The development of future mold technology should be adapted to the requirements of the mold product "short delivery time", "high precision", "good quality" and "low price". To meet this requirement, it is urgent to develop the following items:

(1) Comprehensive promotion of CAD/CAM/CAE technology

Mold CAD/CAM/CAE technology is the development direction of mold design and manufacture. With the development and advancement of microcomputer software, the conditions for popularizing CAD/CAM/CAE technology have been basically mature, and enterprises will increase the intensity of CAD/CAM technology training and technical services; further expand the application scope of CAE technology. The development of computers and networks is making it possible to promote CAD/CAM/CAE technologies across the region, across enterprises and across campuses, and to re-integrate technical resources to make virtual manufacturing possible.

(2) High speed milling

The high-speed milling processing developed in recent years has greatly improved the processing efficiency and achieved a very high surface finish. In addition, it can also process high hardness modules, and has the advantages of low temperature rise and small thermal deformation. The development of high-speed milling technology has injected new vitality into the manufacture of large-scale cavity molds in the automotive and home appliance industries. It has now evolved toward greater agility, intelligence, and integration.

(3) Mold scanning and digitizing system

High-speed scanners and mold scanning systems provide the functionality needed to scan a model or physical object to a desired model, dramatically reducing the mold's manufacturing cycle. Some fast scanning systems can be quickly installed on existing CNC milling machines and machining centers to achieve fast data acquisition, automatic generation of various CNC system processing programs, CAD data in different formats, and "reverse engineering" for mold manufacturing. ". The mold scanning system has been successfully applied in the automotive, motorcycle, home appliance and other industries, and it is believed that it will play a greater role during the 10th Five-Year Plan period.

(4) EDM milling

EDM milling technology, also known as EDM, is a new technology that replaces traditional machining of shaped cavities with simple tubular electrodes for high-speed rotation for 3D or 2D contouring ( Like CNC milling, there is no longer a need to make complex shaped electrodes, which is clearly a major development in the field of EDM. Machine tools using this technology have been used in mold processing abroad. This technology is expected to be developed.

(5) Improve the standardization of the mold

The standardization degree of molds in China is constantly improving. It is estimated that the coverage rate of China's mold standard parts has reached 30%. Developed countries in foreign countries generally have about 80%.

(6) Quality materials and advanced surface treatment technology

It is necessary to use high-quality steel and apply the corresponding surface treatment technology to improve the life of the mold. Whether the heat treatment and surface treatment of the mold can fully utilize the key aspects of the performance of the mold steel material. The development direction of mold heat treatment is vacuum heat treatment. In addition to perfecting the surface treatment of the mold, advanced vapor deposition (TiN, TiC, etc.) and plasma spraying techniques should be developed.

(7) Mold grinding and polishing will be automated and intelligent

The quality of the mold surface has a great influence on the service life of the mold and the appearance quality of the workpiece. It is an important development trend to research the automation and intelligent grinding and polishing methods to replace the existing manual operation to improve the surface quality of the mold.

(8) Development of automatic mold processing system

This is the goal of China's long-term development. The mold automatic processing system should have reasonable combination of multiple machine tools; equipped with accompanying positioning fixtures or positioning discs; complete machine tool and tool CNC library; complete CNC flexible synchronization system; quality monitoring and control system.