Assignment Two
Selection of 3D printing technique and material for die forming application
You are a process engineer for a multi-international organisation that fabricates and
sells stamp moulding tool dies which are used for thin sheet metal forming. These
dies are conventionally made from tool steel. To achieve cost savings, the company
wants to use a 3D printing technology in order to produce dies that are made from
either polymer or polymer-composite material. These dies are to be used for material
forming at the lower end of the range of forming loads. As such the dies have to
capable of withstanding forming loads of 100 kPa +/-75 kPa. The dies will also
experience wear in usage so the material choice should also be capable of
withstanding this wearing situation in order to allow for a large number of repeated
thin sheet metal formings (tens of thousands). Rapid prototyping methods that could
be chosen include jetting, fused deposition modelling, selective laser sintering or
stereolithography.
You are required to select one of these 3D printing techniques and explain how it
can be used to produce the die using a polymer and a composite material. You also
need to make the case for the selection of these materials by giving details of the
polymer and polymer composite materials that you have selected including the
mechanical properties that make these suitable choices.
The cost of the material over its life cycle is also important to the company. Explain
therefore the energy use over the life cycle assessment in terms of the following:
• Production of material – minimize embodied energy
• Manufacturing of the product – minimize processing energy.
• Delivery and use – minimize weight, heat loss, electrical loss, system
• Disposal – recyclable, non-toxic material
Discuss the rational of the chosen material and process. You should use graphs
and/or tables of data from the Granta CES Selector, Materials Selection software, to
back up your material choices. It is expected that in addition to this software that
there will be at least ten relevant references from peer reviewed papers. The report
should conclude with an overview of the reasons for the choice of the 3D technology
and materials selected within the report.
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The main body of the report should be 10 pages long. Addition tables or graphs should be
put into appendices. A maximum of 10 pages are allowed for appendices.
As a guide for layout of the report there should be 1 page introduction, 3 pages on the
chosen 3D printing technique and how it can be used for polymer and polymer composite
fabrication, 3 pages on the capabilities of the materials chosen, 2 pages on life cycle
assessment of embodied energy, and 1 page conclusion. Use 12 size Times New Roman font
and single line spacing.