Innovation in Aluminum Extrusion Mold Technology for Automotive Threshold Beams, Leading the New Trend of Safety and Lightweight

　　　　In the current era of accelerating the transformation of the automotive industry towards intelligence and green, the pursuit of safety and lightweight in the field of automotive design and manufacturing has reached unprecedented heights. As a key component of the car body structure, the car threshold beam plays an important role in buffering and protecting passengers in side collisions. At the same time, it is of great significance in improving the overall structural strength and stiffness of the car body and helping to achieve lightweighting. The technological innovation of aluminum extrusion molds for automotive threshold beams is becoming the core driving force for achieving the two major goals of automotive safety and lightweighting.

　　Background of Technological Innovation

　　With the continuous increase in global energy conservation and emission reduction pressure, lightweighting of automobiles has become an inevitable trend in the industry's development. High strength aluminum alloy 6082-T6 extruded profiles have gradually become an ideal material for automotive threshold beams due to their excellent specific strength and comprehensive performance. At the same time, consumers' demands for car safety performance continue to increase, making the buffering and protective role of car door sills increasingly crucial in side collisions.

　　1、 The challenges faced by traditional molds

　　However, traditional aluminum extrusion molds for automotive threshold beams face many challenging problems when processing high-strength aluminum alloy profiles

　　Problems caused by material properties: 6082 aluminum alloy material has poor flowability and experiences high stress on the mold during extrusion. When the wall thickness is thin, the lifespan of the mold will be significantly shortened, leading to unstable wall thickness accuracy of the extruded product.

　　The impact of complex surface design: The design of complex surfaces can result in insufficient strength of the extrusion mold cavity, which not only shortens the mold life but also easily causes deformation of the product cross-section.

　　The dilemma of cooling and quenching process: In the cooling and quenching process, if the cooling and quenching method and parameters after extrusion of the profile are unreasonable, and the cooling speed is too slow, it will lead to insufficient quenching and fail to meet the performance requirements; If the cooling rate is too fast, it will cause severe deformation of the product, and the bending and twisting degrees will be difficult to meet the accuracy standards. These problems seriously restrict the production quality and efficiency of automotive threshold beams, and also hinder the progress of automotive safety performance and lightweighting.

　　2、 Specific manifestations of technological innovation

　　To overcome these technological bottlenecks, numerous enterprises and research institutions have increased their R&D investment, leading to a series of technological innovations:

　　Material innovation: New types of mold materials continue to emerge, and some high-performance alloy materials have high strength, high toughness, good heat resistance and corrosion resistance, which can effectively withstand high temperature, high pressure and high friction during extrusion, reduce mold wear and deformation, and significantly extend mold life. For example, a new alloy material developed by a certain enterprise has increased strength by 25% and toughness by 15% compared to traditional mold materials. In practical applications, the use of this material to manufacture aluminum extrusion molds for automotive threshold beams has extended their service life by about 80%, and the wall thickness accuracy of the product has also been effectively guaranteed.

　　Structural optimization: By adopting advanced design concepts and simulation analysis techniques, the cavity structure and distribution hole layout of the mold are optimized to make the metal flow more uniform during the extrusion process of aluminum profiles, effectively solving the problem of product cross-sectional deformation. For molds with complex surfaces, a new support structure and reinforcement rib design are adopted to improve the strength and stability of the mold cavity. A certain automobile parts manufacturing enterprise successfully reduced the scrap rate of products by 30% and increased production efficiency by 20% by optimizing the mold structure.

　　Cooling system improvement: Innovative cooling technology and devices have been applied to aluminum extrusion molds for automotive door sill beams. For example, the new spiral cooling structure sets up spiral partitions outside the mold, which cools the mold through circulating refrigerant. This not only effectively controls the mold temperature and ensures the quality of the profile, but also allows the refrigerant to fully contact the mold, improving the cooling effect. Some companies have also developed intelligent temperature control cooling systems that can automatically adjust cooling parameters based on real-time temperature data during the extrusion process, ensuring that the profiles are quenched at an appropriate cooling rate and avoiding product deformation and performance defects caused by improper cooling.

　　These technological innovations have brought significant results. On the one hand, the quality and performance of the car door sill beam have been greatly improved, with more stable wall thickness accuracy, more complex surface design, and better mechanical performance, making it play a greater role in ensuring the safety of passengers in the car. On the other hand, the widespread application of high-strength aluminum alloy profiles, as well as the production efficiency improvement and waste rate reduction brought about by mold technology innovation, have effectively promoted the process of automobile lightweighting, which is in line with the global trend of energy conservation and emission reduction.

　　The technological innovation of aluminum extrusion molds for automotive threshold beams is leading the new trend of safety and lightweighting in the automotive industry. With the continuous development and innovation of technology, we believe that in the future, aluminum extrusion molds for automotive threshold beams will achieve greater breakthroughs in performance, quality, and production efficiency, providing more solid support for the high-quality development of the automotive manufacturing industry. Automobile manufacturers and related suppliers should actively pay attention to technological trends, increase research and development investment, embrace technological innovation, and occupy an advantageous position in the fierce market competition.