Software support for environmentally benign mold making process and operations

Abstract

To face increasing concerns about energy and environmental impact in product manufacturing, effective estimation of the processes' impact is necessary as a way of improvement. In this paper, software support is suggested for the mold making process. We analyzed energy consumption in two major operations in mold making, computer numerically controlled (CNC) milling and electric discharge machining (EDM). Software tools were developed to evaluate possible energy consumption and environmental impact among different process plans. Estimation based on nominal conditions can lead to underestimation due to changing conditions of machining. By the software support, more reliable estimation was achieved with considering various operational parameters and conditions.