Date Approved
4-2020
Graduate Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Engineering (M.S.E.)
Degree Program
School of Engineering
First Advisor
Dr. C. Pung
Second Advisor
Dr. P. Anyalebechi
Third Advisor
Dr. S. Manoharan
Academic Year
2019/2020
Abstract
Channels where coolant is run to cool a system are common in injection mold tooling. Conventionally, these channels are machined into the mold. This has limited the design of mold cooling systems to the constraints of traditional machining processes, where straight circular channels machined from cast material are typical. The transfer of heat away from the part cavity into these cooling channels has a large effect on the cooling time of the injection mold cycle. In this investigation, laser powder bed fusion processes were used to create non-circular cooling channels. To compare cooling performance, elliptical and circular channels of equal crosssectional area were investigated for mass flow rate and rate of heat transfer. Between conventionally machined and additively manufactured channels, surface roughness of the channel wall and condition of the parent material were investigated as potential factors as well. Through simulation, analysis of channel surface roughness, and experimentation, the results indicated that: the channel machined from cast 316L stainless steel had higher flow rate and rate of heat transfer compared to the machined channel fabricated from selective laser melting 316L metal powder, the machined channel had higher flow rate and rate of heat transfer compared to the as-fabricated additively manufactured sample, and the circular additively manufactured channel had higher flow rate and rate of heat transfer compared to the elliptical channel. Overall, the traditionally machined circular channels had superior cooling performance than the additively manufactured elliptical channels. However, the results demonstrate that changing the length-to-width ratio of elliptical cross channels can be used to locally control cooling on regions of the part to reduce hot-spots in the mold and part defects.
ScholarWorks Citation
Jack, Colin, "Investigation of Selective Laser Melting Fabricated Internal Cooling Channels" (2020). Masters Theses. 971.
https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/theses/971
