Study On Rapid Moulding Process Based On Numerical Control Prototype

For two methods of Rapid Tooling (RT), the Direct Rapid Tooling (DRT) method has been greatly focused for its short manufacturing cycle and low cost, but it can't large use practice present; The Rapid Prototyping (RP) technique developing rapidly has been limited its application for needing special equipments and expensive prototype materials. With the development of control system, the numerical control (NC) equipments have been widely used in manufacturing; Meanwhile precision process has made greatly progress in theory and practice. In order to overcome the disadvantage of RP in low surface precision, bad mechanical properties, high cost of mould and limited application, a new process integrating numerical control with modern precision forming was presented in this thesis.The routing was that the deviation and precision of whole system have been accurately compensated and controlled in CAD environment by three-dimension data, then the prototypes of special paraffin, foam or other macromolecule materials were rapidly machined in numerical control center, the parameter of machining and post processing must be optimized, finally the finish mould or semi-manufactured product was cast by gypsum mould casting technology in aluminum alloys. The key points of this process were two aspects: the first, a prototype material adapting to numerical control machining and precision forming would be researched and its NC machining parameters and its forming process must be obtained; Second, to develop a aluminum material used in forming of complex mould die by investigating the influence of Si, Cu, RE, Zr on aluminum alloys.Based on the above consideration, some moulds of parts were practiced in experiment by this process to use in production. The results indicated that the cost of mould can be reduced 30% and the manufacturing cycle can be reduce to ~70% as compared with RP technology, the characteristic of this process is easy to use in industrial production and easy to control in procedure. Compared with traditional mould manufacturing process, this process can greatly decrease the whole cost of mould, save expensive cost on manufacturing metal materials, reduce manufacturing cycle of mould, and corporation will be benefited from this process finally.