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Posted: December 1st, 2023
An Investigation into Cost-effective Technologies to Be Used for Small Batch Manufacturing
Table of Contents
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History of injection moulding Machine
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Manufacturing of Mould inserts/ Cassettes
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Steps to get a 3D model ready for Printing
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FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling)
(DMLS) Direct metal Laser Sintering
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Table of Tables
Table 1 Injrction Mould Temperature For Eachinjected polymer
Table 2Tensile impact and flexural test characterizations
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Table 3Experimential conditions for the additive manufacturing process
Abstract
As part of a final year degree in mechanical engineering in Galway Mayo institute of technology the author is required to complete and submit a major project on a topic or product that requires modification. Once the Author has choosing their topic or product they then must come up with a solution by applying the engineering knowledge and experience to the problem that they have gained over the past 4 years and develop an original solution to moderately complex engineering problem. the Author is required to develop and present a project plan which outlines all the different stages of the project. The author is required to write a report and make a presentation on the work completed.
The author has choosing to do their final year project on “cost effective technology’s in the use of small batch manufacturing” The author has choosing to do a project in this field as they worked in the manufacturing field during the summer while carrying out 3rd year work experience. While working in this field the author found that the cost of manufacturing molds for small batches was high. This was due to the time taking to manufacture the mold and the price of the material. The main aim of this project is to reduce the cost of manufacture by researching different methods of manufacturing in dept and to also improve lead time by hopefully cutting lead time s in half or less.
Acknowledgements
First and foremost, the author would like to thank their supervisor Dr. Paul Fahy, who has provided guidance and support to them while doing this project. The author would also like to thank Ray Clarke who works in the engineering department in GMIT who also helped the author understand 3D printing and printed a Sample mould for the author so as to get an understanding of what the 3D printer was Capable of.
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The author would like to thank Prior PLM medical for assigning the project and the Author would also like to thank Alan Quinn who works in the moulding department in Prior medical who provided information about the inject moulding machine and the cassettes at prior PLM medical along with giving the Author an old cassette that was no longer needed for production.
The author would also like to thank family and friends who helped out along the way and was always there to provide guidance and support whenever needed
Chapter 1 Introduction
Introduction
It is required as part of fourth year Mechanical engineering in Galway Mayo Institute of technology that the author completes and submits a major project on a specific problem, which they will work on throughout the course of the year under the supervision of the supervisor. The Author will apply engineering knowledge and experience that they have gained over the past 4 years to develop a solution to the problem. The author in this case has choosing to do a project in the manufacturing sector as they completed work experience in this sector as part of their third-year degree.
Company Background
Prior Plm medical is a tool and die factory that is based in Carrick-on-Shannon county Leitrim. The company was founded in 1985 by the CEO John Prior, Prior tool and die offered a service of manufacturing moulds and they also provided a repair services to the plastic industry in Ireland when they were first established. Priors has undergone substantial growth over the past number of the years, from starting off with one building with offices upstairs and the work shop downstairs, to now owning 7 properties, one of the properties is called the hive. The hive is a newly built building that caters for numerous local companies and one of the companies is prior PLM medical.
What Prior PLM Medical does
In 2008 priors launched their product lifestyle management (PLM) business model, the main concept of this business model was to support a customer’s idea right from the idea stage up to its end of life, while assisting them along the way to make their idea bigger and better.
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The company itself offers Product Lifestyle Management solutions to the Medical Device and Pharmaceutical sectors , this is part of their ongoing efforts to improve a patient’s healthcare and wellbeing. At prior medical they have a team of scientists and engineers who work alongside the customer to gain an understanding of the function of the various biological systems, the impact of diseases on these systems and current treatment solutions on the market. The biological areas they focus on are circulatory system, endocrine system, nervious system and respiratory system.
The Company
The author approached prior medical in search of a project that they could do their major project on. Prior medical put forward a project that they were planning to research the last number of years but they couldn’t get around to due to lack of time. It was suggested that the student investigate a cost-effective technology to be used in small batch manufacturing. Prior plm medical want to investigate to see if there is a quicker and cheaper way to manufacture cassettes that are used for small batch manufacturing while still being able to deliver the same quality’s as a cassette made from stainless steel can deliver.
Cassette Moulds
Prior medical offer cassettes as a rapid prototype mould which is very important in the development of a new product. By using a prototype mould, you can test the moulding process and mould with the production material, so any process or design flaws can be identified at an early stage which will save money and time in the long run.
The cassette tool is a modular system that can be configured to suit almost any moulding application. The cassette comes in 2 sections just like a standard mould, the 2 sections are assembled together and cassette tool is the loaded manually into the mould base for injection. Changes can be made to the cassettes as desired at a fraction of the cost of alterations to production tooling. The components can be semi-automatically or manually de moulded.
The cassettes tool is ideal for moulding multiple components in the same cassettes as well as over moulding medical tubes, wire, leurs, etc.Cassettes most suited to small production runs up to 100 shots per shift.
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The customer first buys a cassette mould base for their injection moulding machine after that an unlimited number of components can then be produced with a simple cassettes change while the tool is still in the machine.
PHOTOS AND CAD DRAWING HERE
The Project
Currently in prior medical they have blank cassettes sitting on the shelf made from 1.2083 stainless steel which is similar to 304 stainless steel. These blanks are cut to size and the slots on the outside, for aligning the cassettes in the mould base are machined out of it, all that’s left to do is to machine out the desired mould cavity, the sprue and the runner. Prior medical at the moment manufacture a simple cassette within a week or two and as for the more complex cassettes it could take a month to machine.
Even with these blanks sitting on the shelve ready to be machined it still takes approximately 3-4 weeks to manufacture, depending on the complexity of the component. Prior medical are looking to increase speed of manufacture which will reduce lead times as well as free up time on the floor so the tool makers can devote their time to production moulds. The company aims to reduce the lead time on the simple straight forward moulds to 2 or 3 days and for the more complex moulds the company hope to manufacture one every 2 weeks.
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The company suggested that the author should research the possibility of 3D printing the Cassettes as they intend to purchase 3d printer down the line or research other alternatives to increase the speed of manufacture. The author will have to investigate all the different types of technologies for 3d printing and also what material will be the best to print with. When looking at alternatives to manufacturing a cassette rather than machining the cassette from stainless steel the author must analyse the surface finish on the mould, the accuracy of the mould, max amount of shots it can do, resist pressure of maximum 50 bars and resist temperatures of 240°C to 350°C
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Aims:
The aim of this module is to use the engineering knowledge and experience that the author has gained over the past four years to develop a solution to the problem. Outlined below are the aims that will be achieved by undertaking this project.
- Research possible solutions other than 3D printing.
- Research 3D printers and their accuracy.
- Research the different materials that can be used for 3D printing.
- Completion of project within the desired time frame.
- Investigate into how the large moulding devices work.
- Print sample prototype cassette
- Test prototype Cassette
Objectives:
Outlined below are the objectives that will help me achieve my aims
- Meet with the client
- Develop CAD Drawings of cassettes.
- 3D print the cassette using desired material.
- Test the cassette in an injection moulding machine
- Examine samples obtained from cassettes for faults
- Develop a report for the client on cost effective technologies for small batch manufacturing.
Literary review
Moulding
Moulding is the process of making an object by injecting or pouring a liquid/plastic into a rigid frame such as a mould and allowing it to set and become solid. A mould that is used for injection moulding is usually made out of steel and with the shape of the part that you want machined out of it this is called the mould cavity. A mould is usually made in two sections the reason for this is to assist in removing the part from the mould after it has set inside. Once the part is removed the mould can then be put back together and the process repeated to make numerous amounts of the same part.
History of injection moulding Machine
The first injection moulding machine was created by two brothers called Isaiah and John Wesley Hyatt in 1872. The idea was very simple and consisted of plunger that pushed plastic through a hot cylinder into a mould that They had created. The main reason for designing a machine like this was to mass produce products such as badges, buttons ,combs and other plastic components.
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Mould design
When it comes to designing a mould you must take into account several different aspects. The first aspect you have to consider is how many cavity’s you are going to have in the mould insert. It is important to use your mould insert to its full potential, if it is a case that the mould insert is big enough that you can incorporate 2 cavity’s into it, then machine 2 cavity inserts into the mould insert. The more parts that you can produce from one mould closing the more parts you will produce over a period of time.
When designing a mould, you have to think of the material that will be injected into the mould and its properties. When you have researched the material, you can then consider how many runners and cooling channels you will need to ensure that the material injected into the mould fills the cavity. You also have to establish where to position the gates and You also have to establish where the best place to position the injector pins if the mould is automatically demoulded.
You must consider how you plan on holding the mould inserts into the mould base when designing the inserts, they are usually held in position using short flat head bolts, but when your designing your mould insure that none of your injector pins or cavity’s are located where there bolts are inserted.[1]
Manufacturing of Mould inserts/ Cassettes
The outside perimeter of the mould/cassette is milled to the desired size and shape using a milling machine or the toolmakers sometimes use a wire EDM all depending on the type of material and also the thickness of te material. The face of the mould can be milled to machine a smooth finish or it is sometimes grinded flat using a surface grinder.
The cavity’s of the moulds/Cassettes are then manufactured using a sparker or a milling machine all depending on complexity of the mould cavity. Once the cavity is machined out, some cavitys then require polishing after to improve the surface finish of the cavity and to get the dimensions within the desired tolerances.
The holes for the bolts to go through to allow them to secure the mould in the mould base and the holes for the injector pins will be done using a drill bit in the milling machine. The injector pins are usually bought in and turned to the desired size on the lathe
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Mould Insert Material
Mould inserts for the injection moulding process can be made from a wide range of materials. Silicon can be used to make to the inserts but it has its limitations, silicone becomes brittle when it is subjected to high pressure during the injection moulding process.
Other materials that can be used to manufacture the mould inserts are metals such as nickel, Steel, BMG (Bulk Metallic Glass) and aluminium, these materials are often used as they are strong and are suited to big batch manufacturing. These materials are also suited to manufacture mould inserts from as it is easy to machine out the mould cavity’s and other patterns in the mould using mechanical machines such as milling machine and wire EDM’s etc.
The author observed from their work experience that the choice of material to make a mould or cassette from all depends on what the customer wants. If the customer wants hardened steel, the toolmaker uses 1.2083 stainless steel as it is cheap and easy to work with or they can also use pre hardened steel which is 1.2085 stainless steel, if the customer wants a low quantity of parts the moulds/cassettes can be manufactured from aluminium 1.6082.
The stainless steel material 1.2083 has a Rockwell hardness of 56-58 HRc and the other stainless steel material 1.2085 Rockwell hardness of approx. 30 HRc
History of 3D printing
3D printing is a form of additive manufacture (AM). (AM) is the name given to the technologies that build 3D objects by adding layer on top of layer until a 3D object is formed. Each layer can be from 0.0254mm to 2.54mm thick, the thickness varies from part to part, the thinner the layer is the more accurate the part will be and will also have a good surface finish. 3D printing is a quick and simple way of creating a prototype so you can visual image of what the part will look like. A 3D printed prototype also allows a person to perform tests on the part in order to establish if the part will meet the design criteria.
The first person who attempted to manufacture a 3Dprinter was Dr Kodama in 1980, he came up with the idea of manufacturing an object layer by layer using a photosensitive resin which was cured using a UV light, but he didn’t file a patent in time for the idea.
Charles W.Hull of 3-D systems Corp was also investigating the same technology at the same time, and in 1984 he created the first working 3D printer. At that time, 3D printing was knowing as Rapid prototyping technology. He named the machine stereolithography Apparatus (SLA) which is still being used today. Charles W.Hull decided he would file the first patent for 3D Printing in 1986
The technologically was very expensive but as we moved into the 21st century the price of 3D printers got cheaper meaning that a lot of industries could now afford to buy one.
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In 2009 the patent for the last major patent for fused deposition modelling (FDM) expired and “printers could then be produced without infringing on intellectual property, which bred a newfound interest and investment in AM technologies” (VAN LANCKER, 2015) SEE THE RISE OF 3D PRINTING FOR REFRENCE
How 3D printers work
A 3D printer works on the same principle as an inkjet printer. A 3D printer uses materials unlike an inkjet printer that uses ink. An inkjet printer prints on paper and the paper enters the printer at one side and exits the opposite side. In 3D printing the material is applied in the desired location on the bed of the printer and it solidifies. Once solidified the bed then drops the desired height and another layer of material is added until the 3D object is formed. The supportive material is then removed and the 3D printed object is then complete. Sone printed 3D objects surfaces have to be finished off by polishing.
Surface finish and accuracy
When it comes to 3D printing a mould or a set of cassettes the surface finish and accuracy of the printed part is very important. If the surface finish is poor in the mould cavity then the surface on the moulded part will also be poor and rough. If the line where the 2 sections of the mould don’t match up perfectly with a sharp edge then when the cavity the that the material is being injected into will squeeze out between the 2 sections causing flash on the part.
When a mould/cassette is manufactured from stainless steel the mould cavity sometimes has to be finished off my polishing, this all depends on the machine finish. When the cavity is being machined experienced toolmakers who know that they will not achieve the desired surface finish they will leave extra material in the cavity, which they will polish afterwards in order to get the dimensions within the desired tolerances.
At this early stage of the project, the author is looking at the surface finish that different 3D printers can achieve. Some 3D printers leave lines from where the printer applied the material, the author feels that if there was extra material left on the Cassette before it went for printing that it could be polished after to achieve a smooth surface finish.
Steps to get a 3D model ready for Printing
http://www.plasticscribbler.com/tutorial/knowledge/item/110-step_by_step_guide_to_1st_3d_print#.WlIzsGhl_IU
Similar to printing a word document in a inkjet printer you cant just press print when you have a 3D model designed on your cad software. Think of your inkjet printer all the settings that you have to change before you go ahead and print the document. For example in you want the document printed landscape or portrait, if you want the document printed in black and white or in colour, what pages you want printed from the document, what size paper you want to use etc. When you want to send a word document to get printed it uses a program to send the file to the printer and then the printer has a firmware it uses to understand what you want to print, this process is referred to as a tool chain. Just as an inkjet printer needs a tool chain to print a word document, a 3D printer needs a tool chain in order to print a 3D object. The tool chain is outlined below:
Send G-code to printer and print object
Create STL file by exporting 3D model to STL
Create a 3D model
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Create
G-Code
Step 1: Create a 3D model
Before you can Print a 3D object you first have to design your 3D model using a cad software such as Solidworks or Creo. When designing a model, It is important that the software you use to create your 3D model must be able to export the 3D model to a STL file which can then be used with the 3D printer.
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Step 2: Creating STL File
Once you have your 3D model created on the modelling software first save your part normally in case you want to change any dimensions later. Then go to save as under the file option, a save as window should pop up and at the bottom of the window there’s an option called save as type, enter the drop down menu and select STL file, then thick export options and then click save. Then on your cad software, an export STL window will pop up. There are 2 options in this window, chord height and angle control. To make the 3D model as accurate as possible change the chord height to the smallest value possible (usually its 0.013100) and change the value of the angle control to 1.
Step 3 Creating the G code
In order to print a model on a 3D printer you must first generate a G-Code. A G-code is a Language used by humans to tell a machine how to do something. In relation to a 3D printer the G-code gives commands to move parts within the printer. The G-code will be generated using a program called Slic3r. The program slices the part into slices or layers so the jet/laser knows the exact location to go to as it applies the new layer. In the program slic3r, you can tell the 3D printer what kind of quality you want to print at, the infill density, about the filament etc.
Step 4: Send G-code to Printer
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Some 3D printers use software called Pronterface. This software can be used to move all 3 axis’s along with the extruder. The software is also used to control the temperature of the build plate and the heating element.
Before you send the G-code to the printer, you must first check that the build platform is level when the platform is level you then have to set the temperatures of the hot end and the platform these temperature will not be the same all the time as it varies all depend on what material you are printing with. Once the hot end has reached the desired temperature the filament is then loaded into the machine. Once the temperature is set, the platform is level and the filament is loaded you can then proceed to print your 3D model.
3D Printed moulds
A study was carried out by the AIJU Technology Centre, On 3D printing moulds that will produce prototypes. The company used 3 different polymer additive manufacturing techniques, they were stereolitography (SLA), Laser sintering (LS) and resin Photo-polymerization (3D-Polyjet) to manufacture the moulds that they will use and test in an injection moulding machine. The mould must perform well both mechanically and thermally and have a good surface finish as well as been dimensionally accurate.
The company decided to print the moulds from different materials for each 3D printing technique as outlined below:
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3D printing Technology’s Printing Material
Stereolithography (SLA) Though (THO)
High Temp Resin (HT)
Laser Sintering (LS) Polyamide 12 filled
with 50% of
Aluminium(PA50A1)
3D Polyjet Photopolymerization
Resin (Similar to ABS)
The team mixed the SLA materials with carbon based materials in a 1 or 5 wt% in this case they used , MWCT (NC7000TM, from Nanocyl) and graphene nanoplets (GRAPHENIT-OX, from NANOINNOVA TECHNOLOGIES) the reason for putting in this carbon mix is to improve the thermal dissipation of the resin.[2]
Look at Characterisation for here
The team tested 3 different materials for the injection process, these materials where elastomeric polyethylene, a polyethylene and a ABS polymer. They injected each material at different temperatures into the 3D printed Moulds. These temperatures are outlined below in Table 1.
Table 1 Injrction Mould Temperature For Eachinjected polymer
Results
The fig below shows A study that was carried out on all the different mixtures using the SLA resins and carbon compound. As you can see in the fig below it shows the results of the mixture SLA resins after 24 hours using 1 and 5 wt % of carbon based material which was MWCNT and GRAPHENE. The results of their study showed that the carbon based resins with 5 wt % of MWCNT or GRAPHENE where not functional for the job as they didn’t meet the desired characteristics. [2]
The materials that will be used to 3D print the final moulds were analysed to study there mechanical properties. The following test where carried out tensile, impact and flexural tests to investigate the effect of carbon based additives on the final mechanical properties of the resin. The table below shows the results from the tests
Table 2Tensile impact and flexural test characterizations
From the tests they found that it was not possible to process the carbon based SLA resins as there was poor flow of the resin, which meant that more research was needed into this material. They found that the HT resin, Pa50A1 and the ABS like resin had a high flexural and a high youngs modulus meaning that their mechanical properties could be appropriate for making the prototype mould.
The moulds were then printed using the SLA, LS and 3D polyjet techniques. The 3d printing process where then analysed under the thickness of the layer that was printed each time, this would determine the surface quality when the mould was printed. The smaller the layer thickness the more accurate the dimensions of the mould would be. They also looked at the temperature at which the resins where cured, the SLA resins where post cured in a UV chamber at (42nm and 40°C) during the 6 hours to reach the final mechanical properties of the material and the ABS like moulds were termally treated for the same purpose REWRITE THIS
Table 3Experimential conditions for the additive manufacturing process
The figure below shows all the moulds that where 3D printed from all different materials using the 3 Different technologies. The SLA mould that was printed from the THO resin warped after printing and UV curing which meant that it was no good to mould with cause it had a curved surface. The (LS) mould had the lowest surface definition and the mould that was 3D printed using the 3D polyjet technology with the ABS like resin had the highest surface definition
The figure below shows the injection moulding process using the mould that was printed using the ABS like material. The first material they tested the mould with was elastomeric polyethylene which was injected at a lower injection temperature of 270°C, they then injected using Polypropylene at an injection temperature of 200°C and finally they tested the ABS material which was injected at 270°. Only 20 injection shots where achieved, 6 where with elastomeric polyethylene, 8 where using Polypropylene and 6 shots where done with the ABS material, after this the mould broke in the middle of the right insert
REFRENCE THIS PARAGRAPH
Conclusion
The team have come to the conclusion that the have used 3 different AM technologies SLA,SL and 3D polyjet, each mould was printed with different manufacturing plastic materials. They mould was then tested by injecting 3 different materials, Polyethylene, polypropylene and ABS. The team can conclude that from there study’s that it is possible to 3D print moulds for small batch manufacturing and that it will work [2]
Types of 3D printers
There are several different types of printers on the market at the movement some are cheap and others expensive. The cheaper the printer is obviously the less accurate it is. The 2 most popular printers are selective laser sintering (SLS) and the fused deposition modelling (FDM).
Selective laser sintering SLS
Selective laser sintering SLS works by using a high-powered laser which fuses small particles of plastic, ceramic or glass powders together till it forms the desired 3D shape. A layer of powder is applied on the bed of the machine then the high-powered laser selectively fuses the powered material together as it scans across the bed of the machine, the powder is applied evenly across the bed. After the layer is solidified the bed is then dropped the thickness of the next layer and a coat of powder is applied across the bed. The excess powder that’s on the bed of the machine acts as a support to the 3D model and when the model is completed this powder can be cleaned off.
FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling)
The FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) was first developed by Scott Crump in the late 1980s like mst types of 3D printers it needs a STL file in order to create the part, the stl file is then sliced into layers in order for the 3D printer to be able to Print the product. The 3d printing technology works on the basic of adding layers of materials on top of each other to eventually produce the 3D shape that you requested.
It works on the basic of a plastic filament or metal wire that is being unwound from a coil and is then controlled as its being fed to an extrusion nozzle. The nozzle is heated in order to melt the material, the nozzle can be moved in the horizontal and vertical directions controlled by a CAM software. The part is produced by extruding the melted material from the nozzle onto the specified area to form layers, as the layers are applied the materials hardens immediately after extrusion from the nozzle [3]
(DMLS) Direct metal Laser Sintering
When considering printing a cassette that was originally made from stainless steel the author considered looking at a 3D printer that could print metal parts. When research was carried out the author found that theirs a new 3D printing technology called Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) which uses a similar process to SLS but instead of using plastic, ceramic or glass powder it uses aluminium or titanium.
A thin layer of powder is spread out evenly by a roller on the bed of the machine then the printing chamber is heated up, the powder does not melt yet as it has not met its melting point yet. The laser then then touches the selective parts of your design which then raises the temperature just above melting point resulting in the part being sintered this process is repeated until your desired 3D object is formed.[4]
3D Print Test Mould
In order to get a feel for the process of making a mould the author decided that they would design a simple cassette using Creo that they could get 3D printed in GMIT to test the accuracy of a 3D printer and to also see what surface finish the 3D printed cassette would have.
The author designed the mould on the measurements that they obtained from a sample cassette that Prior PLM Medical gave to them on loan for the duration of the project. With the main dimensions got from the cassette the author created a basic 3D model of the cassette on creo and from that then extruded the mould cavity from the basic model.
Once the 3D model of the cassette was completed the author then exported it to a STL file and then sent it to Ray Clarke who works in the engineering department as a technician who 3D printed the mould using a FDM 3D printer that the college had in the workshop. When it came to choosing a material to print with the author and Ray decided that they would 3D print the cassette using PLA(Polylactic Acid).
The Cassette took approximal 20 hours to print this was because the printer was set to high resolution. The reason for setting the printer to a high resolution was that the printed cassette would be as accurate as possible. By setting the printer to high resolution the printer was applying the layers as thin as possible to achieve high level of accuracy
When the cassette was finished printing the author examined the cassette for the
Materials & Methods
Prior Plm Medical
The author decided to approach Prior PLM medical in search of a project as the author had worked with a similar company during the summer in Co.Sligo and was interested in doing a project which involved designing tools and dies for the medical industry. When approached there previous company they had no project that would suit them at the particular time.
The author got the majority of their data and information from articles which was found by using science direct, a lot of the information and data that was gather was supplied by Alan Quinn who is head of moulding solutions in prior medical. The author also had a great deal of experience in this area as they worked in this profession during the summer as part of there third year module “work Placement”.
In order to keep track of references the author used a referencing software called mendeley to store any useful documents that was related to the project so when compiling the report the author could access these articles to get a better understanding of the section they were researching.
Any of the CAD drawing that had to be done in relation to create 3D models of cassettes or inspecting previous cad models of Cassettes sent to them by Prior medical in order for them to gain a better understanding of how the prototyping system works was completed using a CAD package from the college called CREO
Work done to-date
The author had meetings on a regular basis with Prior plm medical to discuss and clarify what are the requirements of the cassette, the author also got a cad model of the cassette which they wish to print. While in Prior medical the author got a tour of the work floor and also observed how an injection moulding machine works and how the cassettes where inserted into the machine and also how the part is demoulded from the cassette.
The author researched all the different types of 3D printers and researched articles on the history of 3D printing as well as papers about 3D printers and the author found a article where a company tested out 3 printers and Printed 4 mould each from different materials.
To investigate the accuracy of a 3D printer and also investigate the surface finish that can be achieved the author designed a simple mould on Creo and exported it in a STL format and got it printed using a 3D printer provided by the college. The test mould that was printed was then measured under
Preliminary Results
Discussion
Future Work
Conclusion
Gantt Chart and Project plan
Reference
[1] J. B. Tranter, P. Refalo, and A. Rochman, “Towards sustainable injection molding of ABS plastic products,” J. Manuf. Process., vol. 29, pp. 399–406, 2017.
[2] M. A. León-Cabezas, A. Martínez-García, and F. J. Varela-Gandía, “Innovative advances in additive manufactured moulds for short plastic injection series,” Procedia Manuf., vol. 13, pp. 732–737, 2017.
[3] K. Kun, “Reconstruction and development of a 3D printer using FDM technology,” Procedia Eng., vol. 149, no. June, pp. 203–211, 2016.
[4] T. Duda and L. V. Raghavan, “3D Metal Printing Technology,” IFAC-PapersOnLine, vol. 49, no. 29, pp. 103–110, 2016.
Appendices
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