Currently, plastic mould industry accounts for 30% of the whole mould industry in China, and mould export-import up to 50 - 70%. However, these numbers will increase in the coming years as the demand for the plastic devices and parts is increasing in the manufacturing industry (automotive, electronics, home appliances...). Plastic mould market will be expanded further!
However, in general terms, today China’s plastic moulds still have a certain gap when being compared with the ones made in Japan, Germany or the USA. To meet the evolving needs of the market, Chinese plastic mould makers should grasp the trend and the specific requirements of the market. Here are five trends in plastic mould manufacturing in China that the mould makers need to pay attention to:
1. Demand for enhancing productivity in manufacturing is increasing which boosts the growth in the size and number of cavities in a mold. The result is that now we are seeing more and more of the large-scale moulds with weight even up to 100 tons or hundreds of cavities on a mould. Since then, the requirements for the mould processing equipment also increased: journey of y and z axes; bearing capacity, higher rigidity and consistency.
2. Steel materials used for machining mould have high hardness, thus requiring the machinery should have better heat resistance and higher reliability.
3. In addition to increasing demand for high productivity in manufacturing, the plastic products also tend to have more complex shapes, so the mould will also have more complex cavities, even mould would be multifunctional. Therefore, the plastic mould manufacturers need to improve design and manufacturing standards. Building and assembling the composite moulds with complicated cavities and multifuntions will require a large amount of machining and programming procedures, a highly comprehensive and stable cutting ability.
4. The equipment used in mould manufacturing are increasingly complex and improving the efficiency. These equipment can handle rigid materials, process stably with small cutting force, small deformation in high temperature and many other advantages. These devices make plastic mould manufacturers increasingly focus more on high-speed machining.
5. High dynamic precision. Static performance that machine tool manuafacturers introduced is used in mould’s 3D surface machining time, does not reflect the actual machining conditions. Moulds’ 3D surface is machined with high precision, put forward high dynamic precision performance requirements more, also high speed and precision in the machine with high rigidity, thermal stability, high reliability and high quality compatible machine control system possible to achieve.
(According to mouldsnet.cn)