I have a small cnc that I cut prototype molds with, then make parts out of lead to be used formed in a vulcanized silicone mold in order to do production To vulcanize a mold, I need to make parts that will take 350F at 3000psi. Also i need the surface smooth in order to make a good production part, is there a 3d printer and a material that would work for this?
Doubtful. Possibly PEEK can handle 350F but its a PITA to print and you'll need some serious mods to your printer to be able to withstand the high temps. As far as the pressure goes... I don't think there's much info out there.
Nearly five years ago I spent quite a bit of time testing "3D Printing Materials" for the USAF. My conclusion was (and still is) that their "values" for Yield and Ultimate Stress and Modulas values came from somebody's dream. A "good material" tested close to 50% of the vendor's published values.
Temperature (200 °F - a bit less than boiling water) is almost all about the material - quite few plastics can withstand that, though you might get some small dimensional shift due to annealing. Pressure - that's down to a mixture of the geometry of the part, and the material used. So 'it depends' is the answer. And don't forget that most of a 3D print is usually empty space.
These questions are to give me a feel of what can be done with a 3d printer: 1.) Here is a typical size of part I am wanting to make. this is a pipe fitting, so is the accuracy enough to print this and thread it into a pipe thread and not leak?, no pressure, just a drain. 2.) how long to setup and printing time? 3.) cost per part- pennies? dollars? 4.) do I print and use or does it take deburring etc...?
So you'd have to check out the proposed plastic, and whether this is likely to happen, and if so is it something that can be allowed for.... Might have to do a trial to check. I only know this because I did some work for a company that machined PEEK for high pressure, high temperature seal components - they found the PEEK had to be annealed before final machining to ensure best accuracy. 3D printing might not lock in stresses in the way that extrusion can - so might not be an issue. The UV cured, 'gloop' bath style of printer shouldn't trap in much if any stress. FDM, I'm not so sure. I'm just highlighting a possible issue - I can't tell you if / how big of an issue it might be.
