Aluminum alloy forgings frame main body mold development: breaking difficulties and seeking innovation
Publish Time: 2024-12-18
In the field of high-end bicycle manufacturing, aluminum alloy forgings frame main body is highly favored due to its excellent strength-to-weight ratio, but its mold development is full of thorns and many difficulties lie ahead.
Aluminum alloy has poor fluidity. When forging complex frame shapes, it is difficult to evenly fill the mold cavity, which can easily cause local material shortages or looseness, affecting the integrity and strength of the frame. High-precision dimensional control is another difficult problem. The connection parts and pipe diameters of the frame are required to be accurate to the millimeter. If there is a slight deviation, assembly and adaptation will become a problem, and riding performance will be greatly reduced. In addition, the mold is subjected to repeated high pressure and high temperature impact during the forging process, which causes rapid wear and shortens the life. Frequent mold replacement not only increases costs, but also slows down the production rhythm.
In the face of difficulties, innovation and breakthroughs have become the key to breaking the deadlock. At the mold design software level, advanced numerical simulation technology is introduced to simulate the flow trajectory and solidification process of aluminum alloy under different working conditions, predict molding defects in advance, accurately optimize the gate and runner layout, and ensure the smooth filling of aluminum liquid, just like planning an accurate navigation route for its flow.
There are also achievements in the field of materials science, and new heat-resistant and wear-resistant mold steel alloys have been developed. After special heat treatment processes, the internal structure is dense and tough, and the impact resistance and wear resistance have soared, greatly extending the service life of the mold.
Manufacturing process innovation is equally important. High-speed milling and EDM composite machining are used to carve complex cavities, and the details are sharp and precise, and the dimensional tolerance is steadily controlled within a very small range. At the same time, 3D printing technology has emerged, and conformal cooling water channel mold inserts are quickly manufactured, with uniform and efficient cooling, which effectively reduces the problem of uneven cooling shrinkage of aluminum alloys and improves the molding quality of the frame, paving a new way for the development of aluminum alloy forgings frame main molds, and helping the bicycle industry to move towards a new journey of high-performance manufacturing.
