Mold Master Fabrication for Injection Molding Using Physical Vapor Deposition, Electroforming, and Die-Sink Discharge Machining

Abstract

A method of fabricating a master mold for a part begins with using a physical vapor deposition (PVD) process to cover the part to be molded, thereby generating a conductive metal coating. Next, an electroforming process is used to thicken the conductive metal coating, thereby generating an electroformed shell. The outer surface of this shell is used as the electrode for a die-sink electrical discharge machining process, to form a surface conforming to the outer surface of the electroformed shell in a mold blank. The shell and the mold blank are then bonded together, such that the inside surface of the shell is a negative of the part to be molded.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.