Development trend of automobile mold

  In the development of the domestic and international automotive mold industry, the production and sales demand of China's automotive mold industry and the forward-looking mold technology show the following nine development trends.

  1. The status of mold 3D design is consolidated

  The three-dimensional design of the mold is an important content of digital mold technology, and it is the basis for the integration of mold design, manufacturing and inspection. Companies such as Toyota and GM of Japan have realized the three-dimensional design of the mold and achieved good application results. Some of the foreign practices adopted in the 3D design of the mold are worthy of our reference. In addition to the three-dimensional design of the mold, which is conducive to integrated manufacturing, another advantage is that it is convenient for interference inspection and can perform motion interference analysis, which solves a problem in two-dimensional design.

  2. The role of the simulation of the stamping process (CAE) is more prominent

  In recent years, with the rapid development of computer software and hardware, the stamping process simulation technology (CAE) has played an increasingly important role. In developed countries such as Japan, Germany, etc., CAE technology has become a link in the mold design and manufacturing process, which is widely used to predict forming defects, optimize stamping process and mold structure, improve the reliability of mold design, and reduce the time of mold trial. Many domestic auto mold companies have also made significant progress in the application of CAE and achieved good results. The application of CAE technology can greatly save the cost of trial mold and shorten the development cycle of stamping mold, which has become an important means to ensure the quality of mold. CAE technology is gradually transforming mold design from empirical design to scientific design.

  3. Digital mold technology has become the mainstream direction

  In recent years, the rapid development of digital mold technology is an effective way to solve many problems faced in the development of automotive molds. The so-called digital mold technology is the application of computer technology or computer-aided technology (CAX) in the mold design and manufacturing process. Summarizing the successful experience of applying computer-aided technology in domestic and foreign automobile mold enterprises, digital automobile mold technology mainly includes the following aspects: ①manufacturability design (DFM), that is, considering and analyzing manufacturability during design to ensure the success of the process. ②Auxiliary technology for mold profile design, develop intelligent profile design technology. ③ CAE assists in analyzing and simulating the stamping process, predicting and solving possible defects and forming problems. ④Replace traditional two-dimensional design with three-dimensional mold structure design. ⑤CAPP, CAM and CAT technologies are used in the manufacturing process of the mold. ⑥ Under the guidance of digital technology, deal with the problems in the process of trial mold and stamping production.

  4. The rapid development of mold processing automation

  Advanced processing technology and equipment is an important basis for improving productivity and ensuring product quality. It is not uncommon for advanced automotive mold enterprises to be equipped with dual-table CNC machine tools, automatic tool changers (ATC), photoelectric control systems for automatic processing, and online measurement systems for workpieces. CNC machining has evolved from simple profile machining to comprehensive machining of profiles and structural surfaces, from low to medium speed machining to high speed machining, and processing automation technology has developed rapidly.

  5. High-strength steel stamping technology is the future development direction

  High-strength steel has excellent characteristics in terms of yield strength ratio, strain hardening characteristics, strain distribution capability and collision energy absorption, and its use in automobiles is increasing. At present, the high-strength steels used in automotive stamping parts mainly include paint hardened steel (BH steel), dual-phase steel (DP steel), and phase-induced plasticity steel (TRIP steel). The body project (ULSAB) predicts that 97% of the advanced concept models (ULSAB-AVC) launched in 2010 will be high-strength steel, and the proportion of advanced high-strength steel plates in the vehicle materials will exceed 60%, and the proportion of dual-phase steel It will account for 74% of automotive steel plates.

  The soft steel series mainly based on IF steel will be replaced by high-strength steel plate series, and high-strength low-alloy steel will be replaced by dual-phase steel and strength steel plate. At present, the application of high-strength steel plates for domestic auto parts is still mostly limited to structural parts and beams. The tensile strength of the materials used is mostly below 500MPa. Therefore, quickly mastering the high-strength steel stamping technology is an important issue that needs to be solved urgently in China's automotive mold industry.

  6. New mold products launched in due course

  With the development of automobile stamping production and automation, progressive die will be more widely used in the production of automobile stamping parts. Progressive die is a high-tech die product, which has high technical difficulty, high manufacturing precision requirements, and long production cycle. The multi-station progressive die will be one of the key mold products developed in China. The stamping parts with complex shapes, especially some According to the traditional process, small and medium-sized complex stamping parts that require multiple pairs of dies to be punched in sequence are increasingly formed by progressive dies.

  7. Mold materials and surface treatment technology will be reused

  The quality and performance of mold materials are important factors that affect mold quality, life and cost. In recent years, in addition to the continuous introduction of a variety of high toughness and high performance cold work die steels, flame quenched cold work die steels, and powder metallurgy cold work die steels, the selection of cast iron materials for large and medium-sized stamping dies abroad is a concern. development trend. Ductile iron has good toughness and toughness, its welding performance, workability, and surface quenching performance are also good, and the cost is lower than alloy cast iron, so it is used in automotive stamping dies.

  8. The scientific and information management is the development direction of mold enterprises

  Another important aspect of the development of automotive mold technology is the scientific and information management. The scientific management makes mold companies continue to develop in the direction of Just-in-Time Manufacturing and Lean Production, enterprise management is more, production efficiency is greatly improved, and invalid institutions, links and personnel are continuously streamlined. With the advancement of modern management technology, many advanced information management tools, including enterprise resource management system (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), supply chain management (SCM), project management (PM), etc. It is widely used.

  9. Fine manufacturing of molds is an inevitable trend

  The so-called refined manufacturing of molds is related to the development process and manufacturing results of molds. It is specifically manifested in the rationalization of stamping process and mold structure design, high precision of mold processing, high reliability of mold products and strict technical management. Sex. The precise manufacturing of molds is not a single technology. The second is a comprehensive reflection of design, processing and management technologies. In addition to technical excellence, the realization of refined mold manufacturing must also be guaranteed by strict management.

  At the end of August 2011, China's car ownership exceeded 100 million, and the number of motor vehicles reached as high as 219 million. In 2011, a total of 18.418 million cars were produced. It is estimated that by 2020, China's car ownership will exceed 200 million, and the annual renewal volume will still be as high as about 15 million vehicles. With the annual export volume of about 5 million vehicles, the annual output of cars will still maintain the scale of 20 million vehicles.

  China is a big country in the world in automobile production and sales, and the number of cars is also expected, but it has never been able to produce its own cars. This has a great relationship with the lagging development of the automobile mold industry known as the "mother of the automobile industry".

  Automotive molds refer to molds used in the automotive field and are known as the "mother of the automotive industry". More than 90% of parts in automotive production need to be formed by molds.

Automobile body molds, especially large and medium-sized cover parts molds, are an important part of body manufacturing technology, and also a key link in the formation of automobile independent development capabilities. Automobile mold products include automobile cover molds, tire molds, interior and exterior plastic parts molds, lamp molds, automobile bumper molds, automobile instrument panel molds, etc.

  In developed countries such as Germany and Japan, more than 40% of the products in the mold industry are automobile molds, and about 1/3 of the mold products in China serve the automobile manufacturing industry. In general, it takes about 1500 molds to manufacture an ordinary car, including nearly 1,000 stamping molds and more than 200 interior parts molds. Affected by the rapid development of China's auto industry, China's auto mold industry has shown rapid growth, and the market capacity has continued to expand. And with the continuous optimization of the industrial structure of China's auto mold industry and the continuous progress of technology, the proportion of auto mold products in the entire industry has gradually increased. It is expected that the average annual growth rate in the next five years will still exceed 15%.