Mould Engineering Solutions for Small Series Production

Solutions that require a closed mould and high pressures for plastic injection are usually put aside to produce large polymeric parts in small quantities, due to the inherent costs of the required mould. A direct consequence of this fact is the potential constraint of product design issues like weight saving, aesthetic freedom, high dimensional precision and surface finishing. To overcome these difficulties new approaches are needed regarding low-cost mould solutions for the injection moulding process.
One of the possibilities, on the technology field, is the use of metal spraying technologies for the construction of the core and cavity of the mould. Using a case study, this paper presents the investigation work that has been made regarding the development and demonstration of using this technological process to the production of the injection mould. The results are compared with the more conventional technologies and materials, normally used for similar design and production requirements.