Current status and trends of technological development in the plastic mold industry

1. Emerging injection molding technology continues to develop

In recent years, with the continuous development of the modern new material industry, people's awareness of energy conservation and environmental protection has increased, and the injection mold processing industry has also undergone changes. On this basis, various new injection molding technologies have been developed, mainly including large-scale injection molding, precision injection molding and thin-wall injection molding.

Due to different injection molding processes, these three injection molding forms also have different requirements for molds. Among them, large injection molds are different from ordinary injection molding in terms of cavity strength, stiffness requirements, cavity combination requirements, and mold exhaust requirements. In addition, it also has the characteristics of high precision requirements, complex structure, high cost, and high cost. Precision injection mold processing has unique requirements for the accuracy and temperature of the mold cavity, materials and product demoulding. Later, with the development trend of "light, thin, short, and small" injection molded products, thin-walled injection molding was produced. It has the advantages of light product quality and material saving, and is widely used in electronic communications, medical and health and other fields.

2. Hot runner technology has broad development prospects

Although the application proportion of hot runner plastic molds is not high, hot runner technology is developing rapidly in the plastic mold processing industry. It is estimated that more than a quarter of injection molds are used in hot runner technology in Europe and more than a sixth in the United States. Abroad, hot runner system components have been serialized and commercialized. At present, the application of hot runner technology in plastic mold processing has reached 33.33%. Common hot runner technologies include internal heat, manifold and external heat.

However, in China, hot runner technology has been gradually applied since the 1980s and is still in the development and application stage. In injection molds, its application proportion is only about 2%-3%. However, the development prospects are good and the potential market demand is huge.

3. Technology development is subject to mold steel product upgrades

Although my country's plastic mold industry is developing rapidly, the technical content of products continues to improve and the manufacturing cycle continues to shorten. However, compared with the level of advanced foreign plastic molds, there is still a big gap. The mold industry is a stable customer of the steel industry and a major promoter of steel product upgrades. The upgrading of the mold industry is restricted to a certain extent by the development of high-end steel product varieties, quality and services.

More than 80% of mold steel produced abroad is produced by vacuum refining and electroslag remelting. The steel has high purity and isotropy. However, the share of mold steel produced by electroslag remelting in China is very small, about 10%. The only plastic mold steels included in the national standards are 3Cr2mo and 3Cr2mni, while the plastic mold steels commonly used abroad have formed a relatively complete series.

4. Technology continues to develop toward high efficiency, large scale, and refinement

Currently, plastic mold manufacturing accounts for 30% of the entire mold industry. Innovation in plastic mold processing technology is of great significance to the mold industry. As the application scope of plastic products expands, the requirements for product quality, form and quantity are also increasing. The development of high efficiency, large scale, refinement, intelligence and automation has become an inevitable trend in the development of plastic mold processing technology. Processing technologies such as CAD, digital rapid scanning systems, and hot runners are gradually used in the processing and production of plastic molds, improving the quality and service life of the molds.