Hydroforming Precision Parts for the Automotive Industry
If you’ve been following along with this blog, you’re already familiar with the way that FluidForming’s innovative FormBalancer technology helps leading manufacturers across a range of industries, from healthcare to shipbuilding to renewable energy, generate new ideas and refine proven products.
If you’re not a regular reader, though, we’ve pulled together a collection of links that highlight FluidForming’s history with—and promise for—the automotive industry. With the ability to produce unibody parts with greater strength than conventionally welded joints, and to reduce weight while increasing durability by forming lightweight metal alloys, FluidForming technology is a natural fit for the automotive industry. FluidFormed components have been used by automakers including BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Porsche.
Riding Shotgun
Way back in 2018, we were forecasting metalforming’s increasing importance to a rapidly-changing automotive industry. Projections showed a strong growth in the industry, and the increasing trend of lightweight materials like aluminum replacing traditional steel manufacture led industry watchers to project that hydroforming would show the fastest growth of any forming technique segment. Five years later, the improved performance and reduced weight offered by high-tech alloys is one of the headline stories in metal forming and a key concern for carmakers. Even persnickety aluminum alloys, which tend to wrinkle or fracture under stress, perform well with the FluidForming process.
Three on the Tree
The FluidForming FormBalancer is the only metal forming machine on the market that can effortlessly shift between bladderless sheet metal forming and deep draw hydroforming, making it the most flexible tool available today. And in situations where you need to produce parts for existing projects through a legacy hydraulic or bladder-based metal forming method, the machine can be configured to deliver flawless results with legacy methods.
Electrifying Progress
Automakers and car buffs have long known that adding lightness is a proven way to improve performance and fuel efficiency, but FluidForming’s sustainability benefits extend beyond just miles per gallon. The innovative, sustainable FluidForming process reduces waste with its high part conformity, it lowers energy costs as compared to legacy metal forming processes, and it relies on recycled tap water instead of petroleum based hydraulic fluid for its forming force.
For the rapidly-growing EV segment, FluidForming aligns especially closely with overall sustainability goals and production demands. FluidForming has the capability to produce EV battery components, fuel cells, microchannel heat exchangers, and other high-efficiency heat exchangers—all while limiting the environmental impact of the manufacturing process.
With the FormBalancer, FluidForming Americas speeds past more traditional metal forming technologies and tools. To learn more about the FormBalancer’s capabilities and benefits, contact FluidForming Americas at (800) 497-3545 or email us at info@ffamericas.com.
FluidForming Americas, Inc. is a member of the Precision Metal Forming Association and is AS9100 Rev D, ISO 9001:2015 certified. ITAR registered.