Experimental and numerical investigations for the development of the Radial Rotation Profile-Forming

• Applicant: Professorin Dr.-Ing. Birgit Awiszus
• Subject Area: Primary Shaping and Reshaping Technology, Additive Manufacturing
• Term: since 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 334894279

The aim of the proposed research project is the development of the RADIAL ROTATION PROFILING (RRPF) manufacturing technology. Its basic feasibility and process characteristic fundamentals were developed within the first project phase. In the second project phase, the focus is on extending the process limits by using Tailored Blanks (TB). To this end, two sub-objectives have been defined: the production of the preform with uniform material pre-distribution by locally different material properties of the blank and the production of components with constant sheet thickness by different sheet thickness of the blank. The investigations carried out so far show that uniform wrinkling during Rotational Swing-Folding leads to uniformly shaped profiles with minimum sheet thinning on the final component. This requires targeted control of wrinkling during Rotational Swing-Folding by local heat treatment using lasers. The extension by laser processing offers the advantage that, in relation to the total process duration, only a minimal extension of the process time takes place. For the extension of the process chain, the necessary material-specific and forming interrelationships will be worked out within the scope of the proposed research project in order to achieve optimum control of the wrinkle formation. As a result, an optimized preform withuniform material distribution in each profile of the die can be produced by Rotational Swing-Folding, which consequently results in a uniformly profiled component. For the second sub-objective, the sheetthickness distribution on the final part is optimized by developing and applying a TB with variable sheet thickness. In addition to the production of components with constant sheet thickness, components with load-adjusted sheet thickness are also considered with regard to torsional stiffness, as well as weight-optimized components. Within the scope of the investigations, the influences due to the use of TBs and the associated change in geometric stiffness in combination with local heat treatment are explored. Within the scope of the investigations, the process limits, influencing parameters and potentials of the blank modification on the entire process chain are identified by numerical and experimental investigations. The guidelines for the production of profiled hollow components with optimized sheet thickness in the axial and tangential directions are derived from these findings.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants