Design and Fabrication of Invar Layup Tool Molds using Additive and Subtractive Manufacturing

The development of novel additive manufacturing technologies, such as Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM), has opened the door for the fabrication of complex part geometries that could not be achieved with traditional manufacturing methods. Best practices for designing parts for fabrication with WAAM are still in their infancy. This thesis presents a novel design and fabrication framework for parts created using WAAM, which was realized through the fabrication of two demonstration composite layup tool molds. The framework includes design principles for WAAM, finite element simulation of part performance, metrological analysis of printed preforms, and considerations for closely integrating the WAAM and final machining processes. The demonstrated work provides a business and engineering case for using WAAM systems to fabricate composite tooling as a time and cost-effective solution compared to traditional manufacturing techniques. By adopting new WAAM techniques as a viable manufacturing alternative, these composite tool molds can be produced with considerable time and labor reductions, and can be designed to contain 50% less mass than traditionally manufacture tool molds.