A mold is a production tool that can produce parts with certain shape and size requirements. In industrial production, various presses and special tools installed on the press are used to make metal or non-metallic materials into parts or products of the desired shape through pressure. Such special tools are collectively referred to as molds.
What Is a Mold?
A mold is a common tool in modern industry. Although molds are classified into many types such as casting molds, metal-plastic forming, and mold injection molds, their functions are similar. Depending on their shape, materials with certain plasticity or fluidity are also made into a specific shape by certain means.
What is the Difference Between Mold and Die?
Mold: Injection molding, casting, etc., in a liquid or soft state to allow the product to adapt to the shape of the mold and form a mold for the product. This kind of mold is composed of a male mold and a female mold, and the molten material is injected into the hollow cavity between the male mold and the female mold. When the high-temperature liquid cools and solidifies, separate the male and female molds to obtain the desired parts. Plastic injection mold, sand mold or die casting mold, etc., all belong to mold.
Die: Refers to forging, stamping, extrusion, etc., using pressure to form product molds in a solid-state. This kind of die is composed of upper and lower dies. Gravity or oil pressure is used to make the upper and lower dies approach each other quickly, directly punching, forging, or extruding metal sheets, and pressing out the shape, size, and size between the upper and lower dies. Stamping die, forging die, or extrusion die, etc., all belong to die.
Basic Knowledge of Mold:
The mold has a specific contour or cavity shape, and the contour shape of the cutting edge can separate the blank according to the contour shape, that is, punching. The shape of the inner cavity allows the blank to obtain a corresponding three-dimensional shape. The mold is generally divided into two parts: the movable mold and the fixed mold, or the punch and the concave mold, which can be divided and combined. When separated, the blank is loaded or the part is taken out, and when it is closed, the part is separated from the blank or formed. In the process of blanking, forming stamping, die forging, cold heading, pressing, and compression molding, the external force required for separation or forming is exerted on the blank through the mold; in the extrusion, die casting and injection molding process, the external force is caused by air pressure, column Plugs, punches, etc. are applied to the blank, and the die bears the expansion force of the blank. In addition to itself, the mold also needs a mold base, a mold base, a guide device, and a part ejection device.
How to Make a Mold?
The mold designer designs the mold structure and draws drawings according to the use requirements of the product (part). Then, skilled workers will make every part of the mold through various mechanical processing according to the requirements of the drawings, and then assemble and debug until qualified mold products can be produced.
- Mold design: Generally speaking, we will first analyze whether the demanded products are feasible, and then determine the process and then draw the mold diagram and proofread it, and then process it according to the required materials of the mold.
- Mold processing: After cutting the mold prototype through the tool machine tool, it can reach the shape required by the design.
- Mold test: After the mold base and mold are assembled, test the mold, and then adjust.
The mold is produced in a single piece, its shape is complex, and it has high requirements on structural strength, rigidity, surface hardness, surface roughness, and machining accuracy, so mold production requires a high level of technology. The timely supply and quality of molds directly affect product quality, cost, and new product development. Therefore, the level of mold production is one of the important indicators of the precision of mechanical manufacturing.
What Fields Can Molds be Used in?
The application of molds is extremely wide, and the applicable industries include machinery, automobile, light industry, household appliances, petroleum, chemical industry, electric power, and other industrial equipment manufacturing departments and use departments, key wear parts of aero-engine, hot extrusion dies, warm extrusion film tools, hot forging, rolling guides, rolls, camshafts of automobile engines, etc. Taking daily necessities for people's livelihood as an example, it covers all kinds of mechanical and electrical products, automobiles, bicycles, sewing machines, cameras, motors, electrical appliances, instruments, etc. The annual consumption value of molds in the machining industry is five times the total value of various machine tools. The demand for molds in the machinery, metallurgy, light industry, electronics, and other industries is huge.
What are the Mold Categories?
- The molds used for processing metals are classified according to the processing technology used:
It can be divided into stamping dies, including punching dies, bending dies, drawing dies, turning dies, shrinking dies, undulating dies, bulging dies, shaping dies, etc.
- The molds for processing non-metals and powder metallurgy, named and classified according to processing objects:
There are plastic molds, rubber molds, and powder metallurgy molds.
- Depending on the material being formed:
Molds can be divided into metal molds and non-metal molds. Metal molds are further divided into casting molds (non-ferrous metal die-casting, steel casting), and forging molds. Non-metallic molds are also divided into plastic molds (injection molding molds, extrusion molding molds, gas-assisted molding molds) and inorganic non-metallic molds.
- According to the different materials of the mold itself:
Molds can be divided into sand molds, metal molds, vacuum molds, paraffin molds, etc.
A mold is a tool used to shape an item. This tool is composed of various parts, and different molds are composed of different parts. It mainly realizes the processing of the shape of the article by changing the physical state of the formed material.
Different Molds Correspond to Different Uses:
- Stamping dies: It is die-formed by stamping.
- Plastic molding mold: It is a mold formed by molding plastic products.
- Die-casting mold: It is a mold that is die-casted by a die-casting machine. The die-casting machine is divided into a hot die-casting machine and a cold die-casting machine.
- Forging forming die: It is die-formed by forging, extrusion, etc.
- Metal mold for casting: It is a mold formed by metal casting, mainly used for casting various metal parts.
- Powder metallurgy mold: It is a kind of mold made by metal powder injection molding, and its use is also more.
- Rubber molding mold: It is the dumb rubber mold, extrusion mold, and injection mold of rubber products, which are formed by rubber pressing.
- Ceramic mold: A process of forming ceramic products.
- Economical mold: It is a simple mold, suitable for molds for industrial products of various varieties and small batches, and its economic value is relatively high.
