Optimizing the Manufacturing of Laminated Dies

Laminated tooling where parts are manufactured layer by layer is a promising technology. It can help to reduce production costs and make complex tools with conformed cooling channels. Laminated tooling is based on taking sheets of metal and laser cutting profiles on them before stacking them to produce the final product. If the sheets are thin, the surface quality of final product will be good; however the cost of laser cut is increased in this case. Therefore, finding the optimum set of layers thicknesses to have the minimum surface jaggedness and the number of slices at the same is the aim of this research. A modified version of Genetic Algorithm is used for optimization purpose.