The principle of hydroforming
Hydroforming is a high-pressure deformation process that shapes metal sheets into a predefined geometry by using a fluid under high pressure. Hydroforming is similar to the conventional deep-drawing technique with a counter-mould. The specific difference from the conventional method is that a fluid is used instead of a die to form the metal sheet into its final shape. This deformation process requires fluid pressures up to 4000 bars, which means that very high tool closing forces need to be applied – depending on the size of the component.
The principle of operation shown in an animation:
The wish of many component creators and designers to have this technology run in a production environment has so far only failed because there were no suitable deformation machines which could have been used to put the highly specialized hydroforming technique into practice. The »FormBalancer« developed and manufactured by the company FF Fluid Forming is a hydroforming machine specifically developed for high pressure sheet metal forming.