Damage detection of 3D printed mold using the surface responseto excitation method

The life of conventional steel plastic injection molds is long but manufacturing cost and time are prohibitive for using these molds for producing prototypes of products in limited numbers. Commonly used 3D printers and rapid prototyping methods are capable of directly converting the digital models of three-dimensional solid objects into solid physical parts. Depending on the 3D printer, the final product can be made from different material, such as polymer or metal. Rapid prototyping of parts with the polymeric material is typically cheaper, faster and convenient. However, the life of a polymer mold can be less than a hundred parts. Failure of a polymeric mold during the injection molding process can result in serious safety issues considering very large forces and temperatures are involved. In this study, the feasibility of the inspection of 3D printed molds with the surface response to excitation (SuRE) method was investigated. The SuRE method was originally developed for structural health monitoring and load monitoring in thin-walled plate-like structures. In this study, first, the SuRE method was used to evaluate if the variation of the strain could be monitored when loads were applied to the center of the 3D printed molds. After the successful results were obtained, the SuRE method was used to monitor the artifact (artificial damage) created at the 3D printed mold. The results showed that the SuRE method is a cost effective and robust approach for monitoring the condition of the 3D printed molds.