Tires are divided into two categories according to the carcass structure: bias tires and radial tires. Bias tires mostly use two-half molds, while radial tires mostly use active molds. Active molds are composed of pattern rings, mold sleeves, upper and lower side plates, and are divided into cone-guided active molds and inclined plane-guided active molds. The two-half molds are composed of upper molds and lower molds. It can be simply understood that radial tires and active molds are upgrades of bias tires and two-half molds, respectively. Foreign all-steel radial tires have been 100% produced with active molds. With the development of the industry, the penetration rate of domestic radial tires and active molds has also reached a high level.
Tire vulcanization molds are important tools used in the tire vulcanization process. During use, the molds are inevitably contaminated by rubber, compounding agents, and release agents used in the vulcanization process (the main pollutants are sulfides, inorganic oxides, silicone oil, carbon black, etc.). Repeated use will cause some pattern pollution dead zones. Therefore, the mold must be cleaned regularly to ensure the cleanliness of its surface in order to ensure the quality of the tire and the life of the mold.
The traditional cleaning methods of tire molds will cause certain mechanical damage to the mold, shorten the life of the mold, and also reduce the efficiency of tire production. In order to solve the problems of tire vulcanization mold contamination and demolding, and reduce the production cost of tire vulcanization. The emergence of self-lubricating coating technology has brought new hope and turning point to solve these problems. From the actual production test data, we can clearly see the significant advantages of this technology.
The tire mold industry is located in the upstream of the tire industry chain and is a necessary equipment for tire production. The tire industry is highly mature and the industry chain is very complete. The upstream of the tire industry is various raw material manufacturers and production equipment providers, including raw materials such as rubber, carbon black, synthetic fibers, etc., and production equipment includes tire molds, vulcanizers, rubber machines, etc. The midstream of the tire industry is the tire manufacturer, and the raw materials are processed into tire costs through processes such as mixing, extrusion, tire bead, calendering, cutting, molding, vulcanization, and inspection. The downstream of the tire industry connects the transportation vehicle market and is used in various types of vehicles. In the vulcanization process, raw rubber reacts with sulfur and other chemicals under high pressure. During the vulcanization process, the physical properties of rubber change from plasticity to elasticity. In the process of physical property transformation, the tire mold can generate corresponding patterns in the plastic stage and shape the patterns in the elastic stage, thereby producing a specific pattern structure on the tire.
There are three main processes for tire mold pattern processing: precision casting, CNC engraving, and EDM. The three processes have similarities and differences in tire mold processing accuracy, efficiency, cost, applicable materials, pattern complexity, etc., and the process difficulties are also different. Among them, the barrier of precision casting process is to reduce casting defects, the barrier of CNC engraving process is that it requires a high-precision five-axis linkage machine tool for curved surface processing, and the barrier of EDM process is that it requires an advanced EDM forming machine tool. In addition, tire molds are non-standard products with strong customization attributes. Manufacturers need to continuously improve the process and accumulate experience in production.
The tire pattern directly determines the road performance of the tire, and the tire pattern is determined by the tire mold. Therefore, the tire mold has a strong customer customization attribute and is a non-standard product. The relative concentration of large customers of tire companies and the customized attributes of their products further bind the direct sales model. The cooperative relationship between tire mold factories and tire factories is based on long-term inspection and certification. Only after passing the inspection can a stable cooperative relationship be established, which has channel barriers.
