Faculty of Materials Engineering Department of Materials Technology

Metal Forming Laboratory

1. 1. Name of laboratory: Metal Forming Laboratory
      

      Metal Forming Laboratory provides the equipment for conducting in controlled conditions a variety of didactic experiments, scientific research and contracted services in the field of both bulk metal forming (such as rolling, forging, extrusion and tube/wire drawing) and sheet metal forming (stamping, hydroforming). The most important research projects carried out in the laboratory are related to the modern metal forming technologies used in automotive and aerospace industries, determination of metals and alloys formability in broad ranges of temperature and strain rate, and assessing the effect of process parameters on microstructure evolution and product properties. Innovative, unconventional forming methods are developed as well - a.o. the techniques that enable obtaining ultrafine-grained materials with a unique set of functional properties, unattainable by classic forming methods.

   2. Laboratory equipment (list)
      1. horizontal hydraulic press (max. press load of 1,5 MN) for KOBO extrusion,
      2. vertical hydraulic press (max. press load of 1,5 MN) equipped with a device for incremental forming with segmented punch and a device for compression with transverse motion of the punch,
      3. vertical hydraulic press with max. press load of 1,2 MN),
      4. two-high rolling mills (with rolls of 100 and 200 mm in diameter) and four-high rolling mill (with working rolls of 100 mm in diameter) for flat rolling,
      5. laboratory rolling stand for longitudinal rolling with axial motion of rolls (60 mm in diameter),
      6. draw bench and wire drawing machines,
      7. torsion plastometer for hot torsion tests
      8. flywheel testing machine for dynamic tensile and bending tests (velocity up to 30 m/s),
      9. materials testing machine adapted to conduct forming tests under complex loading conditions, conducted by compression or tension with simultaneous torsion,
      10.sheet-metal testing machine with a system for automatic strain measurement,
      11. tube hydroforming testing device.
   3. Research offer and scope of services (research opportunities)
      We offer collaboration within a variety of projects as well as complex services for industrial customers operating in the sectors related to metal forming and thermo-mechanical treatment. The offer covers the topics listed below:
      1. 1. plastometric hot torsion tests (determination of flow curves, limit deformation and activation energy of plastic deformation, the effect of forming conditions on material microstructure and properties),
         2. compression and torsion tests at room and elevated temperature,
         3. dynamic tensile tests and impact bending tests (velocity range from 5 to 30 m/s),
         4. obtaining ultrafine-grained microstructure by SPD methods (simultaneous compression with torsion, compression with additional transverse punch motion, rolling with the additional axial motion of rolls),
         5. laboratory trials of flat rolling, forging, extrusion and wire drawing,
         6. determination of forming limit diagrams (FLD) for sheets,
         7. sheet drawability tests (Erichsen, Swift, Fukui, KWI tests etc.),
         8. laboratory tube and sheet hydroforming trials,
         9. computer simulations of metal forming and thermo-mechanical processes by means of the finite element method.
   4. Person responsible for Laboratory (contact details)
      Associate Professor Dariusz Kuc PhD, DSc
      e-mail: Dariusz.Kuc@polsl.pl
      tel.: +48 32 603 4429