Increasing diaphragm hydroforming productivity with rapid prototyping/The role of fused deposition modeling

摘要

Sheet metal forming using liquid media, or hydroforming, is well-known and used for producing parts in low production volumes. Hydroforming involves pressing the sheet with liquid pressure against a die or a punch. A variation of hydroforming uses a diaphragm that separates the pressurized liquid from the sheet metal so that the possibility of leakage is eliminated (see Figure 1). With this variation, called flexforming or diaphragm hydrojorming, the sheet metal is pressed against half a rigid die and half a flexible rubber diaphragm, backed up by hydraulic pressure.1 The blank takes the shape of the rigid tool. Because only half a die set is used, with the diaphragm acting as a flexible die or punch half, tool costs are reduced.