Plastic molds are indispensable components in the plastic processing and molding process. The performance requirements of plastic molds mainly include high hardness, good wear resistance, high toughness, good cracking resistance, good resistance to collapse angle, good corrosion resistance to corrosive plastics, and achieving the designed processing accuracy. So, what is the future development trend of plastic molds?

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1、 High quality

The development trend of mold steel in Europe and America is that a series of new mold materials have emerged, including carbon tool steel, low alloy tool steel, and high alloy tool steel, and the alloying degree of mold standard steel is also increasing day by day.

1. Development Trends of New Plastic Mold Steels Abroad

Plastic mold steel with easy cutting and good polishing properties, such as 412 and M-300 from the United States, YAG from Japan, EAB from the UK, and STAVAX-13 from Sweden;

Pre hardened plastic mold steel, such as P20 and 445 in the United States, PDS in Japan, MOVTREX-A (2312) in Germany, etc;

Integral hardened plastic mold steel, such as A2, D3, and H13 in the United States;

Corrosion resistant plastic mold steel, such as 110Cr Mo17 in the national standard ISO, 4Cr13 from ASSAB in Sweden, etc.

2. Advanced mold surface treatment process

Using multi element co infiltration and composite infiltration instead of single element infiltration to treat the surface of the mold.

Coating can be applied on the surface of the mold, including TiC, TiN, TiCN, TiAlN, CrN, Cr7C3, W2C, etc. The coating can be prepared by methods such as phase deposition, chemical vapor deposition, physical chemical vapor deposition, ion infiltration, ion implantation, etc.

2、 High precision

The high-speed scanner and mold scanning system provide many functions required from scanning the model or physical object to processing the desired model, greatly shortening the development and manufacturing cycle of the mold.

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The mold scanning system has been successfully applied in the mold industry in Europe and America. Equipment in this area, such as the high-speed scanner (CyclonserieS2) from Renishaw Company in the UK, can achieve complementary advantages between laser and contact probes, with laser scanning accuracy of 0.05mm and contact probe scanning accuracy of 0.02mm.

3、 High efficiency

1. Widely adopted high-speed cutting technology

Generally used for large panel molds, the surface machining accuracy can reach 0.01mm. The mold surface after high-speed milling and precision machining can be used with only a slight polishing, saving a lot of time for grinding and polishing. High speed cutting greatly shortens the mold making cycle, thereby improving the market competitiveness of the product.

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2. Combination of rapid prototyping technology and rapid molding technology

The combination of rapid prototyping technology and rapid tooling technology is applied to mold manufacturing, that is, the prototype of product parts is manufactured using rapid prototyping technology, and then the mold is rapidly manufactured based on the prototype. The cost of applying this technology from mold design to manufacturing completion is only one-third that of traditional methods. Using rapid prototype casting to produce silicone rubber molds, it is very suitable for trial production of products and is used for small amounts of plastic parts. Using aluminum to manufacture injection molds can shorten the injection cycle by 25-30%, greatly reducing the weight of the mold, and reducing the grinding and polishing time by half.

4、 Innovation drive

In order to strengthen competitiveness, the production of mold steel in foreign countries has shifted from decentralization to centralization, with multiple companies merging across borders. In order to better compete, these companies have established complete and technologically advanced mold steel production lines and mold steel scientific research bases, forming several global mold production and research centers to meet the rapidly developing mold industry.

Editor's note: The mold industry is a modern craft substrate that relies on technology and quality to exist. Only by increasing research and development efforts can we remain invincible in the industry. At present, there is still a certain gap between the domestic mold industry and its foreign counterparts. However, as long as we quickly absorb advanced foreign technologies and continuously try to improve and innovate, we will definitely achieve huge breakthroughs in the near future.