Productivity enhancement in dies and molds manufacturing by the use of C1 continuous tool path

The challenge of die and mold milling is to achieve the specified dimensional and geometrical accuracy, and improve the surface roughness, in order to minimize polishing operations, still necessary to meet the tight tolerances required by the automotive industry and the plastic injection sector. The present study investigates the multi-axis milling of a specific mold steel grade Super Plast (R) 300* (SP300) [1], by a ball nose carbide tool coated with Ti(CN). Surface finish analysis given by 3D measurements and data processing techniques shows that micro-geometrical defects generated by C-1 continuous tool path are definitely less serious than those obtained by classical tool paths driven via linear interpolation. Also, polishing time saving is more than 30%. Thus, a substantial productivity enhancement is achieved in dies and molds manufacturing. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.