IUCRC Planning Grant University of New Hampshire: Center for Industrial Metal Forming

金属成形工艺是最有效、最经济、最环保的大批量制造技术之一，通过重新塑造输入原料来制造产品，浪费有限，通常在室温下进行。大约5.8%的美国GDP（2019年为21.4万亿美元）与汽车、航空航天、国防、材料、电子和生物医学等行业有关，这些行业都广泛使用金属成形工艺。因此，估计金属成形对美国社会的经济影响在数千亿美元。该奖项支持拟议的工业金属成形中心（CIMF）的规划阶段。该中心由俄亥俄州立大学（OSU）、奥克兰大学（OU）、北卡罗来纳州立大学（NCSU）和新罕布什尔大学（UNH）组成，其使命是在金属成形科学和工程领域进行前沿的、竞争前的基础研究，并培养下一代行业专家。CIMF将开展以行业为导向的新型体材和板材成形工艺的转型研究；综合计算金属成形（ICMF）及其相关科学，如塑性和断裂；先进的设备和模具技术；以及传感器和工业物联网（IIoT）在金属成形中的应用。这项工作将需要跨学科的方法，包括制造工程、电气工程、材料科学、数值方法、数据分析和实验力学方面的专家。因此，CIMF的活动将创造一个高度竞争的、多样化的劳动力队伍，以支持美国工业的增长和扩大制造业就业，同时也有助于国家的供应链弹性和全球市场竞争力。CIMF旨在将其四个站点的核心竞争力与广泛的客户发现过程中确定的行业需求相结合。CIMF的基础研究将基于三个支柱：1)成形中的计算和材料增强；2)创新成型工艺；3)设备和模具创新。这些支柱融合了每个站点的独特专业知识：俄勒冈州立大学的集成计算金属成形（ICMF）；剪切工艺，工业物联网在冲压和设备和模具创新的OU；NCSU的锻造、混合成形工艺和摩擦学；UNH的材料和工艺建模及柔性成形。垂直的、根本性的进步将通过在钣金/管材成形、锻造和挤压工艺方面采用创新方法，改善材料的可成形性，推进虚拟工艺设计方法，以及采用新的模具材料、涂层、润滑剂和金属成形设备来实现。具体而言，以行业为重点的项目将针对工艺创新（例如，水力锻造，柔性成形），基于工业物联网的成形控制，节能成型机，增强增材制造模具的性能等。结果将是材料利用率的进步，最终零件性能和重量减轻，工业友好的工艺设计计算工具，延长寿命的金属成型模具和提高生产率的工业金属成型工艺，跨越一系列先进的材料系统和行业，例如汽车，航空航天和生物医学。UNH网站的主要贡献将是在材料创新方面，通过工艺和计算建模进行批量和片状成型，例如，在柔性成型方面。UNH团队包括具有非常规成型工艺和建模专业知识的教师；非比例加载与循环试验；弹塑性结晶塑性建模；微观结构分析;网络安全;还有人工智能。与其他站点合作的CIMF项目将受益于约翰奥尔森先进制造中心（占地20,000平方英尺）。拥有价值400万美元工业设备的设施)，高性能计算资源，UNH大学仪器中心（包括广泛的显微镜设备），以及最先进的120万美元双面增量成型机。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Metal forming processes are among the most efficient, economical and environmentally-friendly high-volume manufacturing techniques, creating products by re-shaping the input feedstock, with limited waste, and oftentimes at room temperature. Approximately 5.8% of the U.S. GDP ($21.4 trillion in 2019) is tied to industries such as automotive, aerospace, defense, materials, electronics and biomedical, all extensively utilizing metal forming processes. Therefore, the estimated economic impact of metal forming in the U.S. society is in the hundreds of billion $. This award supports the planning phase of the proposed Center for Industrial Metal Forming (CIMF). The mission of the Center, which is comprised of Ohio State University (OSU), Oakland University (OU), North Carolina State University (NCSU) and University of New Hampshire (UNH), is to perform cutting-edge, pre-competitive fundamental research in metal forming science and engineering and to create the next generation of industry experts. CIMF will conduct industry-driven transformational research in novel bulk and sheet forming processes; Integrated Computational Metal Forming (ICMF) and the sciences that tie into it, such as plasticity and fracture; advanced equipment and die technologies; and the application of sensors and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) in metal forming. This effort will necessitate an interdisciplinary approach with experts from manufacturing engineering, electrical engineering, materials science, numerical methods, data analytics and experimental mechanics. Therefore, CIMF activities will create a highly-competitive, diverse workforce to support the growth of U.S. industry and expand manufacturing employment, while also contributing to the Nation’s supply chain resilience and global market competitiveness. CIMF is designed around integrating the core competencies of its four sites with the industry needs identified during the extensive customer discovery. The fundamental research at CIMF will be based on three pillars: 1) computational and material enhancements in forming; 2) innovative forming processes; and 3) equipment and die innovation. These pillars blend with the unique expertise of each site: Integrated Computational Metal Forming (ICMF) for OSU; shearing processes, IIoT in stamping and equipment and die innovation for OU; forging, hybrid forming processes and tribology for NCSU; and material and process modeling and flexible forming for UNH. Vertical, fundamental advances will be achieved by employing innovative approaches in sheet metal/tube forming, forging and extrusion processes, improving material formability, advancing methods for virtual process design, and employing new die materials, coatings, lubricants and metal forming equipment. Specifically, the industry-focused projects will target process innovation (e.g., hydro-forging, flexible forming), forming control based on IIoT, energy-efficient forming machines, enhanced performance of additively-manufactured dies, etc. The results will be advancements in material utilization, final part performance and weight reduction, industry-friendly computational tools for process design, metal forming dies with extended life and industrial metal forming processes of increased productivity, across a range of advanced material systems and industries, e.g., automotive, aerospace, and biomedical. The major contributions of the UNH site will be with respect to material innovations through process and computational modeling in bulk and sheet forming, e.g., with respect to flexible forming. The UNH team includes faculty with expertise in non-conventional forming processes and modeling; non-proportional loading and cyclic testing; crystal plasticity modeling for elasto-plasticity; microstructure analytics; cybersecurity; and artificial intelligence. Collaborative CIMF projects with other sites will benefit from access to the John Olson Advanced Manufacturing Center (a 20,000 sq.ft. facility with $4M worth of industrial equipment), high performance computing resources, the UNH University Instrumentation Center (which includes extensive microscopy equipment), and a state-of-art $1.2M double-sided incremental forming machine.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.