Abstract
The research on lightweight construction increasingly gains in importance, especially for the automotive industry. New lightweight components ensure the necessary stability of car body parts on the one hand. On the other hand they are supposed to allow a low priced production. Hence, aluminum or magnesium alloys have quite a large share in production engineering. During the last years, research mainly addressed metal/plastic compounds. Weight reduction as well as the capability of producing complex structures are only some of the benefits of this technology. Furthermore, additional functionality can be integrated or functional tasks can be distributed: The metal ensures stiffness and realizes the technical connection to the car body by means of welding, while the plastic enables the insertion of special elements for the joining or assembly process. This paper presents two approaches of realizing a combined process to produce aluminum/plastic-hybrid structures. In a first approach, an active tool is presented to realize the sheet based process. The second approach focusses on the tube-based process and presents the topical state of research within the Federal Cluster of Excellence EXC 1075 “Merge Technologies for Multifunctional Lightweight Structures”.
Highlights
Lightweight solutions for the automotive industry are today, more than ever, in demand
With tube-based hybrid components, the weight-reduction potential of flangeless metallic hollow sections can be combined with highly complex injection molded synthetic elements. These components have so far been used by Mercedes-Benz as cockpit cross-members or as car front-ends. They are manufactured in a combined process of hydroforming (HF) and injection molding inside a single tool
This paper presented two approaches of realizing a combined process for produce metal/plastichybrid structures
Summary
Lightweight solutions for the automotive industry are today, more than ever, in demand. With tube-based hybrid components, the weight-reduction potential of flangeless metallic hollow sections can be combined with highly complex injection molded synthetic elements. These components have so far been used by Mercedes-Benz as cockpit cross-members or as car front-ends. In order to simplify this process chain further, the company Corus has developed the so-called Polymer Injection Molding (PIM) [7] In this case, the metallic sheet coated with the coupling agent is inserted into the injection molding tool and upon closing the semi-finished product is preformed mechanically. The aim was to replace chemical coupling agents by surface-structuring the tubes as well as using gaseous media for internal high-pressure forming (Figure 2 left)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
