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Abstract
Due to constantly increasing ecological concerns and demands for higher performance, lightweight construction is a key factor to success mainly in the transportation sector but also in general engineering, machinetools, and architecture. This paper deals with current and future contributions of forming technology to the
manufacture of lightweight components and structures. As design, materials, and manufacturing processes
have to be considered integratively, it is pointed out which issues arise in the production of load adapted designs and using high strength materials. Frame and shell structure concepts as well as their related forming
processes are presented. Finally, fields of further research are identified.
Keywords:
Metal forming, material property, lightweight construction
1 INTRODUCTION
In modern transportation engineering, the application of
lightweight components is a central challenge. Due to
economical and ecological reasons as well as to improve
product properties, a mass reduction is necessary. This
involves approaches from different engineering disciplines. Therefore, lightweight construction can be defined
as an integrative construction technique using all available means from the field of design, material science,
and manufacturing in a combined way to reduce the
mass of a whole structure and its single elements while at
the same time the functional quality is increased.
Lightweight construction is crucial where mass is critical
to enable the product function like in aeronautical
applications. In case of masses subject to acceleration,
lightweight components can increase the product
performance e.g. allow higher revolutions with lighter
crankshafts. Driving comfort and safety can be increased
when unsprung masses are reduced like in a car chassis.
At least, reducing masses improves the fuel consumption. (Figure 1)
Much effort is being put into the development of lightReduce fuel consumption
Increase comfort
System type
Static mass
Unsprung mass
Enable function
Critical mass
weight components and structures in automotive applications. Firstly, lightweight construction deals with the use
of light materials. For example, the tailgate of the Volkswagen Lupo consists of a magnesium cast inner part with
an aluminum outer panel although severe corrosion issues have to be considered [1]. DaimlerChrysler uses a
maintenance-free ceramic disc brake system in the
sports car SLR thus eliminating 20kg of unsprung mass
which significantly increases product costs [2].
Secondly, lightweight construction deals with different
design strategies. For example, the ULSAS study examined chassis design possibilities providing different levels
of suspension comfort, costs and weight [3] (Table 1).
Concerning the body structure of trains or cars, frame
and shell structures can be differentiated. Both design
strategies are commonly linked to a specific material:
aluminum in the case of frame structures [4], steel in the
case of shell structures [5]. Therefore, different manufacturing demands arise using different design strategies [6].
Design, choice of material, and manufacturing technology
are closely related as can be shown by wheel production,
for example. Weight reduction at wheels is important due
to its unsprung mass and the associated reduction of fuel
consumption and the better ride-and-handling comfort.
Especially in the front of the car, a weight reduction is
necessary to ease the critical mass distribution at the
front axle and therefore increase driving safety.
Increase performance
Masses subject
to acceleration
Twistbeam
Strut & links
Double wishbone
Multi-link
(vs. aluminum benchmark)
Lotus unique
(vs. double wishbone)
Cost
saving [%]
6
2
0
30
Mass
saving [%]
32
25
17
3
22
34
Al
9.3
2.8
70
Mg
11.2
1.74
45
150-680
100-380
54-243
14.7
25.0
57-218
20.4
25.9
Rm (3)
E
Rm
(1)
R
E (4)
3 m
(2)
Steel
4.4
7.83
210
Ti
7.7
4.5
110
300-1200 910-1190
38-153
7.6
26.8
202-264
10.6
24.4
-3
Rm Tensile strength [N mm ]
(1)
6
-1
Specific strength [10 N mm kg ]
(2)
9
-1
Specific stiffness [10 N mm kg ]
(3)
6 1/2
2
-1
Dent resistance [10 N mm kg ]
(4)
7 1/3
7/3
-1
Shell stiffness [10 N mm kg ]
Table 2: Material properties.
Unfortunately, a progress in alloy development in terms
of higher strength always results in lower nominal strain
at fracture thus limiting their formability [11]:
steel: strength increases from 250 MPa up to
1000 MPa but strain decreases from 45% down to
12%;
aluminum: strength from 150 MPa up to 530 MPa but
strain from 30% down to 10%;
magnesium: strength from 200 MPa up to 380 MPa but
strain from 20% down to 7%.
As a consequence, high strength alloys necessitate
higher forces in forming operations as well as more rigid
presses and more wear resistant tools. The latter can be
achieved by ceramic inserts for forging [12, 13] or deep
drawing operations [14], for example.
At the same time, the low ductility restrains design possibilities. In order to obtain lightweight components, the
material distribution is crucial. The material used should
be distributed ideally according to the load applied to the
component. Recent developments employ more and
more topological optimization using bionic methods [15].
In an iterative design process, material is added to a
component where required due to the load, and material
is removed where it is obsolete. This process can be
compared to the growth of a bone or a tree.
Casting processes offer ideal prerequisites to manufacture complex components designed by conventional or
bionic methods. Disadvantages can be found in the material structure like the existence of pores and in the limited choice of cast alloys with lower yield stresses compared to wrought alloys (Table 3). In contrast to casting
Material
Aluminum
Magnesium
Cast alloy
AlCu4TiMg
320-420
AZ91 T6
240-300
Wrought alloy
AlZn5,5MgCu
530
AZ80A T5
345-380
Increase
26-66%
27-44%
Casting
Cutting
Forming
Figure 3: Schematic material orientation in
different manufacturing processes [29].
bility is to use semi-finished products that already provide
a suitable material distribution.
With tailored sheet metal products, where different dimensions, materials, alloys, or grades are combined
within a single workpiece, a more sophisticated product
or process design and more complex shapes can be
achieved. On the other hand, forming processes of such
semi-finished products require increased process knowledge, the observation of different material behaviors, and
the development of designated adaptive forming processes and tools [17, 18, 19, 20].
High strength but low ductile materials used for lightweight components moreover aggravate the problem of
limited material distribution options. In order to avoid this,
some solutions are at hand including:
forming at elevated temperatures,
incremental forming,
superplastic forming, and
thixoforming.
Elevated temperatures
Forming at elevated temperatures lowers forces and
increases ductility as additional slip planes are activated,
especially for magnesium [21]. Moreover, higher temperatures decrease spring back which is an important
issue using high strength materials. But with the temperature being a sensitive factor in forming operations, process parameter windows have to be carefully observed in
order to obtain reproducible results.
Incremental forming
Incremental forming processes are characterized by a
successive local forming of the workpiece instead of
forming the whole workpiece at one time. While spinning
allows the manufacture of rotationally symmetric hollow
products, the incremental sheet forming (ISF) process
and its derivatives allow the manufacture of complex
asymmetric shapes [22, 23, 24]. With shear forming as
well as ISF, very high strains compared to conventional
stretching or deep drawing processes can be achieved
(Figure 4) [25, 26, 27, 28].
High achievable strains and a flexible manufacturing
method make this process very promising for lightweight
applications according to increased work hardening and
larger design possibilities. Due to the successive and
Sheet
metal blank
Blankholder
Forming
tool
Free surface
Final design
Width: 58 mm
Stainless steel
C1000
Original design
Width: 74 mm
Carbon steel
Steel
Tank
Plastic Tank
Polyethylene (PE-HD)
Wall thickness: 4- 8 mm
Weight:
Capacity:
8.9 kg
71.5 l
k
k
f2
Yield stress
f1
A0
f0
A1
A2
Cross section
Length of profile
Cross section
Stainless steel
Wall thickness: 0.4- 0.7 mm
Weight:
7.2 kg
Capacity:
74.3 l
Diffusion tight
Yield stress
Plastic
Tank
1.25 mm
Roller
housing
Roller
Roller
feed Material
flow
0.80 mm
1.25 mm
Flowformed tube
Mandrel
Drive ring
Cross member
Preform
Screwed joint
Crash box
3.43
mm
thick
1.55 mm
thick, spun
thinned area
960
1200
Untreated
blank (T4)
= 2.0
Locally
heat treated
blank
= 2.6
Untreated
blank (T4)
= 2.0
Locally
heat treated
blank
= 2.36
3.0
2.5
2.0
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
Flange Temperature in C
DD = Deep-drawing
HM =Hydromechanical deep-drawing
: 100 mm
:
7 mm
:
7 mm
:
5 mm/s
400
300RT
0.13
Homologous temperature
0.26
0.32
0
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
Degree of deformation
Elongation in %
40
20
0
0
50
Elongation in %
80
60
40
20
0
10
100
1000
Thin sheet
d = 200 m
Ingot
got
100 mm
220
Cooling plate
Insultating plate
110
Punch
(resistance
heating)
Insultating plate
Cooling plate
Die (resistance
heating)
Blankholder
(resistance
heating)
Insulating plate
Cooling plate
Pillar
Process
Steel
Stamping,
rim rolling
Casting
Forging,
rim rolling
Casting
Forging,
flowforming
Aluminum
Aluminum
Magnesium
Magnesium
Carbon
Composite
Weight in kg
(14.2)
Rel. Weight
100%
8.5
1
(7.2)
60%
51%
3.9-4.2
3.2-3.5
~28.5%
~23.6%
2.9
20.4%
carried out to support the aerospace industry. This includes most of all the manufacture of spherical vessels
where SPF is commonly used e.g. for satellite or rocket
tanks [86, 87]. In order to avoid a fusion welding process
decreasing material properties, the SPF of a diffusion
welded double sheet is being investigated. On the basis
of numerical and experimental investigations, the manufacture of flangeless spherical vessels has been demonstrated [89]. As commercially pure (cp) titanium shows
high anisotropy, finite-element models are being improved in order to optimize forming processes and workpieces [88].
As mentioned above, high material costs have excluded
the use of titanium in high-volume automotive applications. Nevertheless, with the current trend in vehicle
warranties climbing to a 10 year / 150,000 mile level in
the US, vehicle manufacturers must consider the longterm cost associated with less durable materials. Having
this in mind, titanium quickly becomes the lowest-cost
option for some applications. [90]
In order to provide appropriate forming processes for
such applications, the deep drawing of cp-ti sheets is
being analysed. In the exhaust system, titanium is able to
gain a weight saving of 40-50% and a better corrosion
prevention. To replace stainless steel with cp-ti, the
manufacturing process demands new concepts and parameters. For such development, knowledge of the material behavior, an optimized tribological system, and improvements of the process limits are necessary. At room
temperature, the examined titanium materials showed a
higher limit drawing ratio in comparison even to stainless
steel. [91, 92, 93]
In order to reduce production cost, also the forming of
titanium sheets using rubber as a flexible media was
investigated. Different concepts with male and female
rubber dies were verified by numerical models and experiments. It could be shown that the elastomer behavior
is predictable and that the component could be manufactured. [94]
3 FORMING TECHNOLOGY FOR LIGHTWEIGHT
STRUCTURES
Lightweight constructions are optimal if material is used
only in component areas where stresses appear and if
the material used is charged near yield stress. Therefore,
such a structure is primarily designed for strength i.e.
the structure does not fail. This design principle is followed by in aerospace applications where materials with
highest specific strength are used like the 680 MPa aluminum alloy EN-AW7449 in the wing up side of the Airbus A380. In automotive applications, structures are
additionally designed for stiffness i.e. the structure
does not elastically bend too much. Whereas it is spectacular but irrelevant that an airplane wing tip bends
several meters before failure, stiffness is a major comfort
element in automotive applications. This additional requirement naturally increases the structural weight. Only
crash relevant structures are solely designated for absorbing crash energy by deformation and therefore are
designed for strength.
Depending on the purpose of a lightweight structure, two
main construction principles are employed overlapping
each other to a certain degree. As long as a structure
only has to carry a given load, frameworks are used e.g.
in cranes (Figure 29 left), scaffolds, bridges, or monuments like the Eiffel tower. A shell structure on the other
hand is used if the structure has to seal against e.g.
pressurized water, fuel, or air (Figure 29 right). Usually,
lightweight structures combine both concepts, either by
increasing sheet stiffness by sheet or massive profiles
(e.g. car body-in-white, fuselage), or geometrical elements within the sheet like beads (e.g. cans), or
While frameworks mainly involve the use of beams like
tubes or profiles, shell structures deal with sheet metal
blanks.
3.1 Frame structures
dinal axis. This symmetry restricts design options. Furthermore, deep drawn parts can be directly manufactured
in a curved shape while extruded profiles usually require
a subsequent bending operation to obtain a curvature.
Here, expensive tools raise the minimum economical
batch size.
Magnesium is also taken into account for the application
in frame structures. Although specific stiffness of aluminum, magnesium, and steel are alike, magnesium offers
a considerably higher specific strength compared to steel
and regular aluminum alloys. In case of window frames,
seats, or supporting structures where tensile strength and
bending stress is relevant, the use of magnesium can
contribute to weight saving. Although a car body is designed rather according to stiffness considerations than
to strength, magnesium is also used in a first research
demonstrator. In the Volkswagen one-litre car (one litre
fuel consumption per 100km equals 16.4miles per gallon), 36kg of magnesium as thin-walled casting nodes,
extrusions, and sheets were employed thus accounting
for 13kg of weight saving compared to an aluminum
space-frame. [97]
In contrast to aluminum and magnesium, steel cannot be
extruded into hollow profiles with walls thin enough to
meet car body requirements. Therefore, space frames
made of laser welded steel tubes are considered [98].
Because of low material cost and inexpensive tools, the
use of straight tubes is very economical. However, a
maximum weight saving is only possible if high strength
steel tubes are hydroformed to appropriately vary the
cross section achieving best load adaptation. In addition,
hydroformed dents can trigger deformation and therefore
direct crash energy. Again, this subsequent forming operation uses expensive tools and requires a sophisticated
process design. In the full production chain, 2/3 of the
total cost are determined by the hydroforming operation
50% of which are caused by the tooling [99]. Therefore, a
weight saving of 35% to comparable cars is only expected at a cost increase of 15% for a production volume
Drive
Clamps
Tool
100]
Complex 3D bending of tubes and profiles requires new
process technology. One approach uses a fixed tool and
a moveable die. The die is positioned in six axes by a
parallel kinematics that is determined by the required
bending space and resulting bending forces. By variably
adjusting the die position to the axial feed of the tube, the
workpiece can be bent in a variable 3D shape (Figure 32). [102]
Another kinematic approach in flexible 2D and 3D bend-
Joint
Drive
spindle
Load
cells
Hydraulic
Table
cylinder
0.70 mm
BH 260/370
A udi A8
A udi A2
1.50 mm
1.80 mm
DP 100/1000 DP 100/1000
1.20 mm
DP 100/1000
Pin2
FPin1 F
F Pin3
FBH
2
30 mm
FP
FBH
2
p
i
FCP
F
Joint
FSW
Tool
[7]
[8]
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