Development of green rapid tooling technologies

Abstract

Rapid tooling technology is regarded as an important method of reducing the cost and time to market in a new product development process. Silicone rubber mold and epoxy-based composites mold are frequently used in the indirect tooling. Based on green manufacturing, a green rapid tooling technology is developed and implemented in this work. This technology provides a new and simple approach for producing the green silicone rubber mold and the green epoxy-based composites mold without appreciable loss of surface roughness. The savings in costs of development in the green silicone rubber mold and green epoxy-based composites mold are about 35.6% and 52.5%, respectively. The saving in cost of development in the large-sized silicone rubber mold fabrication is up to 66.4%.