Thermal fatigue of rapid tooling materials

Within the field of rapid prototyping a range of metal materials and production techniques have emerged. One field of application which has been addressed is for elevated temperature applications, namely die-casting. This thesis will investigate a range of rapid tooling materials available at the commencement of the work for use in aluminium pressure die casting. A series of experiments were conducted to answer the following research questions. (1) To what extent can rapid tooling materials resist thermal cycling and be used as a solution for aluminium pressure die casting? (2) If the thermal profile of an aluminium pressure die cast tool can be obtained, can it be simulated? (3) Can the thermal properties, failure mode, and life expectancy of rapid tooling metal materials be determined? (4) From the data obtained, is it possible to predict how other rapid tooling or like-materials would behave when subjected to thermal fatigue and can their suitability as a die casting tool material be determined? [Continues.]