Vinzent Monnerjahn

Conjoint forming - technologies for simultaneous forming and joining

The market demand for new products optimized for e. g. lightweight applications or smart components leads to new challenges in production engineering. Hybrid structures represent one promising approach. They aim at higher product performance by using a suitable combination of different materials. The developments of hybrid structures stimulate the research on joining of dissimilar materials. Since they allow for joining dissimilar materials without external heating technologies based on joining by plastic deformation seem to be of special attractiveness. The paper at hand discusses the conjoint forming approach. This approach combines forming and joining in one process. Two or more workpieces are joined while at least one workpiece is plastically deformed. After presenting the fundamental joining mechanisms, the conjoint forming approach is discussed comprehensively. Examples of conjoint processes demonstrate the effectiveness and reveal the underlying phenomena.

The Result: A New Design Paradigm

One of the key challenges faced by engineers is finding, concretizing, and optimizing solutions for a specific technical problem in the context of requirements and constraints (Pahl et al. 2007). Depending on the technical problem’s nature, specifically designed products and processes can be its solution with product and processes depending on each other. Although products are usually modeled within the context of their function, consideration of the product’s life cycle processes is also essential for design. Processes of the product’s life cycle concern realization of the product (e.g., manufacturing processes), processes that are realized with the help of the product itself (e.g., use processes) and processes at the end of the product’s life cycle (recycling or disposal). Yet, not just product requirements have to be considered during product development, as requirements regarding product life cycle processes need to be taken into account, too. Provision for manufacturing process requirements plays an important role in realizing the product’s manufacturability, quality, costs, and availability (Chap. 3). Further life cycle demands, such as reliability, durability, robustness, and safety, result in additional product and life cycle process requirements. Consequently, the engineer’s task of finding optimal product and process solutions to solve a technical problem or to fulfill a customer need is characterized by high complexity, which has to be handled appropriately (Chaps. 5 and 6).

Finding New Opportunities: Technology Push Approach

Realizing the benefits of a manufacturing technology is a key challenge that manufacturing engineers and designers face that exceeds conventional aspects of manufacturability and manufacturing compliant solutions. The goal is to comprehensively utilize manufacturing potential through manufacturing-induced properties to find new opportunities for innovative product and process solutions.

New Challenges: Technology Integrated Market-Pull

Newly developed products usually do not only face the market requirements. With the manufacturing induced properties it is possible to satisfy the constantly rising market requirements, e.g., in the mechanical engineering market or the building industry. Besides the original functions, the new products often have to meet other requirements such as lightweight construction, multifunctionality, reliable joints, or aesthetical demands.

Introduction: Production Technologies and Product Development

Many studies reveal that the development of products and manufacturing technologies are key factors for the success of industrial enterprises (Becheikh et al. 2006). Both development processes aim at the same goal: the creation of products that fulfill customer needs with a minimum of required resources. From the perspective of an enterprise the minimization of resources comes along with a maximization of productivity. According to (Tangen 2005) productivity can be increased by either higher efficiency or higher effectiveness. The first possibility is directed towards cost minimization, and the second towards higher quality, flexibility, and reduced lead time.

New Technologies: From Basic Ideas to Mature Technologies

Lightweight design aims at minimizing the weight of a structure while product requirements are completely fulfilled. Utilization of closed profiles and materials with higher strength but reduced material thickness often enables weight reduction. However, these approaches are limited. When the thickness becomes too low, instability phenomena like buckling and wrinkling become apparent (Groche et al. 2004).

The CRC666 Approach: Realizing Optimized Solutions Based on Production Technological Innovation

Finding technical solutions for given problems is one of a designer’s key challenges. The task is especially demanding since the designer tries to find not only one possible solution but also the best possible solution, taking all existing conditions, limitations, and requirements into account (Pahl et al. 2007). There are many product development approaches that support the designer in this. The focus and drivers of the approaches differ: Reduction of complexity (Suh 1998) Integration of product development in company processes (Ehrlenspiel and Meerkamm 2013) Methodical approach based on analysis and synthesis steps (VDI 2221 1993) Cross-domain development of systems with a focus on mechatronic systems (VDI 2206 2004) Sustainable product design (Birkhofer et al. 2012) Effectiveness and efficiency (Lindemann 2009) Flexibility (Lindemann 2009) Cost and time reduction; quality improvement (Eder and Hosnedl 2010) Computer-aided automatization (Weber 2005)