Additive Manufacturing of Plastics: An Efficient Approach for Composite Tooling

Additive manufacturing (AM) is increasingly used in different applicationsranging from prototyping to the production of functional parts. One particularcase is represented by the production of tooling for composites. The choice ofAM techniques can be oriented both to the production of durable andremovable tooling depending on composite part geometry. The developmentof sacrificial removable tooling for hollow composite air ducts is the mainfocus of this paper. The use of AM techniques is compared to the standardproduction approach using autoclave molding with a stainless steel mold asproduction technique. The different processing approaches are compared interms of cost, production parameters, and of the final properties of thecomposites obtained. The use of soluble tooling shows clearly some benefitsin terms of cost savings (i.e., 30%) and production time (i.e., 25%). However,the tooling removal technique outlines some drawbacks in terms of the finalglass transition temperatures of the composite materials that was reduced toabout 16 °C after 6 h treatment