Simulation Assisted Process Development for Tailored Forming

Abstract

Transport industry faces challenges steadily due to rising fuel costs and stricter regulations for the emission of air pollutants. Technological developments that reduce fuel consumption are necessary for sustainable and resource-efficient transport. Innovative production technologies utilising multi-material designs come to the fore in an attempt to fabricate lightweight products with extended functionality. Departing from this motivation, novel process chain concepts for the manufacturing of bi-material forged products are being researched at the Leibniz Universität Hannover in the context of the Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) 1153. The developed technology is referred as Tailored Forming and deals with the deformation and subsequent processing of joined hybrid workpieces to produce application-oriented products. Deformation processes are carried out at elevated temperatures for thermomechanical treatment of the joining zone properties. Researchers make use of numerical simulation in each step in the process chains. This paper explains the challenges associated with induction heating and impact extrusion of bi-material forging billets and presents our solution approaches with the aid of numerical modelling. Experimental validation results and analysis of deformed workpieces are also shown.