The aerospace industry has been utilizing additive manufacturing mainly for prototyping purposes. Additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing in the aerospace industry is popular because of its efficiency and has become a transformative technology in the sector. The technology is no longer reserved for creating physical models in the prototyping phase of part development. It’s currently a production-scale technique for manufacturing parts from both metal and plastic.
Additive Manufacturing and Aerospace Injection Molding
Additive manufacturing and injection molding can meet several needs in the aerospace industry with each technology having its upsides and downsides. The two can be used together to help manufacturers refine their part designs and get them to the market fast. We’ve discussed more below.
- Additive Manufacturing: AM is a technology that involves the creation of parts by building them layer by layer. After particles from specific layers are lined together through chemicals or heat, the technique is replicated, and more layers are added. AM produces complex geometrics through 3D printing because the layers are linked together one at a time. As the term additive manufacturing suggests, manufacturers integrate raw materials into the process instead of getting rid of them to create robust and light 3D designs. The process can create products accurately, easily, and at a low cost using environmentally friendly materials.
- Aerospace Injection Molding: The process involves injecting molten material into a mold cavity using high pressure. The molten material will harden and take the mold’s shape, giving you the finished product. In the aerospace sector, the technique produces top-quality spacecraft and aircraft parts like connectors. Plastic and silicone injection molding can make exterior and interior structural components, panels, brackets, housings, and ducting.
- Synergy: Aerospace injection molding and AM can complement each other to drive advancements in the aerospace industry. When manufacturers combine these two technologies they can enhance performance, increase efficiency, and increase demands in the aerospace sector, especially in the creation of prototypes and molds. In the early stages of part design, manufacturers can use 3D printing to print prototypes which they can use to test for fitness, form, and functionality. 3D printing also helps manufacturers establish issues early before they put money into tooling. After finalizing the part design, manufacturers can make steel tooling and move their parts into production with confidence they meet all requirements.
How Additive Manufacturing Enhances Aerospace Injection Molding
We’ve curated several ways in which additive manufacturing enhances aerospace injection molding:
- Tooling and Mold Design: One of the upsides of AM is that it can integrate existing technologies when needed. Traditional processes still make the most sense in specific applications, but when everything works together in a “digital thread” that can glue all production, manufacturers can leverage the cost-effectiveness and flexibility of AM at the best moment of their operations.
- Speed and Cost: AM can speed up rapid production cycles in injection molding which enables fast turnaround times for huge quantities of products. It also enhances rapid prototyping allowing design validation for engineers, making iterations, and performing functional tests before starting full-scale production. This speeds up the development cycle and reduces costs and time-to-market.
- Precision and Quality: Through AM and 3D printing, manufacturers can produce parts affordably and quickly using rapid prototyping for design iteration and reaching the final product quickly. It’s also possible to print several parts faster at the same time with higher precision which enables manufacturers to do a comparison of physical models and choose the best. Spacecraft and aircraft depend on interconnected parts working together efficiently. Reproducibility and consistency in AM and injection molding are often done through cautious control of pressure, temperature, material properties, and cooling rates. After validation and optimization, manufacturers can consistently replicate these parameters throughout production to produce high-quality parts.
- Cost Reduction for Low-Volume Production: Manufacturers can utilize specific AM technologies to make low-volume production of quality parts to meet company needs. Using bridge production, companies can solve a wide range of common problems such as meeting regulatory requirements, side-stepping tooling delays, and doing market research if they are unsure of the demand for their new parts.
Applications in Aerospace Injection Molding
Here are the top applications:
- Engine Components and Structural Parts: The aerospace industry uses injection molding in the production of a vast range of parts like brackets, engine parts, and housings, fast. Multi-cavity mold or family molds can produce several parts in one shot, increasing the manufacturing rate. It’s possible to produce large volumes of parts from one tool. After setting up the press and running with the tool and the right material, injection molding helps produce parts fast. The technique allows manufacturers to produce parts of any complexity or size using injection molding.
- Rapid Prototyping: Companies can use rapid prototyping to generate a physical model or prototype of an assembly or a single part using free-form prototyping. Prototyping is an AM process that uses techniques like CNC machining, and 3D printing. The procedure also involves material accumulation instead of removal. First, the manufacturer divides the 3D CAD model into layers or slices with different thicknesses. The final part is constructed by creating layer by layer and stacking 2D sectional outlines.
- Customization for Specialized Parts: AM helps manufacturers explore personalization and customization options more effectively. By efficiently designing prototypes of a variety of design iterations, companies can directly receive constructive feedback from clients and adjust designs accordingly. The iterative procedure ensures that the finished product enhances client loyalty and satisfaction.
- Testing and Validation: In the aerospace industry, it’s vital to maintain high performance and safety standards. Therefore, simulation and testing are essential for aerospace injection molding and AM. After developing a prototype, engineers run practical tests including efficiency and wind tunnel tests. Performing these tests provides them with vital information on a part’s ability to function efficiently in all conditions including temperature variation, and stress. When you combine AM and injection molding, you can create a prototype, and test and validate it before starting large-scale production.
Conclusion
Combining AM and injection molding comes with many advantages to the aerospace industry. It has resulted in improved cooling channels in molds, producing top-quality parts and reducing cycle times. With these technologies, clients can get high-durability molds for large-scale manufacturing which offers extended service life and reduced maintenance requirements. If you need assistance in aerospace model injection TDL is at the forefront. With an experienced team of experts in injection molding, they are committed to excellence and you can never go wrong.
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