Mould has certain shape and size of the cavity is a kind of tools, all kinds of system and the mould or auxiliary institutions, will all kinds of high temperature liquid materials (such as plastic or metal alloy) filled to the mold cavity, can produce a specific shape, size, function and quality of industrial components.
Functions of the mold:
(1) the mould industry is an integral part of the high-tech industry. For example, the design and manufacture of integrated circuits should not be without the precision progressive die and the precision plastic seal die of integrated circuits.
(2) mold industry is an important field of high-tech industrialization. Important changes have taken place in CAD/CAE/CAM technology, and the development and improvement of mould manufacturing level are conducive to the adoption of precision and efficient nc machining equipment. The application of advanced technologies such as reverse engineering, parallel engineering, agile manufacturing and virtual technology in the mould industry also needs to be grafted with high and new technologies such as electronic information to realize the industrialization of high and new technologies.
Development trend of mold design and manufacturing:
(1) die design is developed from the experience design stage to the direction of theoretical calculation and computer-aided design.
(2) the mold develops towards high precision, large size and ultra-small size. Ten years ago, the precision of precision molds was 5um, now it has reached 2-3um. The machining precision of some molds is required to be within 1um, which requires the development of ultra-precision machining and the reduction of manual operations such as locksmith.
(3) with the increasing popularization and application of hot runner technology, the hot runner mould can greatly save the raw materials produced.
(4) the multi-functional composite mould will develop further, and the multi-color and multi-material plastic molding mould will also develop rapidly.
(5) with the continuous improvement and development of the plastic molding process, the gas-auxiliary mould and the mould adapted to high-pressure injection molding and other processes will develop accordingly. The precision of plastic parts can be divided into dimension precision, geometric shape precision and appearance precision (gloss and tone). In injection molding, the biggest factor that affects the precision of the parts is the shrinkage of the parts. High-pressure injection molding can reduce the shrinkage rate of the resin and increase the stability of the size of the parts.
(6) the application of mold standard parts will be more and more extensive. Such as plastic, stamping die, thimble, cylinder, screw and spring.
(7) the prospect of rapid economic molds is very broad. It is an era of multiple varieties and small batch production. Various superplastic materials are developed to make molds. Epoxy (E) polyester (P) or filler metal (M) and glass (G) are used to make simple molds. The rapid economic molds such as electric mould, precision mould, laminated mould, ceramic mould, epoxy resin ester mould and light mould will be further developed.