Evaluating the performance of Bi58Sn42 mold produced by material extrusion additive manufacturing system for agile manufacturing

Purpose The purpose of this study is to produce a low-cost sheet metal forming mold made from the low melting point Bi58Sn42 (bismuth) alloy by using an open-source desktop-type material extrusion additive manufacturing system and to evaluate the performance of the additively manufactured mold for low volume sheet metal forming. Thus, it was aimed to develop a fast and inexpensive die tooling methodology for low-volume batch production. Design/methodology/approach Initially, the three-dimensional printing experiments were performed to produce the sheet metal forming mold. The encountered problems during the performed three-dimensional printing experiments were analyzed. Accordingly, both tunings in process parameters (extrusion temperature, extrusion multiplier, printing speed, infill percentage, etc.) and customizations on the extruder head of the available material extrusion additive manufacturing system were made to print the Bi58Sn42 alloy properly. Subsequently, the performance of the additively manufactured mold was evaluated according to the dimensional change that occurred on it during the performed pressing operations. Findings Results showed that the additively manufactured mold was rigid enough and proved to have sufficient strength in sheet metal forming operations for low-volume production. Originality/value Alternative mold production was carried out using open-source material extrusion system for low volume sheet metal part production. Thus, cost effective solution was presented for agile manufacturing.