Hot-Formed Vehicle Components With Integrated Edge Cutting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for producing motor vehicle components through hot-forming face challenges in achieving cost-effectiveness and precision, particularly with edge cutting, especially when dealing with tailor welded blanks of varying wall thicknesses, which often require complex and abrasive tooling and can lead to micro-cracks or inaccuracies.
Innovation Solution
A method combining hot-forming and hot-cutting in a single press stroke using a combined tool with a stamp for initial edge cutting before forming, allowing for precise production of complex components like U-shaped or C-shaped sections without subsequent finishing cuts, using a cutting tool driven by the press stroke and integrated within the forming tool.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If edge cutting is performed after hot-forming on hardened components, then component precision is achieved, but tool abrasive wear increases and risk of micro-cracks occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The cutting operation is performed before the plate is hardened during the hot-forming process, when the material is still in a softer, more ductile state. This preliminary cutting action eliminates the need for subsequent cutting operations on hardened material, thereby preventing tool wear and micro-crack formation while maintaining cutting precision
2Manufacturing precision
If laser-cutting is used for edge cutting, then cutting precision is improved, but production cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cutting tool is integrated into the hot-forming press tool, combining two separate operations (cutting and forming) into a single tool system. This integration eliminates the need for separate laser-cutting equipment and operations, reducing production costs while maintaining cutting precision through the unified tool design
3Device complexity
If cold cut is performed on hardened components, then processing complexity is reduced, but component reliability decreases due to micro-crack risk
Solution Approach 1:
The cutting operation is performed preliminarily during hot-forming before the material hardens, when the material structure is more forgiving and less prone to cracking. This timing strategy maintains component reliability by avoiding stress concentration at cut edges that would occur with post-forming cutting on hardened material
4Adaptability or versatility
If tailor welded blanks with different wall thicknesses are used, then component design flexibility is improved, but edge cutting complexity and precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The cutting tool is designed to accommodate varying wall thicknesses through localized adaptation, where the cutting edge can selectively engage with different material thicknesses at different locations. This allows precise cutting of tailor welded blanks with varying thickness profiles while maintaining the design flexibility benefits of using such blanks
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This method enables the production of high-tolerance, complex motor vehicle components with reduced tool wear and no need for additional cutting steps, such as laser-cutting, thereby enhancing precision and reducing production costs by integrating edge cutting into the hot-forming process.
Implementation Method 1
A sheet metal plate made of a hardenable steel alloy is heated to a temperature above the Ac1 or Ac3 point
Implementation Method 2
the forming tool is kept closed during a direct hot-forming process and rapidly cooled so that the formed plate is hardened
Data Source
AI summary
A method of making a motor vehicle component by hot-forming, hot-cutting, and press-hardening a plate made of a hardenable steel sheet alloy, heating to a temperature greater than Ac1, inserting in a combined forming and cutting tool, fixing the inserted plate in the forming and cutting tool using a stamp which is arranged in the inner region of the tool, at least partially circumferential edge cutting before beginning the forming operation or during a time period of up to 50% of the forming progression and/or at least 20% of the press stroke prior to the bottom dead center position, and hot-forming in a press stroke with the edge cut and optional press-hardening.