Development of rapid tooling by rapid prototyping technology and electroless nickel plating for low-volume production of plastic parts

A rapid tooling approach is presented in this article to build an injection mould for low-volume production of plastic parts. This is an indirect tooling method using a rapid prototype model as a casting pattern. A layer of nickel-phosphorous alloy is plated on the casting pattern before it is cast in the aluminium-filled epoxy resin to form a cavity insert. After the removal of the casting pattern, the nickel-phosphorous alloy layer left on the wall of epoxy cavity insert acts as a protective layer to improve the tool life. The insert is installed in a mouldbase for injection moulding experiment. Three plastic parts are tried on the moulds built by this rapid tooling approach. This research has shown that manufacturing an indirect rapid tooling using electroless nickel plating for low-volume production of plastic injection mouldings is feasible for the rapid prototyping models. The cavity insert can be fabricated using commonly available low-cost materials within 48 h. More importantly, the tool life is longer under normal plastic processing conditions and quality mouldings are obtained.