Heat Treatment of Die and Mould Oriented Concurrent DesignLI Xiong,ZHANG Hong-bing,RUAN Xueyu,LUO Zhonghua,ZHANG YanAbstract: Many disadvantages exist in the traditional die design method which belongs to serial pattern. It is well known that heat treatment is highly important to the dies. A new idea of concurrent design for heat treatment process of die and mould was developed in order to overcome the existent shortcomings of heat treatment process. Heat treatment CAD/CAE was integrated with concurrent circumstance and the relevant model was built. These investigations can remarkably improve efficiency, reduce cost and ensure quality of R and D for products.Key words:die design; heat treatment; mouldTraditional die and mould design,mainly by experience or semiexperience，is isolated from manufacturing process.Before the design is finalized，the scheme of die and mould is usually modified time and again，thus some disadvantages come into being,such as long development period,high cost and uncertain practical effect.Due to strong desires for precision,service life,development period and cost,modern die and mould should be designed and manufactured perfectly.Therefore more and more advanced technologies and innovations have been applied,for example,concurrent engineering,agile manufacturing virtual manufacturing,collaborative design,etc.Heat treatment of die and mould is as important as design,manufacture and assembly because it has a vital effect on manufacture，assembly and service lifeDesign and manufacture of die and mould have progressed rapidly，but heat treatment lagged seriously behind themAs die and mould industry develops，heat treatment must ensure die and mould there are good state of manufacture，assembly and wearresistant properties by request. Impertinent heat treatment can influence die and mould manufacturing such as overhard andsoft and assemblyTraditionally the heat treatment process was made out according to the methods and properties brought forward by designerThis could make the designers of die and mould and heat treatment diverge from each other，for the designers of die and mould could not fully realize heat treatment process and materials properties，and contrarily the designers rarely understood the service environment and designing thought. These divergences will impact the progress of die and mould to a great extent. Accordingly，if the process design of heat treatment is considered in the early designing stage，the aims of shortening development period，reducing cost and stabilizing quality will be achieved and the sublimation of development pattern from serial to concurrent will be realizedConcurrent engineering takes computer integration system as a carrier,at the very start subsequent each stage and factors have been considered such as manufacturing，heat treating，properties and so forth in order to avoid the errorThe concurrent pattern has dismissed the defect of serial pattern,which bring about a revolution against serial patternIn the present workthe heat treatment was integrated into the concurrent circumstance of the die and mould development，and the systemic and profound research was performed1 Heat Treatment Under Concurrent CircumstanceThe concurrent pattern differs ultimately from the serial pattern(see Fig1).With regard to serial pattern，the designers mostly consider the structure and function of die and mould，yet hardly consider the consequent process，so that the former mistakes are easily spread backwardsMeanwhile，the design department rarely communicates with the assembling，cost accounting and sales departmentsThese problems certainly will influence the development progress of die and mould and the market foregroundWhereas in the concurrent pattern，the relations among departments are close，the related departments all take part in the development progress of die and mould and have close intercommunion with purchasersThis is propitious to elimination of the conflicts between departments，increase the efficiency and reduce the costHeat treatment process in the concurrent circumstance is made out not after blueprint and workpiece taken but during die and mould designingIn this way，it is favorable to optimizing the heat treatment process and making full use of the potential of the materials2 Integration of Heat Treatment CADCAE for Die and MouldIt can be seen from Fig2 that the process design and simulation of heat treatment are the core of integration frameAfter information input via product design module and heat treatment process generated via heat treatment CAD and heat treatment CAE module will automatically divide the mesh for parts drawing，simulation temperature field microstructure analysis after heattreatment and the defect of possible emerging (such as overheat,over burning)，and then the heat treatment process is judged if the optimization is made according to the result reappeared by