New horizontal hydroforming press, tooling design issues for flexforming

摘要

In the July/August (p.54) and September/October (p.58) 2002 columns, we discussed sheet hydroforming technology for automotive applications and part design for car fuel tanks. This column discusses the characteristics of a new horizontal hydroforming press and simple tooling design issues for flexforming. The March/April 2002 column (p. 42) explained the principles of sheet hydroforming. Figure 1 illustrates a sheet blank being deformed by the pressure medium in a conventional sheet hydroforming press. Currently most sheet hydroforming presses are designed with upper and lower rams that move vertically toward each other.