Abstract
A vibration-assisted plastic-forming method was proposed, and its influence on clutch hub forming process was investigated. The experiments were conducted on a vibration-assisted hydraulic extrusion press with adjustable frequency and amplitude. Vibration frequency and amplitude were considered in investigating the effect of vibration on forming load and surface quality. Results showed that applying vibration can effectively reduce forming force and improve surface quality. The drop in forming load was proportional to the vibration frequency and amplitude, and the load decreased by up to 25%. Such reduction in forming load raised with amplitude increase because the increase in amplitude would accelerate punch relative speed, which then weakened the adhesion between workpiece and dies. By increasing the vibration frequency, the punch movement was enhanced, and the number of attempts to drag the lubricant out of the pits was increased. In this manner, the lubrication condition was improved greatly. The 3D surface topography testing confirmed the assumption. Moreover, vibration frequency exerted a more significant effect on the forming load reduction than vibration amplitude.
Highlights
Clutch hub is an important torque transmission component, which is widely used in automatic transmission
To reduce the forming load and improve the quality of the clutch hub, we proposed a novel method for the application of vibration during traditional sheet–bulk forming
In the surface the surface effect, load reduction is attributed to the decrease in friction force caused by the relative effect, load reduction is attributed to the decrease in friction force caused by the relative motion in motion in an interface
Summary
Clutch hub is an important torque transmission component, which is widely used in automatic transmission. Its complex shape and highly precise dimensions make it one of the most complicated parts in automobile manufacturing. The conventional forming method for clutch hub forming mainly focuses on hobbing [1] and hot forging [2,3,4]. Hobbing usually cuts the workpiece, which is time consumption. Hot forging needs to heat the materials, which has bad performance in cost and precision. For the production of lightweight, high-strength, and low-cost parts in the automobile industry, sheet–bulk forming, which combines sheet and bulk forming, has been proposed for shortening the process chain and achieving high-performance products [5,6,7,8]
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