Technology development for the efficient production of glass exterior and interior components for automotive futures

薄玻璃组件可用于各种各样的应用，特别是用于汽车、消费电子和医疗技术领域。因此，超薄玻璃市场预计将从2017年的97.3亿美元增长到2022年的169.9亿美元。然而，制造商面临着行业对复杂形状、高尺寸精度、大产量和低单位成本的日益增长的需求。非等温玻璃成型（NGM）是一种新的复制工艺，可用于生产具有高几何复杂性和高精度的块状玻璃部件。当将该技术转移到薄玻璃成型时，目前最大的挑战是确保工艺稳定性。由于热梯度，会产生残余应力，这可能导致部件变形以及裂纹和表面缺陷。传统的试错法很难避免这些缺陷。该项目的主要目标是开发一种用于薄玻璃部件大规模生产的非等温成型技术。基于基础研究的现有知识，将现有的数值模型进行扩展。这包括三个主要的创新：第一，玻璃的粘塑性本构关系将被开发的过程相关的温度的整个范围内。第二，一个创新的模型，用于预测工具和玻璃之间的接触传热的增强和集成。最后，这些模型的特点是实验在整个温度范围内。预计将开发出一种具有前所未有精度的薄玻璃成形模拟工具。从模拟中获得的知识将用于优化开发的成型技术。最后，工业合作伙伴将在操作环境中对后者以及模拟工具进行评估。

Thin glass components can be used in a wide variety of applications and are in particularly employed in the automotive, consumer electronics, and medical technology sectors. Consequently, the market for ultra-thin glass is predicted to grow from $9.73 billion in 2017 to $16.99 billion by 2022.However, manufacturers are confronted with the industry's increasing demands for complex shapes, high dimensional accuracy, large production volumes, and low unit costs. A new replicative process known as non-isothermal glass molding (NGM) has become a technology for the cost-efficient production of bulk glass components with high geometric complexity and precision. When transferring this technology to thin glass forming, the greatest challenge is currently to ensure process stability. Due to thermal gradients, residual stresses occur which can lead to component distortion as well as cracks and surface defects. Conventional trial-and-error approaches are hardly suitable to avoid these defects. Instead, numerical simulation tools represent a promising alternative.The main goal of the project is to develop a non-isothermal molding technology for the mass production of thin glass components. Based on the existing knowledge from fundamental research, an existing numerical model will be extended. This includes three main innovations: First, a visco-plastic constitutive law for glass will be developed for the entire range of the process relevant temperatures. Second, an innovative model for predicting the contact heat transfer between tool and glass is enhanced and integrated. Finally, these models are characterized experimentally over the entire temperature range. It is expected that a simulation tool for thin glass forming with unprecedented accuracy will be developed. The knowledge gained from the simulation will be used to optimize the developed molding technology. Finally, the latter as well as the simulation tool will be evaluated by the industrial partners in operational environments.