Application of Laser Quenching Technology in Automotive Molds

1. The quenched convex R position of the wire drawing die and surfaces with high material flow require high wear resistance, i.e., high hardness.

Due to the large quenching area, conventional flame quenching or induction quenching can cause significant thermal deformation of the workpiece, making it impossible to ensure the precision of the mold. This necessitates additional process measures to guarantee quality, inevitably leading to a longer mold processing cycle and potential instability in hardness. Therefore, we have adopted laser quenching, which results in minimal or even no deformation of the workpiece, eliminating the need for additional processes to meet quality requirements.

We applied laser quenching to the inner door panel of a certain vehicle model. By using blue light scanning to detect surface changes before and after quenching, we confirmed that the mold surface after laser quenching meets precision requirements.

2. Surface quenching of inserts: Surface quenching of inserts in automotive molds mainly refers to the quenching of trimming inserts in trimming dies and the quenching of forming inserts in shaping dies.

For trimming or forming inserts, conventional flame quenching causes significant deformation, requiring secondary processing to eliminate the distortion. This extends the production cycle and makes it difficult to control the quenching hardness. Particularly for forming inserts, which require quenching over large surface areas, tempering is highly likely to occur, leading to substandard surface hardness. Through research and practice, we found that laser quenching can effectively control deformation and hardness issues in inserts.

3. Optimizing mold processing with laser quenching: Compared to traditional flame quenching, laser quenching optimizes the mold processing workflow, effectively shortening the manufacturing cycle and reducing costs. Below is a comparison of the process flows for flame quenching and laser quenching.

Flame quenching process flow: Rough surface machining → Semi-finishing → Flame quenching → Machining to eliminate deformation → Fitter assembly → Surface finishing → Debugging → Research → Delivery.

Laser quenching process flow: Rough surface machining → Semi-finishing → Fitter assembly → Surface finishing → Laser quenching → Debugging and matching.

Using laser quenching, surface finishing is performed before quenching, not only avoiding deformation and improving finishing efficiency but also increasing mold processing efficiency by over 30% compared to flame quenching.

4. Impact of laser quenching on mold surface quality: Compared to traditional quenching methods, laser quenching results in minimal deformation and uniform hardness. Therefore, quenching is performed after surface finishing is completed.

Molds using flame quenching often exhibit step differences on the finished surface, leading to substandard quality. In contrast, molds finished before laser quenching do not face this issue, as the surface lacks hardness during finishing. After finishing, laser quenching ensures minimal deformation, resulting in excellent mold surface quality that meets customer requirements.

The industry is approaching the "Industry 4.0" era. The automotive sector faces increasing demands from end customers for信息化,智能化,个性化, and环保化 products. Automakers require shorter development cycles and higher quality for body molds. Laser quenching technology not only ensures stable hardness and quality but also significantly shortens the manufacturing cycle, reduces costs, and addresses issues that traditional heat treatment processes cannot resolve. Therefore, laser quenching technology will be increasingly widely applied in automotive molds.