Development and Breakthrough of Precision Casting Technology in China
Development and Breakthrough of Precision Casting Technology in China
as an ancient civilization, China is one of the countries that used precision casting technology earlier. As far back as hundreds of years BC, the ancient working people of our country created this lost wax precision casting technology, used for precision casting of clock tripods and utensils with various fine patterns and characters.
Since the 50 or 60 s, domestic enterprises have applied precision casting to industrial production. Since then, this advanced precision casting process has been greatly developed, successively in aviation, automobiles, machine tools, ships, internal combustion engines, gas turbines, telecommunications instruments, weapons, medical devices and knives are widely used in manufacturing industries.
Development Status of Precision Casting Industry in China
in the entire international market of the precision casting industry, Europe and the United States have always been in a dominant position in the world precision casting market, 2021 North America accounts for 53%, Europe accounts for 20%, and Asia accounts for 22% (China accounts for 5.7%), other regions accounted for 5%. Precision casting in Europe and North America is mainly high value-added products. The total output value of 2021 precision casting is 7.8 billion US dollars, of which high value-added products account for 74%, automobile parts account for 10%, and other parts account for 16%.
China's precision casting has been greatly developed in the past 10 years. In mainland China, a complete precision casting production system has been established, with complete raw materials, equipment, and technology. Due to historical development, there are different technological methods adopted for different quality requirements in mainland China. The first is the water glass technology, which developed earlier and the technology is relatively mature. There are more than 1000 production plants in the mainland. Due to its low price, this process has strong competitiveness in producing some precision castings with low quality requirements. In terms of the internationally accepted silica sol or ethyl silicate process, due to the introduction of technology and the unremitting efforts of mainland colleagues, it has now become an important international casting export destination. There are nearly 400 production enterprises with annual exports exceeding US $0.4 billion. The total 2021 output reached 275,000 tons, with a total output value of about 4.79 billion yuan, accounting for 7.5% of the world's total output value. However, the proportion of precision casting high-temperature alloys and non-ferrous alloys in China is very small. In the non-ferrous metal casting process, there is still a big gap compared with the industrial development countries. There is a gap in appearance quality and internal quality of alloy castings, with large processing allowance, high rejection rate and low alloy utilization rate. At the same time, due to the backward production methods and technological equipment, a large number of harmful gases are produced in the production process, and effective environmental protection measures are lacking, which seriously pollutes the environment.
Reform and Breakthrough of Precision Casting Technology in the 21st Century
Rapid Prototyping (Rapid Prototyping) technology is a general term for the Rapid production of samples or parts directly based on the CAD model developed in recent years. Since the advent of rapid automatic forming, foreign countries have attached great importance to its combination with traditional precision casting technology, which has led to rapid casting. The application of rapid prototyping technology in precision casting solves the bottleneck problem of traditional wax mold manufacturing, which can be described as a major breakthrough in precision casting technology in the 21st century. Some well-known universities such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Texas and a group of research institutions have obtained large amounts of development and research funds from the government and industry for further research on this technology. Major companies have purchased molding machines to meet the market demand. Japan, Germany, Britain and others are all studying new molding technologies and developing new products. However, China's financial investment and technical research in this area are obviously insufficient.
China's Precision Casting Technology
problems in Development and Some Suggestions
on the whole, my country's precision casting technology is still at a low level. In terms of the complexity and quality of castings, the complete set of technology, there is still a big gap with advanced industrial countries in terms of commercialization and the degree of mechanization and automation. Advanced industrial countries have adjusted their product structure, shifting from low-priced, labor-intensive products to high value-added products, while mainland China currently only has a competitive advantage in low-priced markets. The following three suggestions are put forward on the main problems existing in the development of precision casting technology in China and the future development.
(1) Pay attention to and improve the basic research work of precision casting technology, increase investment and improve the research level. At present, there is a general guiding ideology of eager for quick success and instant benefits. The factory adheres to the "usage doctrine" and hopes to spend money to buy other people's ready-made technology, and the early process demonstration for product objects, even the necessary process test is indispensable, unwilling to pay in this regard, often resulting in the completion of the production line, difficulties for a long time, resulting in failure.
(2) We must attach importance to the introduction of talents and be in line with international technology, so as to cultivate the ability to respond quickly to the market and win quickly. In order to demonstrate the feasibility of using lost foam casting for aluminum alloy cylinders in the factory, Volkswagen organized experts from 9 colleges and universities to invest nearly 6 million marks, and obtained valuable data and conclusions, it has laid a solid technical foundation for the design and construction of EPC production line.
(3) It is necessary to improve the grade of castings and produce castings of various alloys. In Asia, China, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea are the main production areas of precision casting. Facing the fierce market competition at home and abroad, China's precision casting industry must find its own position, in order to make a difference in the period of intense change at the turn of the century.
