company news about Research on Injection Mold Design for Automotive Plastic Components

I. Overview of Automotive Panel Molds

For an ordinary car to be manufactured, at least 1,500 sets of body panel molds and 200 sets of interior component molds are required. The style of the car is mainly determined by the car body panels, so the car body panel molds play a very important role in the automotive manufacturing industry. They are mostly made of steel plates about 0.8MM thick. Under normal temperature, the molds are used to apply pressure to the materials on a press machine, causing plastic deformation or separation, thereby obtaining the required shapes and sizes of parts. This is a type of pressure processing method. This processing method is usually called cold stamping.

II. Classification of Pressing Mold Processes

A stamping part usually requires multiple stamping processes to be completed. Due to the differences in the shape, size accuracy, production batch, raw materials, etc. of the stamping part, its stamping processes are also diverse, but they can be roughly divided into two categories: trimming processes and forming processes. (1) Trimming processes: The process of separating the stamping part from the sheet material along a certain contour line. For example: cutting, punching, blanking, notching, trimming, etc. (2) Forming processes: The process in which the material undergoes plastic deformation without cracking, thereby obtaining a part with certain shapes, sizes, and accuracy requirements.

III. The Importance of Each Structure of Injection Molds in Production

Each component and different structural type of the injection mold play a crucial role in the injection production process. The molding part directly determines the shape and dimensional accuracy of the plastic part; the gating system affects the filling speed and quality of the plastic, thereby influencing the intrinsic properties and appearance quality of the plastic part; the guiding mechanism ensures the mold's closing accuracy and avoids defects such as misalignment of the plastic part; the lateral core-pulling mechanism solves the molding problem of the plastic part's lateral structure, enabling the production of complex-shaped plastic parts smoothly; the ejection mechanism ensures that the plastic part can be smoothly ejected from the mold, improving production efficiency; the cooling and heating system controls the mold's temperature, allowing the plastic to be molded under suitable temperature conditions, ensuring the quality and stability of the plastic part. Different structural types of molds are suitable for different plastic part production requirements. Reasonable selection and design of mold structure is of great significance for improving the efficiency of injection production and the quality of plastic parts.

In the field of injection mold design, we often encounter several typical problems. The first is the flash problem caused by improper selection of the parting surface. A reasonable design should take into account the product structure, ejection angle and processing feasibility. The second is the product deformation caused by an unreasonable ejection system design. It is recommended to use multi-point balanced ejection and calculate the ejection area. The design of the cooling system is particularly crucial. We once encountered a case where uneven cooling water channel layout led to inconsistent product shrinkage. After optimizing through mold flow analysis, the production cycle was shortened by 15% and the yield rate increased to 98%. In addition, the design of the ejector mechanism should particularly pay attention to the wear resistance and lubrication of the moving parts. In actual production, the selection of mold steel also directly affects the mold lifespan. For high-precision parts, it is recommended to use pre-hardened steel; for mass production, quenched steel is more suitable. Our team successfully shortened the new product development cycle for customers by 30% through standardized design processes and DFM analysis.