Integrated technology of casting, forging and milling

Casting and forging are very important parts in machine tool manufacturing, automobile manufacturing, aviation and other fields. Due to the different volume, weight and shape of parts required by different industries, the process and processing steps are extremely complicated. The production of forgings usually adopts the process of casting, forging and rough machining before milling.

However, the above series of complex operations are aimed at the needs of parts in the conventional industry, while precision parts required in the aerospace and high-speed rail fields, such as high-temperature resistant parts and key support components of the maglev train, require more precise processing to achieve.

As the largest machine tool consumer in the world, China urgently needs high-end CNC machine tools for the development of downstream industries due to the needs of national industrial policies. In this case, Professor Zhang Haiou of Huazhong University of Science and Technology firmly stood out.

Professor Zhang Haiou, Doctor of Engineering, University of Tokyo. He has presided over and completed more than 20 NSFC, 863 Program, national defense pre research and other projects, and has successively won 20 domestic invention patents. Zhang Haiou and his wife are called “Modern Curie Couples”.

After realizing the achievement of combining metal forging and forging technology, Zhang Haiou’s team did not stop, but creatively conceived to realize the “casting forging washing machine”. After trial and error and repeated experiments by Zhang Haiou’s team, in 2010, the feasibility of composite forging was verified in a metal 3D printing. Later, combined with 3D technology, the integrated 3D printing of casting, forging and milling was realized.

New China suffered from technological backwardness at the early stage of its development. Due to the technological blockade imposed on China by Western countries, it resolutely decided to fund R&D in order to break the deadlock. But R&D is a long process, which requires continuous talent training and technology accumulation.

Machine tool technology is the foundation of industry and has always lagged behind western developed countries. Whether machine tools are advanced or not is related to the future development of China’s manufacturing industry and industry. The integrated 3D technology of casting, forging and milling has realized the subversive original innovation of micro side casting and side forging in China, and solved the world-class problem of metal 3D printing. This technology combines metal forging and forging technology, and combines 3D technology to produce parts with high strength, high toughness, high cycle fatigue and high reliability.

After the development of the “casting forging milling integrated 3D” technology, Zhang Haiou’s team transformed and promoted the technology through Tianyu Company. Now, this technology has been used in a new composite titanium alloy joint of an advanced fighter in China. In order to maintain their global leading position in commercial aircraft manufacturing, American General Motors and Airbus took the initiative to seek cooperation.

Excellence

1. Solve the shortage of ordinary 3D printing technology

As early as the 1990s, the United States had 3D printing technology, but this traditional 3D printing technology has great defects. It can not achieve the forging step, which will lead to the failure of metal parts to undergo forging, milling and other processes, so that the fatigue resistance of metal will be seriously insufficient, or there will be some defects.

Such defects put 3D printing technology into an awkward situation, and the machine manufacturing industry could not make better use of this technology. But the casting forging milling integrated 3D printing CNC machine tool has solved this problem, and can independently complete all the process steps such as forging, casting, milling, turning and 3D printing.

2. Shorten manufacturing cycle and save costs

In the traditional machine tool manufacturing process, parts manufacturing requires multiple processes, and the whole process requires multiple mechanical equipment to complete. The complex process will lengthen the entire manufacturing cycle, and require more large equipment, which will increase the manufacturing cost and cause very serious pollution.

Compared with traditional machine tools, the casting forging milling integrated 3D printing technology can integrate the processes of micro casting, micro forging, milling and grinding, and all processes can be completed with only one machine. Its advantages are more prominent. It can greatly save the entire production process and save 40% – 70% of the time while improving the processing accuracy and quality.

For example, Zhang Haiou’s team used new technology to manufacture aircraft composite molding molds, which overcame the problems of air tightness, complexity and difficulty in manufacturing large molds in aircraft development. In addition, this technology also solves the bottleneck problem of long manufacturing cycle of aircraft mold, and directly shortens the time from 1/2 to 1/3.

3. Improve the competitiveness of core technologies

It can be said that this technology has brought a revolution to China’s manufacturing industry, improved the competitiveness of core technologies, and become a leading country in the world. We should know that the role of machine tools is to manufacture machines. Therefore, the technical competitiveness of machine tools also represents the competitiveness of some machine production. In particular, aircraft is mentioned. This technology has solved many problems and can solve some technical difficulties in domestic aviation.

Originally, 3D printing technology played a very important role. Now China is the first and unique technology to combine 3D printing technology with CNC machine tools, which undoubtedly made China a world leader in the field of CNC machine tools. And the progressiveness nature of this technology is unique in the world. Many foreigners are jealous and can’t buy it because the core technology is not allowed to be exported.

We should know that the strong manufacturing industry of the country means that the country is strong, even leading the world, and has a certain say. Although China’s manufacturing industry is gradually becoming strong, in fact, our main popularity is in the middle and low end, which means that China is still relatively lacking in high-end fields, especially in high-end machine tools.

Machine tools are the equipment that plays an important role in the modernization of the national economy. With machine tools, they can play a significant role in industry. Compared with ordinary machine tools, CNC machine tools have high processing accuracy, stable processing quality, high rigidity, and high productivity. According to the data, they are 3-5 times higher than ordinary machine tools.

Of course, there are also high, middle and low end machine tools. The more high-end machine tools are, the better the products will be, and they can be applied to many high-end technologies. These high-end machine tools are the existence of cutting-edge technologies, which can not be developed by ordinary countries.

Take our country for example, our country is relatively short of high-end machine tools. Many machine tools are imported, which can be said to be more dependent on imported technology. This has also led to our country being subject to other countries in many times. Of course, we are also trying to make changes, hoping to produce high-end machine tools in demand independently, so as to break the dependence on imports and avoid being stuck by others.

With the birth of 3D printing CNC machine tools integrating casting, forging and milling, China also has representative works on high-end machine tools. In this way, in the field of high-end machine tools, we can reduce our dependence on foreign countries and have been able to be free from being controlled by others.

The birth of the 3D printer machine integrated with casting, forging and milling means that China has a say in the high-end machine tool field, which makes western developed countries jealous. In addition, this new technology machine tool can reduce the time consuming and energy consumption of parts manufacturing in one step, marking that China’s industrial manufacturing will be more efficient and energy-saving than the West in the future.