Dies and presses are two key factors that determine stamping quality, precision and production efficiency. Advanced presses can only deliver full performance and favorable benefits when equipped with sophisticated dies. The development trends of dies are as follows:

1. Full utilization of IT technologies for die design and manufacturing

Rising user requirements for press speed, precision and die change efficiency have driven the advancement of dies. The car body and engine are two core automotive components. Automobile body dies, especially medium and large-sized body panel dies, are technology-intensive, represent the contemporary level of die technology, and form a vital part of body manufacturing technology. The design and manufacture of body dies account for roughly two-thirds of the vehicle development cycle, becoming a major bottleneck for vehicle model upgrades. Currently, global vehicle model renewal generally takes around 48 months, while the United States can complete it in merely 30 months, largely thanks to the adoption of CAD/CAE/CAM technologies and 3D solid modeling software for automotive body panel die structure design in the die industry. Besides, extensive application of network technologies provides reliable information carriers and enables remote design and remote manufacturing. Meanwhile, the adoption of IT technologies such as virtual manufacturing will also boost the development of the die industry.

2. Reduction of tryout time for metal forming dies

At present, high-speed hydraulic test presses and drawing mechanical presses are being actively developed. In particular, die tryout time on mechanical presses can be cut by 80%, offering enormous cost-saving potential. Such tryout mechanical presses tend to adopt multi-link drawing presses equipped with CNC hydraulic drawing cushions, featuring parameter configuration and status memory functions.

3. Rapid development of progressive stamping dies in body manufacturing

It is well-known stamping technology to process rotor and stator laminations or connectors with progressive blanking dies or combined stamping dies on automatic stamping presses. In recent years, progressive combined blanking dies have gained increasingly wide application in car body manufacturing. Coil strips can be directly processed into formed and drawn parts by progressive dies. The workpieces being processed keep growing in size. This eliminates follow-up procedures required for multi-station press production with complete die sets, including sheet shearing, oil coating and blank transportation. Progressive combined stamping dies have been widely adopted in the US automotive industry. They feature high productivity and low die cost, and sheet shearing is unnecessary. Compared with stepped dies used on multi-station presses, they can cut costs by 30%. Nevertheless, the application of progressive combined stamping dies is limited by drawing depth, guidance and work hardening on the strip edge during material conveyance. They are mainly used for simple parts with shallow drawing depth and cannot fully replace multi-station presses. For most components, processing on multi-station presses should be prioritized.