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Technische Universitt Dortmund
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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 [%]
Mass
saving [%]
6
2
0
30
32
25
17
3
22
34
Al
Mg
Steel
Ti
2.8
70
1.74
45
7.83
210
4.5
110
150-680
100-380
54-243
57-218
38-153
202-264
25.0
25.9
26.8
24.4
9.3
11.2
4.4
7.7
14.7
20.4
7.6
10.6
E
Rm
Rm
(1)
(2)
Rm
3
(3)
(4)
300-1200 910-1190
-3
Cast alloy
Wrought alloy
Increase
Aluminum
AlCu4TiMg
320-420
AZ91 T6
240-300
AlZn5,5MgCu
530
AZ80A T5
345-380
26-66%
Magnesium
27-44%
Casting
Cutting
Forming
Figure 3: Schematic material orientation in
different manufacturing processes [29].
Blankholder
Forming
tool
Free surface
Figure 4: Incremental forming: process principle (left and
bottom) and high achievable strain (top right) [25].
Final design
Width: 58 mm
Stainless steel
C1000
Stainless steel
Wall thickness: 0.4- 0.7 mm
Weight:
7.2 kg
Capacity:
74.3 l
Diffusion tight
Steel
Tank
Polyethylene (PE-HD)
Wall thickness: 4- 8 mm
Weight:
8.9 kg
Capacity:
71.5 l
Rolling direction
kf 2
Yield stress
kf 1
A0
kf 0
A1
A2
Cross section
Length of profile
Cross section
Plastic Tank
Steel Tank
Yield stress
Plastic
Tank
1.25 mm
Roller
housing
Roller
Roller
feed Material
flow
0.80 mm
1.25 mm
Flowformed tube
Mandrel
Figure 9: Cross member made from
tailor rolled blank [18].
Drive ring
Cross member
Preform
2.29 mm thick
Screwed joint
Crash box
3.43mm
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
DD : EN- AW 5083 punch diameter : 100 mm
:
7 mm
DD : EN- AW 6016 die radius
7 mm
HM: EN- AW 5083 punch radius :
5 mm/s
HM: EN- AW 6016 punch velocity :
400
RT
Homologous temperature
0.13
300
0.26
200
100
0
0
0.4
0.6
0.8
Degree of deformation
120
100
Elongation in %
0.32
80
60
40
20
0
0
50
Elongation in %
80
Herenguel/ Lacombe Chapman/ Wilson
-
60
1936
1962
40
20
0
10
100
Medium grain size in m
1000
Thin sheet
d = 200 m
Ingot
100 mm
220
300
110
Punch
(resistance
heating)
Insultating plate
Cooling plate
Cooling plate
Insultating plate
Die (resistance
heating)
Blankholder
(resistance
heating)
Insulating plate
Cooling plate
Pillar
Process
Stamping,
rim rolling
Casting
Forging,
rim rolling
Casting
Forging,
flowforming
Weight in kg
(14.2)
Rel. Weight
100%
8.5
(7.2)1
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
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
Profile
Drive
Clamps
Tool
Joint
Drive
spindle
Load
cells
y
Table
Hydraulic
cylinder
Audi A8
0.70 mm
BH 260/370
Audi A2
1.50 mm
1.80 mm
DP 100/1000 DP 100/1000
1.20 mm
DP 100/1000
Defined area of
an elastic segment
FPin1 F
Pin2
F Pin3
FBH
2
30 mm
FP
FBH
2
pi
FCP
Joint
Tool
FSW
[11]
[12]
[13]
[14]
[15]
[16]
[17]
[18]
[19]
[20]
[21]
[22]
[23]
[24]
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[28]
[29]
[30]
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