CAD/CAM Technology of Stamping Die

The rapid development and organic combination of computer technology, mechanical design and manufacturing technology have formed a new technology of computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM).
CAD/CAM is the key technology to transform the traditional mold production method, and it is a high-tech and high-efficiency system engineering. It provides users with an effective auxiliary tool in the form of computer software. Enables engineers and technicians to design and optimize products, mold structures, forming processes, CNC machining, and costs with the help of computers. Mold CAD/CAM can significantly shorten the mold design and manufacturing cycle, reduce production costs, and improve product quality has become a consensus.
With the emergence of powerful professional software and efficient integrated manufacturing equipment, mold CAD/CAM technology based on 3D modeling and concurrent engineering (CE) is becoming the direction of development. It can realize the design for manufacturing and assembly, realize the simulation of the forming process and the simulation of the NC machining process, and integrate the design and manufacturing.

The development status and technology trend of stamping die

With the rapid development of the world economy, the market demand for molds continues to grow. The mold industry has been developing rapidly at a growth rate of about 15%, and all the manufacturing components of the mold industry enterprises have also undergone tremendous changes. Collectives, joint ventures, sole proprietorships and private companies have also developed rapidly. The "Hometown of Moulds" in Ningbo and Huangyan, Zhejiang; Some large group companies and rapidly emerging township enterprises in Guangdong, Kelon, Midea, Konka and other groups have established their own mold manufacturing centers; There are now thousands of Chinese-foreign joint ventures and wholly foreign-owned mold companies. With the accelerating integration with international standards and increasing market competition, people have increasingly realized the importance of product quality, cost and the ability to develop new products. And mold manufacturing is one of the most basic elements in the entire chain. KANGDING mold companies have increased their investment in technological advancement and regard technological advancement as an important driving force for enterprise development. Some domestic mold companies have popularized 2D CAD, and successively began to use international general software such as Pro/E, PDX, UG NX, NX Progressive Die Design, I-DEAS, Euclid-IS, Logopress3, 3DQuickPress, MoldWorks and Topsolid Progress. Individual manufacturers have also introduced CAE software such as Moldflow, C-Flow, DYNAFORM, Optris and MAGMASOFT, which have been successfully applied to the design of stamping dies.

The manufacturing technology of large-scale stamping dies represented by automobile shell dies has made great progress. Such as: Dongfeng Motor Company Mould Factory, FAW Mould Center and other mould manufacturers have been able to produce some car shell moulds. In addition, many research institutions and colleges and universities carry out research and development of mold technology. After years of hard work, significant progress has been made in mold CAD/CAE/CAM technology; It has made contributions to improving mold quality and shortening mold design and manufacturing cycle.

For example, the Auto Panel Stamping and Forming Analysis KMAS software independently developed by the Auto Panel Forming Technology Institute of Jilin University. CAD/CAE/CAM software for injection molds, automobile panel molds and progressive molds developed by the State Key Laboratory of Mold Technology of Huazhong University of Science and Technology. The cold die and precision die CAD software developed by the National Engineering Research Center of Mold CAD of Shanghai Jiaotong University have many users in the domestic mold industry.

Although China's mold industry has achieved remarkable development in the past ten years, there are still large gaps in many aspects compared with industrialized countries. For example, the proportion of precision processing equipment in mold processing equipment is relatively low; The popularity of CAD/CAE/CAM technology is not high; Many advanced mold technologies are not widely used, etc., so that a considerable part of large-scale, precise, complex and long-life molds rely on imports.

Future trends

The development of mold technology should serve the requirements of "short delivery time", "high precision", "good quality" and "low price" for mold products.
(1) Comprehensively promote CAD/CAM/CAE technology
Mold CAD/CAM/CAE technology is the development direction of mold design and manufacturing. With the development and progress of microcomputer software, the conditions for popularizing CAD/CAM/CAE technology have basically matured. Enterprises will increase CAD/CAM technical training and technical services;
Further expand the application scope of CAE technology. The development of computers and networks is making it possible to spread CAD/CAM/CAE technology across regions, enterprises, and institutions across the entire industry, realizing the reintegration of technical resources and making virtual manufacturing possible.

(2) High-speed milling processing
The high-speed milling processing developed abroad has greatly improved the processing efficiency and can obtain a very high surface finish. In addition, high-hardness modules can also be processed, and it also has the advantages of low temperature rise and small thermal deformation. The development of high-speed milling processing technology has injected new vitality into the manufacture of large-scale cavity molds in the automotive and home appliance industries. It has developed towards higher agility, intelligence and integration.

(3) Mold scanning and digitization system
The high-speed scanner and the mold scanning system provide many functions from the model or the actual scanning to the processing of the desired model, which greatly shortens the mold development and manufacturing cycle. Some fast scanning systems can be quickly installed on existing CNC milling machines and machining centers. Realize fast data collection, automatically generate various processing programs of different numerical control systems, and CAD data in different formats for "reverse engineering" in the mold manufacturing industry. The mold scanning system has been successfully applied in industries such as automobiles, motorcycles, and home appliances.

(4) EDM machining
EDM milling processing technology is also called EDM generative processing technology. This is a new technology that replaces the traditional machining of cavities with shaped electrodes. It is a simple tubular electrode with high-speed rotation for three-dimensional or two-dimensional contour processing (like CNC milling), so it is no longer necessary to manufacture complex shaped electrodes. This is obviously a major development in the field of EDM. Machine tools using this technology have been used in mold processing abroad. It is expected that this technology will be developed.

(5) Improve mold standardization
The standardization of molds in my country is constantly improving, and it is estimated that the coverage rate of mold standard parts in my country has reached about 30%. In developed countries abroad, it is generally about 80%.

(6) High-quality materials and advanced surface treatment technology
It is very necessary to select high-quality steel and apply corresponding surface treatment technology to improve the life of the mold. Whether the mold heat treatment and surface treatment can give full play to the key aspects of the mold steel material performance. The development direction of mold heat treatment is to use vacuum heat treatment. In addition to perfecting mold surface treatment, advanced vapor deposition (TiN, TiC, etc.), plasma spraying and other technologies should be developed.

(7) Mold grinding and polishing will be automated and intelligent
The quality of the mold surface has a greater impact on the service life of the mold and the appearance quality of the parts. It is an important development trend to study automated and intelligent grinding and polishing methods to replace existing manual operations to improve the surface quality of molds.

(8) Development of automatic mold processing system
The mold automatic processing system should have a reasonable combination of multiple machine tools; Equipped with accompanying positioning fixture or positioning plate; Have a complete CNC library of machines and tools; Have a complete CNC flexible synchronization system; There is a quality monitoring and control system.