The rapid development of mold manufacturing technology has become an important component of modern manufacturing technology. For example, mold CAD/CAM technology, mold laser rapid prototyping technology, mold precision forming technology, mold ultra precision machining technology, mold design using finite element method, boundary element method for flow, cooling, heat transfer process dynamic simulation technology, mold CIMS technology, developed mold DNM technology and CNC technology, almost covering all modern manufacturing technologies.

Modern mold manufacturing technology is developing towards accelerating information driven, improving manufacturing flexibility, agile manufacturing, and systematic integration.

1、 High speed milling: the third generation mold making technology

High speed milling not only has high processing speed and good surface quality, but also has lower temperature rise (machining workpiece only increases by 3 ℃) and smaller thermal deformation compared to traditional cutting, making it suitable for processing temperature sensitive materials such as magnesium alloys; Due to its small cutting force, it is suitable for machining thin-walled and parts with poor rigidity; Reasonable selection of cutting tool usage can achieve a series of advantages such as hard material (HRC60) machining. Therefore, high-speed milling technology is still a hot topic, and it has developed towards higher sensitivity, intelligence, and integration, becoming the third generation of mold making technology.

2、 Electric Spark Milling "Green" Product Technology

From the perspective of foreign electric machining machine tools, regardless of their performance, process indicators, intelligence, and automation level, they have reached a relatively high level. Currently, the new trend in foreign countries is to research and develop electric discharge milling technology (electric discharge generative machining technology), which replaces the traditional technology of using shaped electrodes to process cavities. It uses high-speed rotating simple tubular electrodes for 3D or 2D contour machining (similar to CNC milling), Therefore, there is no longer a need to manufacture complex shaped electrodes, which is clearly a significant development in the field of electric discharge machining.

Mold expert WeChat: mujudaren

At the same time as the progress of electric discharge machining technology, the safety protection technology of electric discharge machining is increasingly valued by people, and many electric machining machines have considered safety protection technology. At present, the European Community has stipulated that machine tools without the "CE" mark cannot enter the European Community market, and the international market is increasingly paying attention to safety protection technology requirements.

At present, the main problem with electrical discharge machining (EDM) machine tools is radiation interference, as it has a significant impact on safety and environmental protection. As the international market places increasing emphasis on "green" products, as the leading equipment for mold processing, EDM machine tool "green" product technology will have to solve the problem in the future.

3、 New Generation Mold CAD/CAM Software Technology

At present, mold software has been developed by research institutes of higher education institutions in countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, and China. It has the characteristics of intelligence, integration, and manufacturability evaluation of the new generation of mold CAD/CAM software.

The new generation of mold software should be based on a large amount of knowledge summarized from mold design practice. These knowledge have been systematically and scientifically organized, stored in a specific form in the engineering knowledge base, and can be easily accessed by molds. With the support of intelligent software, mold CAD will no longer imitate the traditional design and calculation methods, but under the guidance of advanced design theory, fully use the rich knowledge and successful experience of experts in this field, and the design results will be reasonable and progressiveness.

The new generation of mold software designs the mold structure with three-dimensional thinking and intuitive feeling, and the generated three-dimensional structure information can be easily used for the evaluation of mold manufacturability for NC machining, which requires that the 3D parametric feature modeling, molding process simulation, NC machining process simulation and information exchange organization and management of mold software reach a fairly perfect level and a high level of integration. To measure the level of software integration, it is not only necessary to see whether the functional modules are complete, but also whether these functional modules share the same data model and form a global dynamic database in a unified manner, achieving comprehensive information management and sharing to support the entire process of mold design, manufacturing, assembly, inspection, testing, and production.

The evaluation function of mold manufacturability is of great importance for the new generation of mold software. It is necessary to screen multiple solutions, evaluate the rationality and economy of the mold design process, and provide modification basis for mold designers. Mold expert WeChat: Mujudaren's professional mold technology explanation

The manufacturability evaluation of the new generation of mold software mainly includes mold design and manufacturing cost estimation, mold assemblability evaluation, mold component manufacturing process evaluation, mold structure and forming performance evaluation, etc. The new generation of software should also have assembly oriented functionality, as mold functionality can only be reflected through its assembly structure. After adopting the assembly oriented design method, mold assembly is no longer simply assembled by individual parts. Its data structure can not only describe the mold function, but also define the assembly features of the interrelationships between mold components, achieving component association, and thus effectively ensuring mold quality.

4、 Advanced Rapid Mold Manufacturing Technology

1. With the rapid development of laser rapid prototyping (RPM) technology, China has reached the international level and gradually realized commercialization. The commercialized rapid prototyping processes in the world mainly include SLA (Stereolithography), LOM (Layered and Split Manufacturing), SLS (Selective laser sintering) and 3D-P (3D Printing).

Tsinghua University was the first to introduce the equipment and technology of the 3D company SLA250 (Stereolithography or photosensitive resin laser curing) from the United States and conduct research and development. After several years of efforts and multiple improvements, it has improved and launched the "M-RPMS type multifunctional rapid prototyping manufacturing system" (with layered solid manufacturing SM and melt extrusion molding MEM), which is the only independent intellectual property right in China and the world with two types of rapid prototyping process systems (national patents), Has a good performance to price ratio.

2. The dieless multi-point forming technology uses a height adjustable punch group to replace traditional molds for sheet metal surface forming, which is another advanced manufacturing technology. The dieless multi-point forming system uses CAD/CAM/CAT technology as the main means to quickly and economically achieve automatic forming of three-dimensional surfaces. Jilin University of Technology has undertaken national key scientific and technological research projects related to dieless forming, and has independently designed and manufactured internationally leading dieless multi-point forming equipment.

Compared with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States, the University of Tokyo in Japan, and the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan, this technology in China is in a leading position in theoretical research and practical application, and is currently developing towards promotion and application.

3. The resin stamping mold has been successfully applied in the first domestic sedan trial production. FAW Mold Manufacturing Co., Ltd. has designed and manufactured 12 sets of resin molds for the redesign and trial production of the new Xiaohongqi sedan. These 12 sets of molds are respectively used for drawing large and complex internal and external covering parts such as the luggage compartment, engine hood, front and rear fenders, etc. The main characteristics of the mold surface are based on the CAD/CAM processing main model, using Swiss Ciba refined high-strength resin casting to form, and the gap between the convex and concave molds is accurately controlled by imported specialized wax sheets, The mold has high dimensional accuracy, the manufacturing cycle can be shortened by half to two-thirds, and the manufacturing cost can be saved by about 10 million yuan (12 sets of molds). It has opened up a new path for small batch production of sedans in China, which is the first in China. Experts from Swiss Ciba Refinery believe that it can reach the international level of the 1990s.

5、 On site mold inspection technology

The development of precision molds requires increasingly high measurement requirements. Precision three coordinate measuring machines have long been limited by environmental conditions and are rarely used in production sites. The new generation of three coordinate measuring machines are basically equipped with temperature compensation and use of anti vibration materials to improve dust prevention measures, improve environmental adaptability and reliability, making them easy to install and use in the workshop, achieving on-site measurement characteristics.

6、 Mirror Polishing Mold Surface Engineering Technology

Mold polishing technology is an important component of mold surface engineering and an important post-processing process in mold manufacturing. Currently, domestic molds are polished to Ra0.05 μ Polishing equipment, abrasive tools, and processes can basically meet the needs, but need to be polished to Ra0.025 μ The mirror polishing equipment, abrasive tools, and process are still in the exploratory stage. With the large-scale application of mirror injection mold production, mold polishing technology has become a key issue in mold production. Due to certain issues in domestic polishing technology and materials, injection molds for cameras, CDs, VCD discs, and tools with high transparency requirements still rely heavily on imports.

It is worth noting that the surface polishing of the mold is not only affected by the polishing equipment process technology, but also by the mirror degree of the mold material. This has not yet received sufficient attention, which means that the polishing itself is constrained by the mold material. For example, when using 45 # carbon steel as an injection mold, polish it to Ra0.2 μ At m, obvious defects are visible to the naked eye, and further throwing can only increase the brightness, while the roughness is no longer expected to improve. Therefore, currently, domestic mirror mold production often uses imported mold materials, such as Sweden's Yishengbai 136 and Japan's Datong PD555, which can achieve satisfactory mirror quality.

Mirror surface mold materials not only have chemical composition issues, but also require a series of advanced processes such as vacuum degassing, argon gas protection of ingots, vertical continuous casting and rolling, and soft forging during smelting, to achieve a series of advantages such as less internal defects, fine impurity particle size, high dispersion, fine metal grain size, and good uniformity in polishing to mirror surface mold steel.