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Research report: Lightweight design - thermomechanical precision forging

Research report: Lightweight design - thermomechanical precision forging

IFUM uses thermomechanical process control to produce thin-walled gear rims. Within the scope of the joint research project “Lightweight Forging”, such gear rims are combined to weight- and efficiency-optimized gear wheels used for gearboxes in cars.

The central demonstrator developed in the joint research project "Lightweight Forging" is a gear wheel in multi-component design with optimized weight and efficiency. IFUM''s contribution is a thin-walled gear rim produced using multi-stage precision forging with thermomechanical process control. Thanks to a second forming stage at reduced temperature, the grain size of the case-hardened steel used can be reduced significantly. In addition, the second forming stage serves for component calibration in order to improve component accuracy and surface characteristics.

Research results prove that a fine-grained structure increases the strength and resistance of forged parts, thus making components more robust and less prone to failure. This and the multi-component design make hybrid gear wheels a lot lighter than previous versions. Consequently, vehicles have a lighter weight and an improved energy efficiency. Moreover, the production process is more resource-efficient, because less postprocessing is needed due to an improved contour accuracy and average roughness value.

You can find a detailed (German) project report here on our portal "Produktionstechnik Hannover informiert" - PHI.