Strukturierte Bleche

The characteristic honeycomb structure of the structured sheet metals is indicative of the stiffness of these semi-finished products. The resulting lightweight design potential was recognized several times by the automotive and household appliance industry and leads to the production of various lightweight components in high volume production. Nevertheless, there is further potential for the widespread use of structured sheets metals, yet this is limited by the lack of knowledge of appropriate manufacturing methods and process parameters for small production series.

The present study deals with the selection of suitable production processes for small series. The behavior of the structured sheet metals, produced by hydroforming, is to be examined by means of three forming processes, metal spinning, crimping and beading, and cutting by piercing. There are two basic test rigs available for the experimental examination.

Firstly these four manufacturing methods are presented and discussed in the context of the state of the art. Further work is dedicated to the tool development. This part focuses on the use of suitable plastic materials, as an alternative to steel, to preserve the structure of the sheet metals while forming and cutting. In order to describe the limits of the production processes, appropriate tools of experimental design are introduced and outlined. The experimental validation of the forming and cutting tools used with structured sheets metals follows subsequently. The experimental results are discussed in detail.

The effect of the hexagonal honeycomb structure, in particular in regard to the results of the forming processes, is addressed with the specification and development of the process chain for structured sheet metals. The results of the research referring to the production processes for small series are transferred to real samples and demonstrated with the components “tank bottom” and “tank cover”.