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

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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.