In the development of the automotive mold industry both domestically and internationally, the following nine development trends emerge in the production, sales, demand, transformation, and upgrading of China's automotive mold industry.
1. The Status of 3D Mold Design is Consolidated
3D mold design is a crucial component of digital mold technology and the foundation for integrating mold design, manufacturing, and inspection. Companies such as Toyota in Japan and General Motors in the United States have implemented 3D mold design and achieved excellent application results. Some practices adopted abroad in 3D mold design are worth learning from. Besides facilitating integrated manufacturing, another advantage of 3D mold design is its ease of interference inspection and motion interference analysis, solving a major challenge in 2D design.
2. The Role of CAE (Computer-Aided Engineering) in Stamping Process Simulation is Becoming More Prominent
In recent years, with the rapid development of computer software and hardware, CAE technology has played an increasingly important role in stamping process simulation. In developed countries such as the United States, Japan, and Germany, CAE technology has become an essential part of the mold design and manufacturing process, widely used to predict forming defects, optimize stamping processes and mold structures, improve the reliability of mold design, and reduce trial molding time. Many domestic automotive mold companies have made significant progress and achieved good results in the application of CAE. The application of CAE technology can greatly save the cost of trial molding and shorten the development cycle of stamping dies, becoming an important means of ensuring mold quality. CAE technology is gradually transforming mold design from experience-based design to scientific design.
3. Digital Mold Technology Has Become the Mainstream Direction
The rapidly developing digital mold technology in recent years is an effective way to solve many problems faced in automotive mold development. Digital mold technology refers to the application of computer technology or computer-aided technology (CAX) in the mold design and manufacturing process. Summarizing the successful experiences of domestic and foreign automotive mold companies in applying computer-aided technology, digital automotive mold technology mainly includes the following aspects:
① Design for Manufacturability (DFM), which considers and analyzes manufacturability during the design phase to ensure process success.
② Auxiliary technology for mold surface design, developing intelligent surface design technology.
③ CAE-assisted analysis and simulation of the stamping process, predicting and solving potential defects and forming problems.
④ Replacing traditional two-dimensional design with three-dimensional mold structure design.
⑤ The mold manufacturing process adopts CAPP, CAM, and CAT technologies.
⑥ Solve problems encountered during mold trial and stamping production under the guidance of digital technology.
4. Rapid Development of Mold Processing Automation
Advanced processing technology and equipment are crucial foundations for improving productivity and ensuring product quality. In advanced automotive mold companies, CNC machine tools equipped with dual worktables, automatic tool changers (ATC), photoelectric control systems for automated machining, and online workpiece measurement systems are commonplace. CNC machining has evolved from simple surface machining to comprehensive machining of both surface and structural surfaces, and from low-to-medium speed machining to high-speed machining; the development of machining automation technology is extremely rapid.
5. High-Strength Steel Plate Stamping Technology is the Future Direction
High-strength steel, due to its excellent properties in yield strength ratio, strain hardening characteristics, strain distribution capacity, and impact energy absorption, is increasingly used in automobiles. High-strength steels used in automotive stamping parts mainly include paint-hardening steel (BH steel), dual-phase steel (DP steel), and transformation-induced plasticity steel (TRIP steel). The Ultra-Lightweight Body Project (ULSAB) anticipates that in its advanced concept car (ULSAB-AVC) to be launched in 2010, 97% of the materials will be high-strength steel. Advanced high-strength steel sheets will account for over 60% of the total materials used in the vehicle, with duplex steel making up 74% of these.
The extensive use of mild steel series, primarily IF steel, will be replaced by high-strength steel sheets, and high-strength low-alloy steel will be replaced by duplex steel and ultra-high-strength steel sheets. Currently, the application of high-strength steel sheets in domestic automotive parts is largely limited to structural components and beams, with tensile strengths mostly below 500 MPa. Therefore, rapidly mastering high-strength steel sheet stamping technology is a crucial issue that my country's automotive mold industry urgently needs to address.