Presentation from Guido Tosello, Accosiate Professor, DTU, Department of Mechanical Engineering for Plastic Engineering Day, October 29, 2020

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Implementation of additive
manufacturing for polymer
extrusion tooling
Guido Tosello, PhD
Technical University of Denmark
Department of Mechanical Engineering
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Let’s talk about extrusion
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Let’s talk about extrusion – Process

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Let’s talk about extrusion – Die
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EXTRUSION DIE POLYMER MELT

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What’s the situation?
• Polymer extrusion is a high volume manufacturing technology that accounts for 30% of the 360
millions tonnes (2019) global plastic processing production
•  that’s more than 100 millions tonnes in 2019 alone!
• Target is typically the production of large batches of extremely long extrudates
• Tooling involves high investments and relatively long lead times
• Low flexibility towards cost-effective
design changes, iterations, variations,
small batches
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Digital Technologies for Extrusion 4.0
• Tooling by AM has the
potential to challenge the
status quo and to disrupt the
value chain in polymer
extrusion
• Simulation is used as effective
digital tool to accelerate
extrusion product
development
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Tooling today and our innovation
Conventional manufacturing
(machining)
Additive manufacturing
(this research)
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Challenges and Opportunity
Production
Volume
High
Low
Product
Standardization
Low High
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Extrusion Die Manufacturing and
Approval Cycle for Production
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Extrusion Tooling Process Chains
Simulation
Die Design
Additive
Manufacturing
AM Post
Processing
Run-in,
Inline testing
Die
Adjustments
Profile
Design
ToolApproved
for Production
Digitally Enabled
Process Components
Manual
Die Design
Manufacturing,
EDM & CNC
Milling
Post Processing
Conventional
Process Components
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Extrusion Tooling Process Chains
Simulation
Die Design
Additive
Manufacturing
AM
Post
Processing
Die
Adjustments
During Run-In
Manual
Die Design
Manufacturing
EDM &
CNC Milling
Post
Processing
Die
Adjustments
During Run-In
Conventional Process Chain
0.5 week 8 weeks 0.5 week 3 weeks
Total:12weeks
0.3 week (up to) 1 week
Digitally Enabled Process Chain
0.1 week 0.1 week
Total:1.5weeks
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Design for Additive Manufacturing
• CE221 photopolymer cyanate ester material
– Supplier = Carbon, USA
– HDT = 201 °C (ASTM D648)
– UTS = 92 ± 12 MPa
– E modulus = 3.9 ± 0.1 GPa
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• Extrusion material = thermoplastic elastomer (TPE)
– Supplier = Kraiburg, Germany
– Melt temperature = 150°C
– Extrusion speed = 8 m/min
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Design for Additive Manufacturing

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Original
design
Optimized
design
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Design for Additive Manufacturing

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Original
design
Optimized
design
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Design for Additive Manufacturing

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Die balanced flow through simulations
Simulations for
flow balancing
Die design
Results vs
simulations
Simulations
calibration
Optimized design
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CLIP – Continuous Liquid
Interface Production
• Carbon
(https://www.carbon3d.com/)
• M2 CLIP machine
• Material: photopolymer cyanate
ester
– CE221 by Carbon
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AM photopolymer dies
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• Up to 1000 m of extrudates
succesfully produced
• Material = thermoplastic
elastomer (TPE)
• Extrusion parameters
– Melt temperature = 150°C
– Extrusion speed = 8 m/min
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Extrusion with AM photopolymer dies
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Results
• BEFORE extrusion
– Average dimensional accuracy AM die = ±15-25 µm
– Relative dimensional accuracy AM die = ± 0.5-1.0%
• AFTER extrusion
– Average deviation of die dimensions from nominal
– -40 µm to -70 µm (-3.5% to -5.0%)
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Conclusion
• New tooling process chain for
polymer extrusion based on
photopolymer AM established
• Extrusion with AM produced soft
(photopolymer) dies succesfully
achieved
• Up to 1000 m extrudate
produced in TPE with a single
photopolymer AM die
• Integrated flow and
thermomechanical simulation used
to assist die design for AM
• Average relative accuracy of AM
tooling BEFORE extrusion ±1%
• Average relative deviation of die
accuracy AFTER extrusion -5%
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Work in progress
• Extrusion of hard plastics (e.g. PVC, PP)
• Development of AM dies made in high strength polymers (e.g. PEEK)
• Development of metal AM dies made in tool steel
• Further development of process simulation and die design
• Extend tool life from prototyping to pilot production
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Acknowledgements
• This research work was undertaken in the context of the DIGIMAN4.0 project (“DIGItal
MANufacturing Technologies for Zero-defect Industry 4.0 Production”, http://www.digiman4-
0.mek.dtu.dk/).
• DIGIMAN4.0 is a European Training Network supported by Horizon 2020, the EU Framework
Programme for Research and Innovation (Project ID: 814225).
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Thank you for your attention!
Interested? Feel free to reach out for more info 
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