Additive Manufacturing of Tooling for Use in Mass Production Processes

3D printing is increasingly being used for the fabrication of customised parts for use in biomedical applications. However, the number and type of regularity approved resins is limited, and it cannot reach the economies of scale observed with traditional mass production processing techniques such as injection moulding and blow moulding. Nevertheless, it can still play a vital role in the development of biomedical products and tools for their mass production. Both academic and industry research teams have successfully utilised 3D-printed printing of tools for a variety of applications and have shown that it is a viable alternative to metallic tooling for short product runs. Using this hybrid system where the tools are 3D printed for use in mass production processes, trials can be run using the resin and process desired for the production of the final biomedical part. Its quick production times can simplify design iterations while ensuring the functionality of final parts. Due to the layer-by-layer nature of manufacture, 3D printing has also enabled optimisation of tools through the incorporation of conformal cooling channels which can increase manufacturing efficiencies. The current chapter give a brief outline to injection moulding and blow moulding, which are two of the most common production techniques for biomedical parts. It further discusses the importance of cooling of these parts and how conformal cooling can benefit cycle times. Finally, a number of case studies are outlined which highlight some of the current research in this field.