inserts. However, the value difference is insignificant and still lies within the acceptable limits. This research contributes to the body of knowledge by providing practical insights into the fabrication and performance of MEC mold inserts using RT techniques, demonstrating that MEC is a promising material for RT applications in injection molding, with competitive performance characteristics.
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