Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Rapid Tooling By Integrating Electroforming And Solid Freeform Fabrication Techniques, Bo Yang, Ming-Chuan Leu

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper describes a rapid tooling process that integrates solid freeform fabrication (SFF) with electroforming to produce metal tools including molds, dies, and electrical discharge machining (EDM) electrodes. Based on experimental data analysis, the geometry and material of the SFF part, the properties of the electroformed metal, and the process parameters are significant factors that cause inaccuracy in the manufactured tools. Thermomechanical modeling and numerical simulation is used to determine the geometry of the SFF part and the electroform thickness for minimizing the manufacturing time and cost while satisfying the tooling accuracy requirement.