Description
Additive manufacturing (AM) is bringing new innovations to traditional methods of manufacturing. AM is now being used to manufacture composite tooling, saving composite manufacturers cost and lead time over traditional tooling methods and materials. Composite tooling is typically an expensive process, due to the materials required to survive the various manufacturing processes involved. Tooling is exposed to excessive temperatures, pressures, and forces, causing tools to be unusable after a period of time. Manufacturing problems like warpage can render an expensive tool useless. This course will inform composite manufacturers about which AM methods, materials, and optimization techniques can be used to substitute traditional tooling. It will also cover the various composite manufacturing methods that can take advantage of additive tooling, and how to verify that the tooling will be appropriate for the design manufacturing process.
Key Learnings
- Understand what processes and materials can be used to additively manufacture tooling
- Learn how to incorporate manufacturing constraints into the tooling design
- Understand which composite manufacturing processes and materials can be used with additive tooling
- Learn how to modify the designs based on manufacturing analysis to reduce costly iterations