Rotary swaging is an incremental cold forming process for rods and tubular components. The process is well established in the macro scale e. g. in the automotive industry. All advantages of cold forming are also applicable for the rotary swaging process but additionally it allows the forming of hollow parts with optimized wall thickness. High forming degrees can also be achieved by this process in comparison for example to a drawing process. Especially the plunge swaging process, which is a variation of the rotary swaging process, enables the manufacturing of complex and even not symmetric part geometry.In this paper the potential of the plunge rotary swaging for manufacturing micro parts is investigated and challenges according to the tools, the dimensions of the workpiece and the process will be shown. The main parameters that influence the plunge swaging process will be determined and investigated. For this purpose wires of corrosion free steel with different initial diameters are contoured by plunge rotary swaging. Hardness distribution, final diameter, microstructure and the tolerances of the parts are also investigated. The results from the experiments form the base for further machine and process development.
展开▼
