The Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT, Germany, announces that it has collaborated with several partners to develop a laser metal deposition process that builds up local layers on forming dies, increasing lifetime by over 150%. Researchers rebuilt a conventional five-axis milling machine so that it could be used to alloy forming dies automatically via laser.
In addition to the laser metal deposition machine, another key part of the system is the integrated software that allows all the requisite laser surface treatment processes to be controlled in a clear, reproducible manner. All necessary process parameters are transmitted to the machine without the need for any interface. Processes can be simulated in detail and optimized in advance of actual processing operations.
The machine can be embedded into the current manufacturing process. It improves the quality of components and makes it possible to plan set-up times with greater precision, as practical tests carried out on Mühlhoff’s premises have shown. Mühlhoff, manufactures sheet metal components for the automotive industry. The company’s own tool shop supplies its various production locations with forming dies.
In 2010, over 60 partners from industry and research joined together in InnoCaT® with the aim of carrying out joint research into innovations and synergies along the automotive process chain. For the first time, they analyzed the complex production flows in their entirety and from a resource efficiency perspective, taking in each stage from tool-making to pressing, car body construction, and painting car body shells. Five collaborative projects and 30 sub-projects yielded technical solutions and general approaches for increasing energy and resource efficiency before the initiative came to an end this summer.
