Papers by Author: Kenichiro Mori

Abstract: Punching portions of the sheet are sandwiched between the ceramic billets during rapid resistance heating to prevent hardening of these portions. When the heating temperature is locally lower than that of the austenitic transformation, i.e. below 800 oC, this portion is not hardened without occurrence of martensitic transformation, and thus cold punching of hot-stamped parts becomes easy. The ceramic billets are made of alumina and the heat transfers to the billets. The temperature distribution just after resistance heating, the hardness distribution of the hot-stamped sheet, the cold punching load, the quality of the punched hole, etc. were measured. Hardening of punching portions was successfully prevented by sandwiching between the ceramic billets. The cold punching load for the local prevention of hardening was half of that without local prevention and the delayed fracture was also prevented, whereas the drop in hardness around the sheared edge became larger than that for laser cutting.

Abstract: A hot spline forming process of die-quenched gear drums using resistance heating of a side wall of a cup formed by cold deep drawing and ironing was developed. The side wall having uniform cross-sectional area is resistance-heated by passage of the current in the axial direction, the heated side wall of the drawn cup is ironed and is finally die-quenched. The gear drum was successfully formed and the hardness was between 400 and 500 HV. Not only the formability was improved but also the formed dram was hardly oxidised because of rapid resistance heating.

Abstract: Parts having a strength distribution were produced from tailor friction-welded billets consisting of steel bars having different quenchabilities. Chrome steel SCr420 and mild steel S25C bars having high and low quenchabilities, respectively, were joined by friction welding. The tailor friction-welded billets were forged, and then quenched so as to have a strength distribution. The cold formability of the tailored billet was first examined from simple compression in the normal and tangential directions to the joint. No cracks appeared even for an 80% reduction in height in the compression. In a tensile test of the 80% reduced billet, the softer S25C side was fractured and the interface was not fractured. The tailor billets have enough cold formability. The thermal influence around the joint of the tailor friction-welded billets was eliminated by annealing, and thus inhomogeneous deformation around the joint in forging was prevented. A shaft having a high strength flange and a connecting rod having high strength and machinability were produced by forging and quenching of the tailored billet.

Abstract: A mechanical clinching using counter pressure of a rubber disk was developed to join the ultra-high strength steel sheets having low ductility. In the proposed process, the interlock was increased by the increment of metal flow with the counter pressure of rubber disk in the die cavity. The two kind of ultra-high strength steel sheets having different ductility were used in the mechanical clinching. The effect of the shape of rubber disk on the deforming behaviour of the sheets was investigated. The joinability was improved under the appropriate shape of rubber disk for both sheets, and then the sheets having 56% of reduction area were successfully joined whereas the sheets were not joined without the counter pressure. Although the joinability of the sheets having 43% of reduction area was improved, the cracks occurred in the upper sheet around the punch sidewall. The maximum static load and the fatigue limit of the joined sheets were measured in the tension-shearing and cross-tension tests. It was effective for the improvement of joinability in the mechanical clinching of ultra-high strength steel sheets to use the counter pressure of the rubber disk.

Abstract: As the scale and complexity of products such as aircraft and cars increase, demand for new functional processes to join mechanical parts grows. The use of plastic deformation for joining parts potentially offers improved accuracy, reliability and environmental safety as well as creating opportunities to design new products through joining dissimilar materials. This paper aims to provide an overview of the state of the art in such joining processes, including cold welding, friction stir welding, joining by forming, self-pierce riveting and mechanical clinching. The paper includes description of the mechanism of joint formation, joint strength and applicability.

Abstract: A hot gas bulging process of an aluminium alloy tube using resistance heating set into a die was developed. In the developed process, the tube was heated during the forming, and thus the drop in temperature was prevented. The control of the hot gas bulging was simplified by sealing air in the tube. The tube was bulged by thermal expansion of the air sealed in the tube without control of internal pressure during the forming. Hot gas bulging of an aluminium alloy tube without and with the axial feeding was performed. The deformation behaviour of the tube in the die was observed by a heatproof glass plate inserted in the die. The timing of the axial feeding, the feeding velocity and the amount of the axial feeding were optimised.

Abstract: Mechanical AC servo presses having high flexibility for control of motion have been recently developed. In these presses driven by servo motors, the slide motion is accurately controlled by real-time feedback of ram position measured with sensors like the conventional machine tools, and thus complicated motion is attainable. The application of servo presses to sheet metal forming processes is reviewed in the present paper. The springback in bending was reduced by bottoming and re-striking. In deep drawing, the forming limit of high strength steel sheets was improved by detaching tools from the sheet, and the wrinkling was prevented by applying a stepwise motion. A hot stamping process using rapid resistance heating and a servo press was developed to produce ultra-high strength steel parts.

Abstract: A hot gas bulging process of an aluminium alloy tube using resistance heating, set into a forming machine, was developed. The tube was rapidly heated by the electrifying to increase the formability and to decrease the flow stress. The tube was bulged by thermally expanding the air sealed in the tube without control of internal pressure during the forming. Hot gas bulging of an aluminium alloy tube without and with axial feeding was performed. The effects of the initial internal pressure and the current on the expansion ratio of the tube were examined. The decrease in temperature around the contact with the electrode was prevented by inserting a stainless steel ring having low thermal conductivity and high heat generation between the copper electrode and tube, and thus the bulging length was increased. It was found that the hot gas bulging is effective in heightening the formability of the aluminium alloy tubes.

Abstract: Oxidation in hot stamping of ultra high strength steel sheets was prevented by coating the sheets with an oxidation preventive oil. For four types of oxidation preventive oil, the degree of oxidation under natural cooling of the heated sheets without forming was first evaluated. The oil that forms a liquefied film at elevated temperatures exhibited high oxidation prevention, and this oil was chosen for a hot bending experiment. Hot hat-shaped bending of the coated sheets using resistance heating was carried out to examine the properties of the products. The bending load was markedly decreased, the shape accuracy of bent products was very high, the surface roughness was similar to that of the sheet, and the hardness was about 1.5 times larger than that of the sheet before the bending due the die quenching. In addition, the layer remaining on the surface of the formed product could be removed using phosphoric acid. It was found that the hot stamping operation using the oxidation preventive oil is effective in the precision forming of ultra high strength steel sheets.

Abstract: To simplify the recycling of automobiles, aluminium alloy sheets were joined by means of a self-piercing rivet. Although steel rivets used in conventional self-pierce riveting are removed from the aluminium alloy sheets in recycling, the removal is not required for aluminium alloy rivets. The joined sheets with the rivets are directly melted due to the same material, aluminium. For the joining of aluminium alloy sheet by the aluminium rivets, the joinability was improved by the designed shape of the rivet and die. To pierce the upper sheet, the diameter and edge angle of the rivet are modified. The diameter of the depth and the cavity of the die were also designed from trial and error using finite element simulation. The effectiveness of the designed rivet and die were evaluated from an experiment on riveting. The aluminium alloy sheets were joined by the optimised aluminium alloy self-piercing rivet and their effectiveness measured.