CONFORMAL COOLING

LOWER COSTS, SHORTER LEAD TIMES

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

Mantle unlocks this opportunity 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

THE PROMISE OF CONFORMAL COOLING

Conformal cooling refers to the design and integration of cooling channels within a mold or die that follow the shape or contours of the mold cavity. Unlike traditional straight-drilled cooling channels, which are limited to linear paths, conformal cooling channels are typically created using advanced manufacturing methods such as 3D printing or brazing, allowing them to follow complex, curved geometries without the limitation of manufacturing methods like drilling.

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.

Enhance part quality with more uniform cooling

Reduce cycle time with improved cooling

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

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

ENHANCE PART QUALITY

Ensure 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

Greater design flexibility in molded plastic parts 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
Easier final finishing since channels didn’t need to be drilled, tapped, and plugged

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

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

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

CONFORMAL COOLING FAQS

What are the advantages of conformal cooling?

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.

How do you build tools with conformal cooling?

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.