Development of Double Sheet Hydroforming Technology

This paper describes the research activities founded by the European Commission under the 5^th Frame Work Programme, titled “Lighter and Safer Automotive 3D-Structures at Low Investments through the Development of the Innovative Double Sheets Hydroforming Technology”.

As described into the project title, the objective is to develop and optimise double sheets hydroforming (DSH) in order to manufacture 3D automotive structures.

A moch-up, representative of an automotive side frame, was designed both to evaluate the process limits and to validate the developed methodology for process numerical simulation.

Design guidelines for application of this technology are the final output of the project.

After a general overview description of the European project and its objectives, the following points will be described:

• mock-up design;
• process numerical simulation;
• experimental results.