Easier to the hybrid component through innovative forming

Plastic shapes metal Easier to the hybrid component through innovative forming

2024-02-23 Source: IKT | Translated by AI 1 min Reading Time

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The IKT and the IFU (both University of Stuttgart) are researching in a basic project how plastic and metal can be formed into a composite component using a hybrid process.

Faster to the material mix! This is achieved through hybrid forming, as researched by the IKT together with the IFU. By embossing a plastic core with a surrounding metallic preform ring, a gear is created. The geometry of the preform also changes in the process.(Image: IKT) — Faster to the material mix! This is achieved through hybrid forming, as researched by the IKT together with the IFU. By embossing a plastic core with a surrounding metallic preform ring, a gear is created. The geometry of the preform also changes in the process.
(Image: IKT)

By combining different materials in one component, their positive properties can be combined in a meaningful way, say the researchers. The resulting components can be successfully used in a wide range of applications – such as decorative elements made of plastic with a metallic surface or tribologically optimized gears. As part of a two-year research project funded by the German Research Foundation, the so-called hybrid forming will be investigated using the example geometry of a gear made of plastic and aluminum, as described by the experts from Stuttgart. The plastic serves as a shaping active medium, which is pressed into a metal mold, thereby forming it.

It gets tricky in terms of phase boundary properties

The process should be designed so that the bond strength between the plastic and metal phases is as high as possible, because only then can high forces and torques be transmitted in use. However, the phase boundary between the two materials has hardly been investigated so far. The fact that it is a very complex process is already evident from the gear being studied (see image). Furthermore, the process window and the design freedom of the component are strongly dependent on the material properties, as further stated. Therefore, temperatures, joining pressures, and the preform geometry are to be estimated and optimized in advance in a simulated design. For this reason, alongside the investigations of the forming process, a computer-aided model is being developed that describes the behavior of the different materials in the forming process as precisely as possible.

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