With the progress of society and the rapid development of industry, users’ requirements for plastic molds have become higher and higher, and the proportion of plastic molds has also increased year by year,and it’s proportion has accounted for about 45% of the total mold. As a modern industrial foundation mold, not only must meet the needs of production parts, but also to meet the needs of production components, but also to meet the requirements of energy-saving and environmental protection requirements for product lightweighting and production. Nowadays, automotive, light industry, electromechanical, telecommunications, building materials and other emerging industries such as aerospace, new energy, medical and other industries are increasingly demanding plastic parts and requirements. Therefore, vigorously developing large-scale and precision plastic mold production technology has become one of the important links to improve the level of mold manufacturing in China. The importance of some new plastic forming technologies and the corresponding mold development is particularly important, and this is of great significance for improving the efficiency of industrial production, energy saving and environmental protection.
According to reports, the main key technologies included in this technology are: hot runner technology and its rational application in precision injection molds; multi-injection head plastic packaging mold production technology; injection molding machine with a capacity of 1000 tons and more than 200 tons of heat Large-scale plastic molds for presses and precision injection molds with precision of 0.01mm or more; multi-color and multi-material mold production technology; metal and plastic parts combined mold production technology; different plastic parts laminated mold production technology; Injection mold production technology without plastic surface processing; plastic mold assembly and decoration technology and hot pressing rapid seamless forming technology; new plastic and multilayer composite forming technology and mold technology; gas-liquid auxiliary injection molding Technology and mold technology; co-extrusion of plastic profile and high-speed extrusion mold production technology.
At present, the mold software developed by the UK, USA, Germany and other countries and some of our universities and research institutes, has the characteristics of intellectualization, integration and mold manufacturability evaluation with a new generation of mold CAD/CAM software.
The new generation of mold software should be based on the summary of the practice of mold design. The knowledge has been systematized and scientifically organized to store the engineering knowledge base in a specific form and can be easily invoked by the mold. With the support of intelligent software, mold CAD no longer imitates traditional design and calculation methods. Rather, under the guidance of advanced design theory, it will make full use of expert knowledge and successful experience in the field, and its design result is necessarily reasonable and advanced.
The new generation of mold software, design the mold structure with stereoscopic thinking and intuitionistic feeling. The generated three-dimensional structure information can be easily used for mold manufacturing evaluation of CNC machining, which requires three-dimensional parameterized feature modeling, molding process simulation, numerical control machining process simulation and exchange of information and organization and management reached a considerable degree of perfection and have a high level of integration. Measuring the level of software integration, not only depends on whether the functional modules are complete, but also depends on whether these functional modules share the same data model, whether to form a unified global dynamic database, to achieve integrated management and sharing of information in support of mold design, manufacture, assembly, testing, testing and commissioning of the entire process.
Mold manufacturability evaluation function is very important in the new generation of mold software. It should not only filter many programs, but also evaluate the rationality and economy of mold design process, and provide modification basis for die designers.
The manufacturability evaluation includes mold design and manufacturing cost estimates, mold assembly evaluation, mold parts manufacturing process evaluation, mold structure and forming performance evaluation. The new generation of software should also have an assembly oriented function, as the function of the mold can only be embodied through its assembly structure. After adopting the assembly oriented design method, the mold assembly is no longer simply assembled by parts. The data structure can not only describe the function of the mold but also define the relationship between the parts and components, so as to effectively achieve the quality of the mold.
Mold manufacturing technology has developed rapidly, which has become an important part of modern manufacturing technology. Such as mold CAD / CAM technology, mold laser rapid prototyping technology, mold precision prototyping technology, mold ultra-precision machining technology, mold in the design using finite element method, boundary element method to flow, cooling, heat transfer process of dynamic simulation technology, mold CIMS technology, developed mold DNM technology and CNC technology, which covers almost all the modern manufacturing technology.
Modern mold manufacturing technology is developing in the direction of accelerating information-driven, improving manufacturing flexibility, agility manufacturing, and systematized integration.
As manufacturing capabilities continue to advance, many industry leaders have weighed in on what’s happening and coming:
In regard to mold demand, Demand for molds can be extremely volatile, but even moderate swings in the overall totals can represent huge hardships for some shops…Some of the indicators I use to generate an outlook for the mold making sector are starting to look like they are at or very near a cyclical bottom. If this is the case, then demand for new molds could start to improve moderately in 2020.
When speaking about automation, Everyone needs to get more productivity out of their machine tools, and many can’t afford to put on a second or third shift. We see companies installing pallet loaders and those types of systems and set up jobs to run automatically. When it finishes one job, the machine will get the next one. This gives them more hours of production in a day. Productivity is key.
Discussing machine monitoring program improvements，You can get lots of data just looking at your iPad and see how the machine is doing… Is the tool still there? If not, use a backup tool or generate an alarm to alert you on your cell phone or iPad. There are many things we can program the machine to do in order to tell you how to fix the problem.
Identifying 2020 trends impacting moldmakers, One trend being seen is manufacturers’ use of durable, temperature- and corrosion-resistant materials. Makers in industries like automotive are using these types of materials—instead of steel—to increase the longevity of components and realize other benefits like lowering the weight of various parts to improve overall fuel efficiency. Furthermore, the use of bio-resins (eco-conscious plastics) continues to gain traction in the plastic injection molding arena since they have a lower impact on the environment than oil or petroleum-based resin without sacrificing their usability. Finally, technology has now evolved that allows plastic makers to mold metals, ceramics, and carbides—in addition to plastics.
Expanding on the last point, some industries are turning to alternatives for part manufacturing. For example, general goods manufacturers are experimenting with bio-resins instead of plastics, while other sectors (e.g., aerospace and automotive) are adopting the use of plastic composites—i.e., plastics imbued with glass, aramid, or carbon fiber fillers that add strength and structural integrity. Among other advantages, these material alternatives may allow for lighter part weight and lower production costs.
Not only is the chemical technology behind plastic alternatives improving, but it’s also quickly becoming a necessity. With the implementation of China’s ban on imports of solid wastes as raw materials. —i.e., the National Sword policy—companies need to create responsible recycling plans