Design and selective laser melting manufacturing of tpe extrusion die

In presented work, extrusion die made by maraging steel used in TPE processing was optimised by means of flow dynamics of the final part. Maraging steel Ni-18 (M300) die were produced by Selective Laser Melting (SLM) using AM125 machine provided by Renishaw. The developed and manufactured extrusion die has not been processed by finishing the process, i.e. grinding, polishing or sandblasting. The tests were carried out using TPE industrial extrusion plant. Moreover, designed extrusion die to decrease weight and save the material; the design was hollow. The presented results indicate that the SLM technique is a promising method for the production in one production process the extrusion dies used in the TPE extrusion process with complex internal walls, with high accuracy, high speed and at low costs and own outlays. Moreover, this technique gives the constructors possibilities to design very complicated shapes of profiles with more than one of the working areas (bubbles) or design co-extrusion dies. Application of SLM technique allows to manufacture air ducts with pipe connectors to fasten an air, hence eliminating from the process expensive and time-consuming electrical discharge machining. © 2020 Trans Tech Publications Ltd, Switzerland.