Additive manufacturing process for shoe sole mold

Abstract

The invention discloses a shoe sole mold additive manufacturing process, and relates to the technical field of shoe sole molds, the shoe sole mold additive manufacturing process comprises the steps of early-stage data processing, printing matrix preparation, metal 3D printing, post-processing, quality inspection and finished product mold assembly, a complex structure difficult to machine through a traditional process can be achieved, and various metal materials such as aluminum alloy, stainless steel and titanium alloy are supported; the yield and quality of the parts are improved through the high-precision forming process; meanwhile, by means of the technology, optimization design of a conformal cooling water channel and the like can be achieved, so that the performance of the mold is improved, and good cost benefits are achieved when high-cost materials are used or small-batch production is conducted.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of shoe sole mold, in particular to a shoe sole mold additive manufacturing process. BACKGROUND

[0002] At present, the shoe sole mold is usually made by equal material manufacturing or casting or subtractive manufacturing (machining or discharge) method. With the development of science and technology, the additive manufacturing process, that is, the metal 3D printing using metal powder for selective laser melting, is more and more widely used in the shoe sole mold manufacturing process. In order to achieve the technical purpose, it is necessary to provide a shoe sole mold additive manufacturing process. SUMMARY

[0003] Therefore, in order to solve the above problems, the present application provides a shoe sole mold additive manufacturing process.

[0004] The present application is realized by constructing a shoe sole mold additive manufacturing process, which comprises the following steps: Step one, early data processing: three-dimensional model optimization, adding support, slice processing, preparing for printing; Step two, printing base preparation: preparing the shoe mold base for grafting printing, the lower base of the shoe mold is completed by traditional subtractive or equal material manufacturing; Step three, metal 3D printing: spreading metal powder on the printing platform, selectively melting the powder by laser beam according to the slice data, and forming a mold embryo by layer-by-layer accumulation, the whole process is carried out under the protection of inert gas to prevent metal oxidation; Step four, post-processing: including wire cutting separation, heat treatment, support removal and surface finishing to meet the mold use requirements; Step five, quality inspection: inspecting the size accuracy and surface quality of the shoe mold printed product workpiece to ensure that it meets the design requirements; Step six, assembling the finished mold.

[0005] Preferably, the early data processing specifically further includes: model design and optimization: constructing a 3D model of the shoe sole mold according to the shoe sole design, and clearly defining the key structures of the mold such as cavity, flow channel and exhaust hole; directly designing fine pattern structure to realize digital biting; adding support and slicing: in order to prevent deformation or collapse of the part, necessary support structure needs to be added at the suspended part of the model; then the three-dimensional model is sliced into two-dimensional data for layer-by-layer printing; setting printing parameters: layer thickness, laser power, scanning speed.

[0006] Preferably, the step three metal 3D printing further comprises: using metal powder to perform selective laser melting on the substrate to print the upper functional structure of the shoe mold layer by layer; the upper structure is printed by using technical grafting, specifically, the internal skeleton and the cavity surface layer, which takes into account the efficiency and quality: the internal skeleton is printed quickly with a thickness of 40-100 microns, and the cavity surface layer is printed with a thickness of 10-80 microns to ensure the fineness.

[0007] Preferably, the step four post-processing further comprises: wire cutting and heat treatment: first, the 3D printed forming piece is separated from the printing substrate by wire cutting, and then heat treatment is performed according to the material properties to eliminate internal stress and improve mechanical properties; support removal and surface treatment: the support structure added during printing is carefully removed, and then sand blasting, polishing and other surface treatments are performed to make the mold reach the required surface finish.

[0008] Preferably, the step six product mold assembly further comprises: mold preparation: according to the design requirements of the shoe sole mold, the mold workpiece required to fix the 3D printed product shoe mold workpiece is made by traditional subtractive machining; the 3D printed product shoe mold workpiece and the mold assembly surface are machined by traditional subtractive machining to meet the assembly accuracy requirements, and the 3D printed product shoe mold workpiece and the mold workpiece are fixed by bolts or welding to obtain the required product mold.

[0009] Preferably, the step four post-processing further comprises stress annealing and solid solution and aging treatment, the mold embryo separated by wire cutting is heated to a temperature below the material phase transition point, and after heat preservation, furnace cooling is performed to eliminate residual stress generated during printing; the workpiece after stress annealing is heated to the solid solution temperature and heat preservation, so that the alloy elements are fully dissolved, and then rapid cooling is performed; aging treatment is performed again, the strengthening phase is dispersed and precipitated by low temperature and long time heat preservation, so as to improve the comprehensive mechanical properties of the mold.

[0010] Preferably, the support removal and surface finishing of the step four are: the support structure generated during printing is removed from the mold embryo by wire cutting, machining or manual method; the mold is subjected to sand blasting treatment to remove the powder adhered to the surface and obtain uniform roughness; the functional surface constituting the sole cavity is subjected to key polishing treatment to reach the predetermined finish, and the non-working surface is maintained in the state after sand blasting or is subjected to simple treatment.

[0011] The present application has the following advantages: the present application provides a shoe sole mold additive manufacturing process by improvement, compared with the same type of equipment, has the following improvements: The shoe sole mold additive manufacturing process can realize complex structures that are difficult to process by traditional processes, supports a plurality of metal materials such as aluminum alloy, stainless steel, titanium alloy and the like, and improves the part yield and quality through a high-precision forming process; meanwhile, the technology can also realize the optimization design of the conformal cooling waterway and the like, thereby improving the mold performance and having good cost effectiveness when high-cost materials or small batch production are used. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0012] Figure 1 is a process flow diagram of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0013] The following will be described in conjunction with the accompanying Figure 1 The principles and characteristics of the present application are described, and the examples are only used to explain the present application, and are not used to limit the scope of the present application. In the following paragraphs, the present application is described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the drawings are very simplified and use non-precise proportions, only to facilitate, clearly assist in the purpose of describing the embodiments of the present application.

[0014] In the description of the present application, it should be noted that the terms "center", "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "inner", "outer" and the like indicate the orientation or positional relationship based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings, and are only for the purpose of facilitating the description of the present application and simplifying the description, and therefore cannot be understood as indicating or implying that the devices or elements referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as limiting the present application. In addition, the terms "first", "second", "third" are only for the purpose of description, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance.

[0015] In the description of the present application, it should be noted that unless otherwise explicitly specified and limited, the terms "mounting", "connecting", "connecting", "setting" should be understood broadly, for example, it can be fixedly connected, or it can be detachably connected, or integrally connected; it can be mechanically connected, or it can be electrically connected; it can be directly connected, or it can be indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, or it can be connected inside two elements. For those skilled in the art, the specific meaning of the above terms in the present application can be understood according to the specific circumstances. The embodiments of the present application will be described below according to the overall structure of the present application.

[0016] Please refer to Figure 1 The shoe sole mold additive manufacturing process of the present application comprises the following steps: Step one, early data processing: three-dimensional model optimization, adding support, slice processing, preparation for printing.

[0017] Model design and optimization: According to the sole design, use CAD software to build a 3D model of the sole mold, and clearly define the key structures of the mold, such as cavity, flow channel, exhaust hole, etc. It can directly design fine pattern structure, realize digital bite pattern, replace traditional chemical corrosion process; Add support and slice: In order to prevent deformation or collapse of the part, necessary support structure needs to be added at the suspended part of the model; Then the three-dimensional model is "sliced" into two-dimensional data for layer-by-layer printing; Set printing parameters: layer thickness, laser power, scanning speed, etc. Common parameters (layer thickness 0.02-0.1mm, laser power 180-250W); Step two, print the base: prepare the base for grafting printing, the lower part of the shoe mold (solid part) is made by traditional subtractive (such as CNC machining) or equal material (such as casting); Step three, metal 3D printing: spread metal powder on the printing platform, and selectively melt the powder according to the slicing data, layer by layer to form the mold embryo. The whole process is carried out under the protection of inert gas (such as argon, nitrogen, etc.) to prevent metal oxidation; Use metal powder to perform selective laser melting on the base and print the upper functional structure of the shoe mold (including cavity and pattern) layer by layer; Use technology to graft and print the upper structure (including internal skeleton and cavity surface layer), which can balance efficiency and quality: the internal skeleton can be printed quickly with thicker layer thickness (such as 40-100 microns), while the cavity surface layer can be printed with thinner layer thickness (such as 10-80 microns) to ensure precision; This step may involve multiple laser systems to improve efficiency; Step four, post-processing: including wire cutting separation, heat treatment, support removal, surface finishing (such as sandblasting, polishing), etc. to meet the requirements of the mold; Wire cutting and heat treatment: first, the 3D printed part needs to be separated from the printing substrate by wire cutting. After wire cutting separation, the mold embryo is heated to below the material phase transition point, and then cooled in the oven to eliminate the residual stress generated during printing and improve the mechanical properties; Support removal and surface treatment: use wire cutting, machining or manual methods to remove the support structure generated during printing from the mold embryo; Then perform sandblasting, polishing and other surface treatments to make the mold meet the required surface finish; Step five, quality inspection: inspect the size accuracy, surface quality (such as bite pattern effect) of the shoe mold printing finished workpiece to ensure that it meets the design requirements; Step six, assembly of finished mold: Mold preparation: according to the design requirements of the sole mold, use traditional subtractive machining (such as CNC machining) to manufacture the mold frame workpiece required to fix the 3D printed shoe mold workpiece; The 3D printed shoe mold workpiece and the mold assembly surface are processed by traditional subtractive machining (such as CNC machining) to meet the assembly accuracy requirements; The 3D printed shoe mold workpiece and the mold workpiece are fixed by bolts or welding to obtain the required finished mold.

[0018] The shoe sole mold additive manufacturing process provided by the application can realize complex structures that are difficult to process by traditional processes, supports various metal materials such as aluminum alloy, stainless steel, and titanium alloy, and improves the part yield and quality through high-precision molding process; at the same time, the technology can also realize the optimization design of conformal cooling waterway and the like, thereby improving the mold performance, and has good cost efficiency when using high-cost materials or small-batch production.

[0019] The above shows and describes the basic principles and main features of the application and the advantages of the application, and the standard parts used in the application can be purchased from the market, and the special-shaped parts can be ordered according to the description and the drawings, the specific connection mode of each part adopts the conventional means such as bolt rivet, welding and the like in the prior art, the mechanical, parts and equipment adopt the conventional type in the prior art, and the circuit connection adopts the conventional connection mode in the prior art, which will not be described in detail here.

[0020] The above description of the disclosed embodiments enables those skilled in the art to implement or use the application. Various modifications to these embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein can be implemented in other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the application. Therefore, the application will not be limited to these embodiments shown herein, but will conform to the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims

1. An additive manufacturing process for shoe sole molds, characterized in that: Includes the following steps: Step 1: Preliminary Data Processing: 3D model optimization, adding supports, and slicing to prepare for printing; Step 2, Preparation of Printing Substrate: Prepare the shoe mold substrate for grafting printing. The lower part of the shoe mold substrate is made using traditional subtractive or equal-material manufacturing. Step 3, Metal 3D Printing: Metal powder is spread on the printing platform, and the laser beam selectively melts the powder according to the slice data, building up layer by layer to form a mold blank. The whole process is carried out under the protection of inert gas to prevent metal oxidation. Step 4, Post-processing: This includes wire cutting separation, heat treatment, support removal, and surface finishing to meet the mold usage requirements; Step 5: Quality Inspection: Inspect the dimensional accuracy and surface quality of the printed shoe mold parts to ensure they meet the design requirements; Step 6: Assemble the finished mold.

2. The additive manufacturing process for shoe sole molds according to claim 1, characterized in that: The preliminary data processing also includes: Model design and optimization: Based on the sole design, a 3D model of the sole mold is constructed, clarifying key structures such as the mold cavity, flow channel, and vent. A fine pattern structure is directly designed to achieve digital patterning. Adding supports and slicing: To prevent parts from deforming or collapsing, necessary support structures need to be added to the suspended parts of the model; then the 3D model is sliced ​​into 2D data for printing layer by layer; Set the printing parameters: layer thickness, laser power, and scanning speed.

3. The additive manufacturing process for shoe sole molds according to claim 2, characterized in that: Step three, metal 3D printing, also includes: Selective laser melting of metal powder is used on the substrate to print the upper functional structure of the shoe mold layer by layer; the upper structure is printed by grafting technology, specifically the internal skeleton and the cavity surface layer, balancing efficiency and quality: the internal skeleton is printed quickly with a thickness of 40-100 micrometers, while the cavity surface layer is printed with a thickness of 10-80 micrometers to ensure precision.

4. The additive manufacturing process for shoe sole molds according to claim 3, characterized in that: The post-processing in step four also includes: wire cutting and heat treatment: first, the 3D printed part needs to be separated from the printing substrate by wire cutting, and then heat treatment is performed according to the material properties to eliminate internal stress and improve mechanical properties; support removal and surface treatment: carefully remove the support structure added during printing, and then perform surface treatments such as sandblasting and polishing to make the mold achieve the required surface finish.

5. The additive manufacturing process for shoe sole molds according to claim 4, characterized in that: Step six, the assembly of the finished mold, also includes: mold frame preparation: according to the design requirements of the shoe sole mold, the mold frame workpiece to fix the 3D printed finished shoe mold workpiece is made using traditional subtractive processing; the assembly surface of the 3D printed finished shoe mold workpiece and the mold frame is made using traditional subtractive processing to meet the assembly accuracy requirements; the 3D printed finished shoe mold workpiece and the mold frame workpiece are fixed by bolts or welding to obtain the required finished mold.

6. The additive manufacturing process for shoe sole molds according to claim 5, characterized in that: The post-processing in step four also includes stress annealing and solution and aging treatment. The mold blank separated by wire cutting is heated to a temperature below the material phase transformation point, held at that temperature, and then furnace cooled to eliminate residual stress generated during the printing process. The workpiece that has undergone stress annealing is heated to the solution temperature and held at that temperature to allow the alloying elements to fully dissolve, followed by rapid cooling. Then, aging treatment is performed, and the strengthening phase is dispersed and precipitated through low-temperature long-term holding to improve the overall mechanical properties of the mold.

7. The additive manufacturing process for shoe sole molds according to claim 6, characterized in that: The support removal and surface finishing in step four are specifically as follows: the support structure generated during printing is removed from the mold blank by wire cutting, machining or manual methods; the entire mold is sandblasted to remove powder adhering to the surface and obtain uniform roughness; the functional surfaces that constitute the shoe sole cavity are polished to achieve the predetermined smoothness, while the non-working surfaces are left in their sandblasted state or are simply treated.

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