The integration of automobile castings means to optimize the structure of traditional production processes such as stamping, welding, forging and casting through reasonable design by taking advantage of the advantages of casting and forming, and finally realize the casting and forming of integrated parts. The integrated production mode can not only improve the quality of castings, reduce the necessary processing and production processes, but also reduce the production costs of castings, Improve the economy of automobile casting production and manufacturing.
For example, the integrated axle housing (as shown in the figure) can replace the welded axle housing and the cast axle housing with half-shaft sleeve. It is the first line of the integrated casting process. At this stage, the common cast integral axle housing in the automobile industry needs to press steel pipes at both ends of the axle housing, and the seamless steel pipes are used as the half-shaft sleeve pipes. The production personnel need to use pins to fix the axle housing. In order to further improve the strength and other properties of the axle housing castings, and at the same time simplify the production process, the axle housing castings integrated with the axle sleeve are directly cast on the axle housing. Its main advantages include the following:
First, the difficulty of casting is reduced, and the production cost is reduced by reducing the casting process;
Secondly, the structure of the bridge shell is relatively simple and rigid, which can be made into a more complex shape according to the actual needs. At the same time, the wall thickness of the bridge shell can be changed according to the needs, so as to obtain the ideal stress distribution;
Thirdly, the integrated axle housing has great advantages in both strength and stiffness, and has strong reliability in practical application;
Fourth, because the integrated axle housing is an integrated casting, the size of automobile castings will increase significantly, and the production enterprises need to establish a special production line for production.
In the future, the integrated process of automobile castings will have more obvious advantages in the development of non-ferrous alloy castings. During the use of the casting process, it is necessary to realize the production of castings with complex structures. At this stage, the integrated casting process has appeared in the door inner panel, instrument panel framework, firewall, etc. of integrated design, and the size of these castings is significantly larger than that of castings in a single production mode, More than 4000 tons of die-casting machines are often required for production.