Electrohydraulic sheet metal forming with flexible tools

Abstract

In cold metal forming usually a die and a punch are required to form sheet metal in the desired shape. These two parts of the tool need to be produced of hardened materials in high precision. In this paper it is shown, that by using electrohydraulic forming the punch is replaced by a hydraulic punch and the die can be made easily out of softer materials that seem absolutely not suited at first sight. This allows for rapid and cheap manufacturing of sheet metal parts.