Introducing Inserts for Die Casting Manufactured by Selective Laser Sintering

Abstract The advances in additive manufacturing (AM) for high grade steels has in some cases made it possible to manufacture die inserts for demanding processes like high pressure die casting (HPDC). However, several challenges remain before this becomes commonplace. There is still a need of secondary manufacturing steps on the insert after printing. Also, extensive design changes must be made on the die inserts to fully utilize the advantages of AM. Further, the die insert is only one of many parts needed in the die assembly. Much of the die manufacturing will still be done by conventional methods. In this paper, several companies involved in the manufacturing and use of dies for HPDC have been interviewed on that they think is the future role of AM in their business. The result is that the effect of just printing the inserts would will be quite limited at present. Bringing down the time spent on die manufacture is important since that time then could be spent on improving the manufacturability of the parts.