Development Status and Prospect of Die Casting Technology (Part One)

Die casting as a precision machining process for metal parts which can have nearly the same shapes and sizes with the molds has been in the ascendant since its appearance. It has constantly made new progress in the fields of die casting equipment and die casting control, die casting technology and die casting alloys. Meanwhile, the market demands a lot of metal parts with complex thin wall thickness and beautiful appearance so as to meet the increasing requirements of today's automobile, electronic communications, household appliances, toys industries, etc. Some of inherent problems of die casting parts have not been completely resolved, so potential of alloys has not been fully achieved. The die casting industry is also faced with tasks of further improving technical and management levels to ensure high quality and low costs of die casts.

The current market is a dynamic market. Die casting enterprises must be able to timely adjust their business strategies in order to be in an invincible position in the competition, which should be based on advanced technology and management. Technological innovation will become a focus of corporate competition in the 21st century. Only by mastering the key technology by ourselves and adopting advanced management systems, can we respond the dynamic market quickly and improve the competitiveness of enterprises.

There have been hundreds of die casting companies which have been moved from Hong Kong to Guangdong Province since China' reform and opening up. Therefore, Guangdong's die casting industry has developed rapidly for over a decade. According to incomplete statistics, there are more than 600 die casting factories with a certain scale in Guangdong Province; there are over eight die casting factories with annual output of 3,000 to 5,000 tons die casts; there are more than ten die casting factories with 1,000 to 3,000 tons; there are dozens of die casting factories with 500 to 1,000 tons. The annual output of zinc alloy die casts is nearly 100,000 tons, and 40,000 tons for aluminum alloy die casts in Guangdong Province. There are about 2,000 die casting machines and Italian die casting machines with the greatest mold clamping forces of 21,000KN in the whole province. There are seven die casting machine manufacturers and over ten factories of die casting related facilities in Guangdong Province. The annual output of die casting machines is about 600 sets, and they are mostly hot chamber machines. There are several existing problems as follows: die casting facilities have small sizes and relatively outdated control systems; die casts mainly made of zinc alloys are applied as non-mechanical parts of household appliances and toys, and die casting parts' proportions of cars and motorcycles are still relatively small; mold making is a weak link; there are many mold manufacturers, but they are small scaled; die casting facilities lag behind and die casts have a long production period; only a few mold factories start to implement CAD or CAM technology. We must focus on promotion of die casting technological innovation project, the development of new injection systems and control systems, improvement of die casts' inner quality, the development of new die casting technology, study of new die casting alloy materials and practice  of modern management in order to make die casting industry achieve advanced world levels.