FALS – Hemming of Light Weight Structures

Project time: 2014 – 2017

Budget: 14 050 000 SEK

Funding: FFI – Strategic Vehicle Research and Innovation

The aim of the project has been to create a stable, reliable and verified concept for hemming of lightweight structures in multi-material, including virtual tools to determine sealed joints. This also ensures the quality costs since corrosion will not occur and thus facilitated the introduction of new lightweight materials.

Multi Material Combinations of complex products is becoming more and more common, to optimize product characteristics and optimize weight. In these complex structures of different materials, is joining methods central and thus the contact between different materials. Today there is requirement to find engineering solutions for the new material combinations in, doors, hoods and trunk lids, where for instance fiber composites will be joined with steel and later in aluminum. Hemming that is currently used on products which have the same type of material is seen as one of the methods with the potential to join these materials in future lightweight structures. Hemming is combined with adhesive to lock the components to one another and create sealed joints to also prevent corrosion. Today’s situation is far from optimal from several different aspects. Firstly there is the forming and springback effects in hemming process and then the application of adhesive and get a bead geometry, positioned at the right place that provides a sealed joint. Moreover, one has also to solve the positioning problem in the line until the adhesive has hardened and the structure is locked. Sealed joints with “optimal” conditions for the adhesive bond is a requirement for the new material combinations if one is to avoid costly production problems and complaints in the aftermarket. The area of hemming have been identified both nationally and internationally for the next car projects as a complex area in great need to be analyzed more deeply to get the basic knowledge of how the new application methods for adhesives can interact with the forming operation. Today’s hemmed joints are not always sealed and contains a large amount of air bubbles. Sealed hemmed joints are a challenge that requires a combination of adhesive viscosity, adhesive geometry, application method and right hemming parameters to minimize the effect of springback and material behavior. The project’s goal is aimed at the overall goal of reduced CO2 emissions by addressing a methodology for bonding new lighter multi-material combinations that allow the introduction of new lightweight materials. Although the project is targeted towards future material combinations for lightweight structures it has also addressed the current problems by combining new technologies and opportunities for adhesive application with the knowledge and experience that exists around hemming.

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