Zinc Alloy Die Casting Auto Parts

Zinc alloy automotive integrated die casting refers to the integration of body parts, that is, multiple separate and scattered small parts in the original design are redesigned and highly integrated, and then a large die-casting machine is used for one-time molding, omitting the welding process and directly obtaining a complete big parts. Qinhuangdao Zhongwei Precision Machinery Co., Ltd. currently has more than 10 cold chamber die-casting machines of 200T-1250T models, and a total of 3 hot-chamber die-casting machines of 88T-168T models. The excellent quality has created a gold reputation, making the other shore products. It quickly became famous at home and abroad. More than 70% of the products are exported to the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, the United States, Taiwan and other countries and regions.

Product Dsecription

1. Implementation standards: the company strictly implements ISO9001, ISO14001, IATF16949 certification

The products have passed the certification of ROHS, FDA EU, etc.

2. Product material standards: ISO, GB, ASTM, SAE, ISO, EN, DIN, JIS, BS

3. Main processes: die casting process, investment casting, shell casting, deburring, sand blasting, machining, heat treatment, leak testing, surface treatment, etc.

4. Casting available materials:

Magnesium alloy, aluminum alloy, zinc alloy, tin bronze, silicon bronze, aluminum bronze, brass, red copper, titanium alloy, high manganese steel, high chromium steel, high nickel steel, carbon steel, alloy steel, stainless steel, gray iron, , cast iron, cast steel, cast aluminum, etc. are customized according to customer requirements.

Available materials for die casting:

In the past, the raw materials of zinc alloy die-casting mainly included alloys No. 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7. Now, zinc alloy No. 3 is mostly used in zinc alloy die-casting. Later, there were high aluminum-based alloys ZA-8, ZA-12, ZA-27, wrought zinc alloys Zn-1Cu-0.1T and Zn-22AI alloys. Zinc alloy mainly contains aluminum, copper, magnesium, cadmium, lead, titanium and other elements, of which effective alloying elements: aluminum, copper, magnesium; harmful impurity elements: lead, cadmium, tin, iron. (Zinc alloys are also called zinc-based alloys, and are generally divided into _ element alloys, ternary alloys and multi-element alloys. Binary zinc-base alloys generally refer to zinc-aluminum alloys; ternary zinc-base alloys generally refer to zinc-aluminum-copper alloys; multi-element zinc-base alloys generally refer to zinc-aluminum-copper alloys. Alloy - generally refers to zinc aluminum copper and other trace metals).

Zinc alloy automotive integrated die casting boom

What is the origin of integrated die casting that has become popular? It is understood that, as an innovation of traditional aluminum alloy die-casting technology, integrated die-casting is to use a super-large die-casting machine to die-cast parts at one time, eliminating the traditional process of combining multiple parts. Simply put, it's like kneading dough, putting aluminum alloy material into a die-casting machine and "kneading" it into the desired shape at a time.

In fact, before Tesla, the Ford F150 was manufactured using integrated die-casting technology. The success of Tesla Model Y mass production integrated die-casting, coupled with the fermentation of media reports, has made this technology a new favorite of car companies, and some even hailed it as the "automotive manufacturing revolution". Subsequently, new car-making forces such as Weilai and Xiaopeng Motors followed up on integrated die-casting; foreign car companies, such as Volkswagen and Volvo, also made arrangements in this field.

At the Tesla Battery Day 2020 conference, the company's CEO Musk said that the Model Y will use a one-piece die-cast rear floor, which can reduce the weight of the lower body assembly by 30% and reduce manufacturing costs by 40%. Tesla plans to use 2 to 3 large die-casting parts to replace the entire lower body assembly consisting of 370 parts, thereby reducing the weight by a further 10% and increasing the driving range of the vehicle by 14%.

It is reported that Tesla’s Fremont factory in California, USA, Austin Gigafactory in Texas, Berlin factory in Germany, and Shanghai Gigafactory in China have installed super-large die-casting machines for the production of Model Y’s one-piece rear chassis.

NIO is also actively taking action. Last year, the company announced that it had successfully validated the development of a heat-free material that can be used to make large die castings. This is the first time that a Chinese car company has verified this material and applied it to large structural parts. This year, NIO ES7 has begun to apply the new integrated die-casting technology.

Xpeng Motors has also stated that it will build a new integrated die-casting process workshop in the Wuhan plant in the future, and introduce super-large die-casting islands and automated production lines. It is also reported that Xiaopeng Motors plans to use integrated die-casting technology on a large scale on a new pure electric vehicle platform in 2023. In addition, the integrated super-large die-casting body rear cabin structure jointly launched by Gaohe Automobile and Top Group has been mass-produced and is expected to be applied on a large scale in subsequent models.

Today, the "fire" of integrated die-casting has spread from the production side to the capital side. Since the beginning of August, the integrated die-casting concept stocks in the A-share market have gained momentum, and the stock prices of related listed companies have hit a record high. On the interactive platform, some listed companies have also been repeatedly asked by investors whether they are involved in this technology and application.

The internal driving force behind the "tuyere"

Guotai Junan's research report shows that the integrated die-casting application components will gradually extend from the rear floor to the lower part of the front body, the middle floor, the door frame, the subframe, the lower body assembly, the A-pillar and B-pillar, the seat frame and the entire body-in-white. . Based on the above judgments, Guotai Junan predicts that in 2025, the global integrated die-casting market will increase to 39.76 billion yuan, a cumulative increase of more than 47 times compared with 2021, and to 839.66 billion yuan in 2030, a cumulative increase of 1023 times compared to 2021.

It is understood that the growth of the integrated die casting market is mainly due to changes in demand. The research report of Debon Securities pointed out that the proposal of the "dual carbon" goal drives the upgrade of energy conservation and emission reduction, the fuel consumption regulations of fuel vehicles have become stricter, and the lightweight of vehicles has become the main technical solution. Due to its low density and excellent performance, aluminum alloys can greatly reduce body weight while ensuring safety performance. Therefore, the global automotive aluminization rate shows a rising trend. According to industry insiders, in the context of lightweight automobiles, integrated die-casting will become the mainstream and is expected to replace the traditional stamping and welding process.

Cao Guangping, an independent researcher on new energy and intelligent networking, believes that with the development of the automobile industry, especially the electric vehicle industry, the integrated die-casting technology has become popular and has attracted widespread attention because there are a series of technical challenges and application characteristics hidden behind it. Compared with traditional fuel vehicles, the curb weight of electric vehicles is larger, and the increased battery weight required to increase the driving range is not an order of magnitude. In fact, the demand for lightweight electric vehicles is more urgent than that of traditional fuel vehicles, so it is inherently inclined to use aluminum alloy lightweight technology.

"The main advantage of integrated die-casting is to reduce the number of parts. Subtractions have been made in body design, manufacturing, procurement, and manpower. For example, the rear bottom plate, if it was originally stamped and welded, requires more than 70 parts and more than 70 parts. Assuming that one engineer manages 7 parts, it requires at least 10 engineers, which also means more purchasing personnel, etc. And integrating these parts into one large part reduces the number of parts and costs. Yi Hongliang, a professor at Northeastern University and chief technology officer of Yucaitang (Suzhou) Material Technology Co., Ltd., told reporters that the second advantage of integrated die casting is that the appearance of large components simplifies the assembly process of the entire body system. . For example, the original parts require many solder joints, and the large castings reduce the number of solder joints, and the overall investment in the welding workshop will be reduced accordingly.

Regardless of the reduction in the number of parts or the simplification of the process flow, there are inherent driving forces behind cost reduction. Relevant technical experts from the China Automobile Center told reporters that the significant advantage of integrated die casting is reflected in the reduction in the number of parts, thereby reducing the cost of component assembly and the weight of the body; when the output of integrated die casting parts reaches a certain scale, it will be used for automobiles. Enterprises bring significant cost reduction effect.

Post Casting Process

1. Heat treatment: annealing, carbonization, tempering, quenching, normalizing, surface tempering

2. Processing equipment: CNC, WEDM, lathe, milling machine, drilling machine, grinder, etc.;

3. Surface treatment: powder spraying, chrome plating, painting, sandblasting, nickel plating, galvanizing, blackening, polishing, bluing, etc.

Moulds and Inspection Fixtures

1. Mold service life: usually semi-permanent. (except for lost foam)

2. Mold delivery time: 10-25 days, (according to product structure and product size).

3. Tooling and mold maintenance: Zhongwei is responsible for precision parts.

Quality Control

1. Quality control: the defective rate is less than 0.1%.

2. Samples and trial run will be 100% inspected during production and before shipment, sample inspection for mass production according to ISDO standards or customer requirements

3. Testing equipment: flaw detection, spectrum analyzer, golden image analyzer, three-coordinate measuring machine, hardness testing equipment, tensile testing machine;

4. Provide after-sales service.

5. The quality can be traced back.

Zinc alloy automotive integrated die casting future development

It can be seen from the research reports and corporate financial reports of some securities institutions that related companies have increased their deployment of automotive integrated die-casting technology. Driven by OEMs, many die-casting machine manufacturers, parts and materials companies have also joined this new track.

However, the development of integrated die casting technology and market still faces many challenges. The above-mentioned relevant technical experts of the China Automobile Center pointed out that in addition to the production capacity limitations of die-casting machines and other equipment, there are still certain problems in the application of integrated die-casting heat-free materials in the whole vehicle. Specifically, the heat treatment-free material avoids the deformation of large parts due to heat treatment, but at the same time, it also loses important means of material strengthening, which weakens the strength and other properties. At the same time, the inhomogeneity of the internal performance of large components is also a problem that cannot be ignored. At present, it is necessary to guide the application of components in the body, especially structural parts, through process simulation, dynamic mechanical properties, and failure behavior research. In addition, there is currently no heat-free material suitable for all conditions on the market. It is necessary for companies to explore and realize customized development according to the actual situation of the vehicle model, which is also a big obstacle to the promotion and application of technology.

Yi Hongliang believes that there are three main bottlenecks in the development of integrated die casting: one is the input cost, the realization of the technology needs to share the input cost of molds and production lines through mass production; There is a limit to the minimum thickness of the parts that can be achieved. Generally speaking, it is difficult to achieve less than 3 mm, and the final casting may not be able to reduce the weight. The third is operation management. The factory needs to manage the thermal balance of the entire mold, and it is likely to be equipped with 40 units. temperature control equipment, thereby greatly increasing energy consumption, and the management of the production site is also facing challenges.

In addition to the above challenges, integrated die casting also faces the problem of difficult maintenance. If the small parts are damaged, the replacement is easy and the cost is low; but if the integrated casting is damaged, the difficulty and cost of replacement will be greatly increased. Tesla chose to die-cast the rear bottom plate of the car. The main reason is that the probability of collision damage in this part is small, and it can better take into account the rigidity of the chassis control.

Cao Guangping said that integrated die-casting requires heat-free aluminum alloy materials, which puts forward higher requirements for the development of the aluminum alloy industry and supply chain, while the supply channels for aluminum alloys are narrower. In addition, the die-casting process also has problems such as thermal deformation, difficult combination control, and difficulty in ensuring the yield. It is also worth paying attention to the problem of fewer common parts between different models. Each model needs to be designed separately, and it is almost difficult to use integrated die-casting parts.

Certicifation