Narrow Results

Rapid tooling processes are now well known and largely implemented in the plastic injection industries. Harsh conditions related to metal casting or injection do not allow such rapid tooling processes to be directly applicable. This paper focuses on magnesium alloy casting in rapid prototyped mold with thin walls created by Direct Metal Laser Sintering. Such molds are anisotropic, due to special laser exposure between their skin and core. Hence, experimental results from casting are described and analyzed. The results can help companies improve their rapid prototyping means in the field of magnesium casting of precise parts in permanent molds.

Aluminum alloys, such as the 6082 alloy, is now becoming established for future lightweight vehicle structures, while Magnesium alloys remain a specialist material. By developing a low-cost, massproduction route for sheet magnesium, designers can start to explore the use of pressed magnesium panels into future vehicles. In this work, it is presented the feasibility study for an application and development of a hot forming technology to the forming an automotive external body (skin) panel. The reported forming trials of the front cowl panel were conducted using AA6082 and AZ31b alloys.