A 3D-rendered image of a mold block showcasing intricate conformal cooling channels, demonstrating Mantle's ability to create advanced cooling solutions.

CONFORMAL COOLING

BETTER TOOLS
WITHOUT SACRIFICE

Conformal cooling has offered great promise, but producing it with other technologies has historically come with high costs and long lead times.

Mantle unlocks conformal cooling for all tools. With shortened tooling lead times and lower costs than traditional toolmaking, conformal cooling can now be added to any tool with Mantle.

REDUCE
CYCLE TIMES

ENHANCE
PART QUALITY

IMPROVE
PROCESS STABILITY

SAVE
TIME AND COST

WHAT IS CONFORMAL COOLING?

An example showing how traditional mold cooling is limited to straight lines, while conformal cooling lines can be optimized for reduced cycle times and improved molded part stability

Traditional cooling channels are designed as straight lines since they are restricted by the drilling and machining used to create them.

With 3D printing, designers are not limited to straight lines, allowing cooling channel designs that closely conform to the molding part’s shape and contour.

An example showing how traditional mold cooling is limited to straight lines, while conformal cooling lines can be optimized for reduced cycle times and improved molded part stability

CONFORMAL COOLING
WITHOUT ADDED TIME AND COST

Brazing and other metal 3D printing technologies add time and cost. Mantle creates new opportunities for conformal cooling while reducing lead times and costs.
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Enhance part quality with more uniform cooling

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Reduce cycle time with improved cooling

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Improve process stability for better repeatability and consistency

BENEFITS OF
CONFORMAL COOLING

REDUCE CYCLE TIMES

Improved cooling efficiency significantly reduces mold cycle times.

Cooling is the longest part of the molding cycle, so even small savings during the cooling cycle can dramatically reduce cycle times.

INCREASE SHOP THROUGHPUT

Conformal cooling reduces cycle time, allowing manufacturers to produce more parts in a given timeframe to meet production demands while increasing total shop throughput.

ENHANCE PART QUALITY

Conformal cooling ensures uniform, balanced cooling, minimizing residual stresses, warpage, and distortion in molded parts.

The result is a molded part with improved dimensional accuracy, fewer defects, and enhanced surface finish.

DESIGN FLEXIBILITY

Conformal cooling allows greater design flexibility in molded plastic parts. Conformal cooling enables designers to optimize cooling where it is most needed. This flexibility expands the design possibilities for the molded part, including the ability to mold thin or thick sections that would otherwise warp with traditional cooling.

COST SAVINGS AND ENERGY REDUCTION

Faster production cycles lead to lower energy consumption, reduced machine idle time, and increased machine utilization.

The improved part quality reduces the need for reworking or scraping, saving material costs.

PROCESS STABILITY

Conformal cooling maintains consistent temperatures throughout the mold, reducing temperature variations affecting part dimensions, material flow, and overall process stability.

That stability leads to improved repeatability and consistency when producing high-quality parts. This improved stability is especially critical when molding hard-to-work plastics, like bio-based or highly-filled materials.

EXAMPLES OF
CONFORMAL COOLING

MEDICAL DEVICE MANUFACTURING AID

Conformal cooling enabled: better temperature uniformity

  • Insert lead time reduced from 3 weeks to 5 days
  • Only 2 hours of active labor were required from the Westec Plastics team
  • Conformal cooling allowed for easier final finishing since channels didn’t need to be drilled, tapped, and plugged
A medical device mold insert shown in two views: on the left, the solid exterior of the mold, and on the right, a transparent view revealing the conformal cooling channels inside. These channels are designed to enhance temperature uniformity within the mold, improving efficiency for Westec Plastics.
A medical device mold insert shown in two views: on the left, the solid exterior of the mold, and on the right, a transparent view revealing the conformal cooling channels inside. These channels are designed to enhance temperature uniformity within the mold, improving efficiency for Westec Plastics.

MEDICAL TWEEZER INSERTS

Conformal cooling enabled: the precise insert temperature control needed for 65% glass-filled, bio-based PA11, a difficult-to-mold material

  • From part design to molded parts within 3 weeks
  • Mantle-printed inserts were used with no post-processing to the molding surfaces
  • Successfully molded bio-based, recyclable 65% glass-filled PA11 polymer
  • Used a sub gate that saw no erosion
Two views of a medical tweezer mold inserts: on the left, the solid metal insert, and on the right, a transparent view showing conformal cooling channels, designed for precise temperature control.
Two views of a medical tweezer mold inserts: on the left, the solid metal insert, and on the right, a transparent view showing conformal cooling channels, designed for precise temperature control.

AUTOMOTIVE COMPONENT CAVITY

Conformal cooling enabled: reduced cycle time by 25%

  • Printing saved 25% of attended manufacturing hours vs. traditional manufacturing
  • The printed insert had a surface finish of 1-3 μm Ra (D2) off the printer, which was able to be used for molding with no post-processing
  • The printed insert held a +/- 0.002” tolerance across 3” x 3” x 2” without post-processing
Two views of an automotive component cavity mold insert: on the left, the solid metal insert, and on the right, a transparent view showing conformal cooling channels, designed to reduce cycle time by 25%.
Two views of an automotive component cavity mold insert: on the left, the solid metal insert, and on the right, a transparent view showing conformal cooling channels, designed to reduce cycle time by 25%.

BOTTLE BLOW MOLD

Conformal cooling enabled: improved part quality

  • Conformal cooling was used to address heat-blushing challenges during molding
  • Tool life was lengthened to last through the development molding of over 10,000+ shots
  • By printing with Mantle, the tool was produced in less than 9 days
    Molding surfaces were left as printed
  • The printed tool required minimal post-processing
    • Grinding to the top and bottom
    • Hard milling the base and o-ring groove
Two views of a bottle blow mold insert: on the left, the solid metal mold insert, and on the right, a transparent view revealing conformal cooling channels, designed to improve part quality
Two views of a bottle blow mold insert: on the left, the solid metal mold insert, and on the right, a transparent view revealing conformal cooling channels, designed to improve part quality

CONFORMAL COOLING FAQS

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Conformal cooling refers to the use of intricately designed cooling channels that are designed to closely follow the contours of a mold surface where plastic is formed in the mold. Unlike traditional straight-drilled cooling channels, which are limited to linear paths, conformal cooling channels can twist and turn throughout the mold to reach areas not easily accessed through traditional methods. Conformal cooling enables a more uniform and efficient heat transfer.

Conformal cooling offers several key benefits:

  • Reduced Cycle Times: Since cooling can account for over 80% of a mold cycle time, improving cooling efficiency and reducing the cooling time dramatically shortens production cycles and increases mold throughput. This reduction in cycle time can even result in a lower cavitation tool being used as a result of the lower cycle time.
  • Enhanced Part Quality: More uniform cooling minimizes defects such as warping, shrinkage, and dimensional inconsistencies.
  • Improved Process Stability: Consistent mold temperatures lead to greater repeatability and reduced variability in the manufacturing process. This is especially valuable when working with challenging plastics with a narrow processing temperature range.

Traditionally, creating tools with conformal cooling required complex and expensive processes like brazing or the assembly of multiple tool segments. Traditional metal 3D printing technologies like DMLS have performed well with conformally cooled mold inserts but have also come with prohibitively high costs and long lead times. Mantle’s automated toolmaking technology eliminates these barriers by producing mold inserts faster and more affordably than traditional toolmaking processes, incorporating additional conformal cooling features at no charge.

WANT TO REDUCE YOUR
CYLCE TIMES?