Development of a forming process to manufacture near-net-shape functional components with a gradient in sheet thickness (SFB/TR 73 T10)
Third Party Funds Group - Sub project
Acronym: SFB/TR 73 T10
Start date : 01.01.2021
End date : 31.12.2022
Extension date: 30.09.2023
Overall project details
Overall project
TRR 73: Manufacturing of complex functional components with variants by using a new sheet metal forming process - Sheet-Bulk Metal Forming
Jan. 1, 2009 - Feb. 28, 2024
Overall project speaker:
Project details
Short description
Short description
The focus of the transfer project lies on the substitution of the conventional orbital forming process by an iterative combination of tilting and turning. The overall objective is to extend the process limits known from fundamental research by using an adapted process. On the one hand, fundamental research findings regarding the control of the material flow should be applied. On the other hand, the formability and efficiency of the process should be improved. The main advantages of the new process are the use of a conventional press as well as the possibillity of a reduced contact area in consequence of an increased tumbling angle, which is no longer limited by the maximum deflection of the hydraulic cylinders in the current setup. A flexible and lightweight design of the tool should further add to a decreased cycle time.
Scientific Abstract
Within the TCRC, the process of orbital forming was investigated fundamentally and the technolog-ical potential was shown. The process understanding referring to the possibility of controlled material flow forms the basis for the present transfer project. A high complexity as well as a long process dura-tion are unsolved challenges today. The system specific dependency of a tumbling plate results in an additional restriction of a maximum tumbling angle of Θmax = 1°, which severely limits the forming ca-pacity.The aim of the submitted transfer project is the substitution of the conventional orbital forming process by an iterative combination of tilting and turning. The overall objective is to extend the process limits known from fundamental research by using an adapted process. On the one hand, the essential find-ings of fundamental research regarding the control of the material flow should be applied. On the other hand, the formability and efficiency of the process should be improved. A basic advantage of the new process is the ability to use a conventional press, thus significantly reducing the process time and removing the restriction of a maximum tumbling angle of Θmax = 1°. An increase of the tumbling angle offers the potential of a reduced contact area, realizing an increased forming capacity.Challenges of the innovative manufacturing process can be derived from the modified process charac-teristics and forming kinematics. Besides the analysis of the tilting process, the number of forming steps required to achieve the desired form filling should be evaluated. In addition, the maximum tilt angle and the resulting influence on the functional components must be evaluated. In order to in-crease the load capacity, the hardening behaviour of strongly hardened high performance steels dur-ing the forming process should be analysed to verify the omission of a subsequent hardening process. The target parameters should be optimized by an investigation and application of comprehensive pro-cess strategies.The process characteristics to be investigated can be reproduced by using the current orbital forming process setup, allowing the characteristic tilting kinematic. Thus, the new process can be investigated fundamentally and at the same time, the effort for the production of the new tool concept can be pre-vented. Therefore, the development of a suitable method to ensure the applicability is required. Due to the expected change of the material flow components caused by the modified process kinematics, a material flow control is essential. A numerical simulation is used for the analysis of the material flow. The influence of the process parameters on the actual process should be investigated by evaluating reference parts produced with the adapted process. Due to the mentioned disadvantages of the cur-rent orbital forming process setup, the results of the adapted process transferred to a flexible tool con-cept for the use on a conventional press.
