Engineering Research Center for Net Shape Manufacturing (ERC/NSM)

The ERC/NSM is the leading university associated group in North America conducting R&D and providing education in metal forming (stamping, sheet & tube hydroforming, forging) since 1986. In addition to training students, we conduct R&D projects for government agencies, e.g. National Science Foundation and for a Consortium of companies worldwide as well as individual companies, on a confidential basis

TO ACCESS VARIOUS AREAS OF EXCELLENCE AND THE CENTER FOR PRECISION FORMING, PLEASE CLICK ON THE LINKS ABOVE OR ON THE SIDE BAR.

Please review our R&D activities in (click on the titles below for a detailed description of the topics)

• Stamping including Sheet Hydroforming (material characterization / die design and optimization / friction, lubrication and wear / process simulation / equipment characteristics and selection / bending and springback)
• Proprietary Stamping R&D is also conducted for a group of companies at the Center for Precision Forming (CPF). To review the titles of ongoing studies please click on        www.cpforming.org
• Precision Cold, Warm and Hot Forging (material properties / process design and simulation / die materials and coatings / friction and lubrication)
• Tube Hydroforming (determination of tube properties / process simulation and optimization / lubricant evaluation)
• Machining (simulation of metal cutting operations / determination of flow stress data / investigation of chip flow and insert design)
• Education (Training courses in forging, stamping and tube hydroforming
   

To review further Sheet Forming activities also visit the web page of Center for Precision Forming (www.cpforming.org)

Center for Precision Forming(www.cpforming.org)
CENTER FOR PRECISION FORMING (CPF) is established with support from NSF and member companies (www.cpforming.org)
 

On going ERC/NSM projects (updated on Jan. 3. 2012)

(1) Bulk metal forming (forging) related projects
 

• Design a cold/warm precision forming process to manufacture stainless steel parts for medical application, with minimum amount of machining.
   
• Predict distortion of large rolled and hardened rings. Develop a compression/expansion method to reduce residual stresses and distortion in rolled and heat treated rings.
   
• Develop a method for hot precision forging spur and helical gears from composite materials to save weight.
   
• Design hot precision forging methods for producing bevel gears with minimum machining and materiel usage.
   
• Investigation of fracture and crack formation during hot forging of stainless steel and Ni alloys. Estimate the forging conditions (temperature, strain, strain-rate) that reduce the probability of fracture.
   
• Prediction of stress in precision hot and cold forging dies and design of tooling to prevent low cycle fatigue fracture.
   

(2) Sheet metal forming projects
 

• 3D FEM simulation of blanking of non-round parts; investigation of different fracture criteria for separation during blanking.
   
• Determination of flow stress of sheet materials under biaxial deformation conditions, using hydraulic bulge and dome tests.
   
• Evaluation of lubricants for stamping in production of automotive parts.
   
• Evaluation of die materials/coatings/heat treatments for stamping AHSS.
   
• Process simulation for hot stamping for optimize process conditions and die design with cooling channels.