In the current era where global environmental awareness is increasingly awakening and the concept of sustainable development is deeply rooted in people's hearts, various industries are actively exploring the path of green transformation, and the mold industry, as an important support for the manufacturing industry, is no exception. Green manufacturing is gradually becoming the core keyword for the future development of the mold industry. It is not only related to the sustainable development of the industry itself, but also an inevitable choice to respond to the national "dual carbon" strategy and promote the green upgrading of the manufacturing industry.
The primary manifestation of green manufacturing in the mold industry is the widespread application of green materials. Traditional mold manufacturing relies heavily on high energy consuming and highly polluting metal materials, and some materials have low recycling rates. Nowadays, new environmentally friendly materials are constantly emerging and moving towards application. For example, biodegradable biobased materials have emerged in the field of packaging molds that require high environmental standards. They can self decompose in natural environments, greatly reducing the long-term pollution of traditional plastic molds after disposal; High strength and lightweight aluminum alloy and magnesium alloy materials are favored in mold manufacturing in automotive, aerospace and other fields due to their good processing performance and low density. They can reduce the weight of the mold itself, reduce energy consumption, and improve product performance, achieving the dual goals of weight reduction and efficiency improvement. At the same time, more and more enterprises are beginning to attach importance to the recycling and reuse of waste mold materials, building a sound material recycling system, allowing waste mold materials to regain their vitality, and further reducing dependence on primary resources.
The green transformation of the mold manufacturing process is equally crucial. In the past, mold manufacturing processes were often accompanied by high energy consumption and emissions. For example, the use of a large amount of cutting fluid in traditional cutting processes not only caused resource waste, but also polluted soil and water sources; High energy consuming equipment in heat treatment processes consumes a large amount of energy and emits greenhouse gases. Nowadays, advanced green manufacturing processes are gradually replacing traditional processes. Green cutting technologies such as dry cutting and micro lubrication cutting solve the problem of cutting fluid pollution from the source by reducing or not using cutting fluid, while reducing production costs; In the heat treatment process, new energy-saving technologies such as induction heating and laser heat treatment are adopted, which not only greatly improve energy utilization efficiency, but also accurately control the heat treatment process and improve mold quality. In addition, optimizing the mold manufacturing process, reducing waste in the production process through lean production concepts, planning production layouts rationally, shortening material transportation distances, and reducing energy consumption are also key measures to achieve green manufacturing processes.
The green design concept of mold products runs through the entire product lifecycle. In the design phase, the designer fully considers the disassembly, maintainability, and recyclability of the mold, adopts a modular design approach, and enables the mold to be easily disassembled and recycled after scrapping, thereby improving the reuse rate of components; At the same time, by optimizing the mold structure design and reducing unnecessary material usage, lightweight design can be achieved while ensuring mold performance, reducing energy consumption during mold production and use. During the mold usage phase, an intelligent monitoring system is used to monitor the real-time operation status of the mold, warn potential faults in advance, and avoid production interruptions and resource waste caused by mold failures; In the stage of mold scrapping, a sound recycling system ensures that mold materials can be effectively recycled and reused, forming a green closed loop.
The promotion of green manufacturing cannot be separated from the dual drive of technological innovation and policy support. Research institutions and enterprises are increasing their investment in the research and development of green mold technology, continuously tackling key technical challenges such as green material research and development, and innovation in green manufacturing processes; At the national level, a series of environmental policies and regulations have been introduced, imposing strict requirements on energy consumption, emissions, and other indicators in the mold industry. Through tax incentives, financial subsidies, and other means, enterprises are encouraged to actively engage in green manufacturing practices.
Green manufacturing has become an irreversible development trend in the mold industry. On this new path of sustainable development, only by actively embracing green change and increasing technological innovation can mold companies win the initiative in future market competition and contribute to promoting industry green development and helping the country achieve the "dual carbon" goal.
