High speed thermo-forming of 5083 aluminum alloy for use in automotive industry

在过去的30年里，轻量化结构的生产一直是汽车工业最重要的优先事项之一。近年来，铝合金作为钢的替代品受到了广泛的关注，特别是用于汽车车身面板。迄今为止，汽车车身的主要钣金部件都是采用冷冲压工艺生产的。然而，由于板材在冷冲压过程中具有成形性低、回弹严重的缺点，超塑性成形等新成形技术已被引入并应用于工业生产。然而，SPF固有的低速生产周期限制了其在汽车零部件批量生产中的应用。因此，需要开发生产速度更快的新技术。最新的技术之一是高速热成形（HSTF）。据估计，HSTF的产量比SPF法高一个数量级。在此背景下，加拿大运输行业SPF铝部件生产的领导者之一Verbom公司正计划将HSTF技术整合到其生产线中。然而，为了实现这一目标，对该过程进行全面的研究是必不可少的，在HSTF项目全面工业应用之前，需要研究与过程中的温度演变、材料行为（本构方程）、金属-模具界面的摩擦条件、成形气体的影响有关的基本问题。本项目是在这一背景下确定的，其目标是对上述变量的影响有更基本的了解。该项目将持续三年，涉及一名博士后、一名博士和一名硕士研究生。

During the last 30 years the production of lightweight structures has been one of the most important priorities for the auto industry. In recent years, much attention has been paid to aluminum alloys as an alternative to steel particularly for car body panels.To date, the main sheet metal components of car bodies are produced by cold stamping process. However, sheet aluminum alloys, show low formability and sever springback during cold stamping, therefore new forming technologies such as superplastic forming (SPF) have been introduced and used by industry. However, low speed production cycle inherent to SPF, limits its application for mass production of automotive components. Therefore, new technologies with faster production rates need to be developed. One of the most recent technologies is the High Speed Thermo-Forming (HSTF). The production rate by HSTF is estimated to be one order of magnitude higher than the SPF method. In this context, Verbom Inc., one the leaders in the production of SPF aluminum parts for transport industry in Canada, is planning to integrate HSTF technology in its production line. However, in order to reach this goal, a comprehensive investigation of the process is essential and fundamental questions related to temperature evolution during the process, material behavior (constitutive equations), frictional conditions at the interface metal-die, the influence of the forming gas need to be investigated before a full scale industrial application of the HSTF project. The present project has been defined in this context and its objective is to develop a more fundamental understanding of the effects of the above mentioned variables. The project will span over three years and will involve a post-doctoral fellow, a PhD and an MSc student.