1. Application of SLA in the development of plastic mould
Plastic molds often work in high temperature and high pressure environment. The characteristics of SLA technology determine that the technology is only suitable for the design and development stage of automobile plastic molds. Dongfeng aeolian AX7 is the best-selling model in China’s SUV market in the past two years. When designing the air-conditioning outlet mold, the designers of the car used SLA technology on a large scale, which not only shortened the R & D cycle, reduced the R & D cost, but also stimulated the designers’ innovative thinking. The application of SLA in the process of automobile mold design and R & D has laid a good foundation for the rise of independent automobile brands in China.
2. Application of SLS and 3DP in the manufacturing process of casting mould
3D printing technology is widely used in the rapid prototyping of sand mold in automobile casting mold. Because SLS process has the advantage of large size, it is often used to manufacture large size sand mold for engine block casting. Wuhan Binhu electromechanical uses SLS method to prepare sand mold for engine cylinder block casting for Guangxi Yuchai, as shown in Figure 5. However, 3DP technology, because of its advantages in manufacturing parts with extremely complex shape and structure, is often used to manufacture sand mold with complex pipeline, as shown in the figure.
The traditional automobile mould manufacturing process includes more than ten processes. However, 3D printing only needs four steps: 3D modeling, software slicing, equipment printing and post-processing. With the development of automobile technology, the shape of many automobile parts is becoming more and more complex, which makes the mold manufacturing more and more difficult. The traditional “reduction” manufacturing technology can not process the whole core and cavity, but can only be realized by the method of matching and inlaying, which leads to the decrease of precision, the longer cycle and the lower life. The 3D printing technology can not only realize the overall processing, Moreover, the processing time is shortened by 70%, the cost is reduced by 30%, and the service life is increased by more than 20%.