19 May 2020
3D printing is becoming increasingly popular. The plastic industry is no exception. Rompa has been using a partially 3D-printed mould with conformal cooling for a while. Using this relatively new cooling technology, the product cools down faster and in a more constant manner, which allows it to retain its shape even better afterwards. Account manager Léon Brands explains how this technology works.
Léon first explains traditional cooling methods. “With injection moulding, molten plastic with a temperature of circa 250 degrees Celsius is injected into the mould. Cooling channels in the mould then cool down the plastic as fast as possible. Normally, these channels are drilled into the steel mould. That limits your options because you can only drill straight channels. As a result, the cooling channels are not all equally close to the sides of the mould, which causes the product to cool down slower or faster in some places than in others. This can result in minor differences or deformations.”