Additive Manufacturing for Enhanced Cooling in Moulds for Casting

Additive manufacturing allows new design solutions for moulds and dies that can improve quality and productivity in casting processes. Complex cooling channels made by additive manufacturing give fast and reliable cooling and a more accurate control of the solidification. The paper shows a comparison of the cooling time of a die insert with a conventional cooling system and an insert with improved cooling channels. It is shown that improved cooling channels are highly efficient even with air cooling. Air could replace water as cooling medium, which will eliminate the explosion hazard in aluminium casting.