Hydroforming is a relatively new metal forming process with many advantages over traditional cold forming processes including the ability to create more complicated components with fewer operations. For certain geometries, hydroforming technology permits the creation of parts that are lighter weight, have stiffer properties, are cheaper to produce and can be manufactured from fewer blanks which produces less material waste. This paper provides a detailed survey of the hydroforming literature of both established and emerging processes in a single taxonomy. Recently reported innovations in hydroforming processes (which are incorporated in the taxonomy) are also detailed and classified in terms of “technology readiness level”. The paper concludes with a discussion on the future of hydroforming including the current state of the art techniques, the research directions, and the process advantages to make predictions about emerging hydroforming technologies.

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A state of the art review of hydroforming technology: its applications, research areas, history and future in manufacturing

Sheet metal forming (SMF) is one of the most popular technologies for obtaining finished products in almost every sector of industrial production, especially in the aircraft, automotive, food and home appliance industries. Parallel to the development of new forming techniques, numerical and empirical approaches are being developed to improve existing and develop new methods of sheet metal forming. Many innovative numerical algorithms, experimental methods and theoretical contributions have recently been proposed for SMF by researchers and business research centers. These methods are mainly focused on the improvement of the formability of materials, production of complex-shaped parts with good surface quality, speeding up of the production cycle, reduction in the number of operations and the environmental performance of manufacturing. This study is intended to summarize recent development trends in both the numerical and experimental fields of conventional deep-drawing, spinning, flexible-die forming, electromagnetic forming and computer-controlled forming methods like incremental sheet forming. The review is limited to the considerable changes that have occurred in the SMF sector in the last decade, with special attention given to the 2015–2020 period. The progress observed in the last decade in the area of SMF mainly concerns the development nonconventional methods of forming difficult-to-form lightweight materials for automotive and aircraft applications. In evaluating the ecological convenience of SMF processes, the tribological aspects have also become the subject of great attention.

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Recent Developments and Trends in Sheet Metal Forming

The influence of process variables on the gas forming and press hardening of steel tubes

Decision support for the implementation of Industry 4.0 methods: Toolbox, Assessment and Implementation Sequences for Industry 4.0

Complex thin-walled titanium alloy components play a key role in the aircraft, aerospace and marine industries, offering the advantages of reduced weight and increased thermal resistance. The geometrical complexity, dimensional accuracy and in-service properties are essential to fulfill the high-performance standards required in new transportation systems, which brings new challenges to titanium alloy forming technologies. Traditional forming processes, such as superplastic forming or hot pressing, cannot meet all demands of modern applications due to their limited properties, low productivity and high cost. This has encouraged industry and research groups to develop novel high-efficiency forming processes. Hot Gas Pressure Forming (HGPF) and hot stamping-quenching technologies have been developed for the manufacture of tubular and panel components, and are believed to be the cut-edge processes guaranteeing dimensional accuracy, microstructure and mechanical properties. This article intends to provide a critical review of high-efficiency titanium alloy forming processes, concentrating on latest investigations of controlling dimensional accuracy, microstructure and properties. The advantages and limitations of individual forming process are comprehensively analyzed, through which, future research trends of high-efficiency forming are identified including trends in process integration, processing window design, full cycle and multi-objective optimization. This review aims to provide a guide for researchers and process designers on the manufacture of thin-walled titanium alloy components whilst achieving high dimensional accuracy and satisfying performance properties with high efficiency and low cost.

High-efficiency forming processes for complex thin-walled titanium alloys components: State-of-the-art and Perspectives

Ecological and economic reasons are forcing industry to improve efficiency and to save energy and resources. Especially for the automotive and transport industry – but also for all other industrial branches dealing with accelerated masses – lightweight design is a key issue for achieving this goal. In current product designs, insufficient geometric stiffness of the part often prohibits exploiting the full potential of weight reduction offered by modern materials. Ideally adapting the geometry to the load profile by implementing appropriate structures frequently allows wall thickness and weight reduction. At the same time, the acoustic properties can be improved in many cases, because the natural frequency of the modified structure is higher compared to a conventionally-designed structure, thus leading to a reduction of awkward low frequency noise (humming). To enable a target-oriented design, the influence of structures manufactured by elastomer tools and by electromagnetic forming (EMF) was analysed systematically. Knowledge about the influence of the structuring technology and the process parameters on the resulting structure properties and the part performance allows conclusions regarding the optimisation of the part functionality via a suitable selection and design of the process.

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Structuring by electromagnetic forming and by forming with an elastomer punch as a tool for component optimisation regarding mechanical stiffness and acoustic performance

Within the framework of investigations, an exhaust gas component made of Titanium Grade 2 was produced by means of Hot Metal Gas Forming (HMGF) at the Fraunhofer IWU in Chemnitz, Germany.The semi-finished products were two-fold bent, thermal joined, calibrated and pre-formed tubes. So far, a three-stage internal high-pressure forming process at room temperature plus two necessary intermediate heat treatments were used to produce the component. Due to its complexity as well as the limited forming ability of Titanium Grade 2 at room temperature an one step Hot Metal Gas Forming was developed to replace the former procedure.

Hot metal gas forming of titanium grade 2 bent tubes

Climate targets set by the EU, including the reduction of CO2, are leading to the increased use of lightweight materials for mass production such as press hardening steels. Besides sheet metal forming for high-strength components, tubular or profile forming (Hot Metal Gas Forming—HMGF) allows for designs that are more complex in combination with a lower weight. This paper particularly examines the application of conductive heating of the component for the combined press hardening process. The previous Finite-Element-Method (FEM)-supported design of an industry-oriented, curved component geometry allows the development of forming tools and process peripherals with a high degree of reliability. This work comprises a description regarding the functionality of the tools and the heating strategy for the curved component as well as the measurement technology used to investigate the heat distribution in the component during the conduction process. Subsequently, forming tests are carried out, material characterization is performed by hardness measurements in relevant areas of the component, and the FEM simulation is validated by comparing the resulting sheet thickness distribution to the experimental one.

Markus Werner

Papers

Structuring by electromagnetic forming and by forming with an elastomer punch as a tool for component optimisation regarding mechanical stiffness and acoustic performance

Hot metal gas forming of titanium grade 2 bent tubes

Conductive Heating during Press Hardening by Hot Metal Gas Forming for Curved Complex Part Geometries

Processing Q&P steels by hot-metal gas forming: Influence of local cooling rates on the properties and microstructure of a 3rd generation AHSS

Numerical and experimental investigations for hot metal gas forming of stainless steel X2CrTiNb18