Polymorphic moulding Startup launches first infinitely reusable mould

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A British start-up has launched the world’s first, infinitely reusable moulding technology — Polymorphic moulding. The company’s technology can shapeshift in under 20 minutes, producing zero tooling waste and making usable parts 14 times faster than 3D printing.

Fyous, a Sheffield-based engineering start-up, has developed a groundbreaking technology. Their Polymorphic moulding machine offers an innovative approach to creating products quickly and sustainably. This technology allows manufacturers to make moulds that are infinitely reusable in minutes. As co-founders, Joshua Shires and Thomas Bloomfield oversee the development and commercialisation of this technology.

“The inspiration for Polymorphic moulding came from a frustration with ill-fitting shoes and the inefficiencies in traditional footwear manufacturing”, says Bloomfield. “Josh had a conversation with a shoe designer in China who revealed how little the shoe-fitting process had changed over centuries. And how 3D printing had failed to make the impact that we had all hoped for. This sparked the idea to make affordable custom-fit footwear a reality with a new invention.”

Polymorphic moulding works by using a machine with over 28,224 densely packed pins that automatically adjusts in z height to create moulds in minutes. The process starts by uploading a 3D model, which our proprietary software translates into pin positions. The Polymorphic machine then rapidly actuates the pins into position, creating a mould that can withstand up to six tonnes of distributed pressure. This mould can be used for various manufacturing processes like vacuum forming, foam casting and work holding for CNC machining. After production, the mould returns to its original state, ready for the next use. “Polymorphic moulding is a zero-waste technology where raw materials are conserved and the moulds can be used again and again. We will remove not only physical waste in the form of materials and tooling, but also remove wasted time by accelerating product development, prototyping and manufacture efficiencies”, the inventors state.

“We started with making outsoles for medical footwear, but since revealing our technology, lots of applications we never thought of have come out the woodwork. Work holding for complex geometries has been the most interesting. Speaking to machinist that work with post processing of complex 3D printed geometries, they asked if Polymorphic moulding could be used for jigging and fixturing”, says Bloomfield.

According to the company founders, Polymorphic moulding is poised to disrupt traditional manufacturing by significantly reducing time-to-market and enabling cost-effective production of customised products. “We have seen the huge potential of this technology given it is 14 times faster than 3D printing and with zero waste. Its use cases are almost endless from creating custom mould tools for composites, vacuum forming and PU casting to clamping complex 3D printed part geometries for machining”, says Shires.

”Our new technology bridges the gap between mass production and customisation, offering a more flexible and efficient alternative to existing methods,” Bloomfield adds. Using Polymorphic moulding to rapidly create accurate moulds for tooling could reduce time to market for a huge array of products, plus unlock commercial viability for desirable products which currently have no cost-effective manufacture method.

The team is now undertaking this period of discovery with Polymorphic moulding, uncovering potential applications for this technology. “Our future plans include expanding the applications of Polymorphic moulding across a range of industries. We're continuously researching new use cases. We aim to make custom-fit or low volume production products more accessible and affordable while promoting sustainable manufacturing practices. We're also looking to scale our operations and partner with companies in different sectors to explore novel applications of our technology”, Shires says.

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