The Hydroforming Sheet Metal Process

Jones Metal Products Company® has applied its engineering talents in the hydroforming and deep draw stamping industry for more than 90 years. Working to provide solutions for diverse applications, Jones Metal has had the opportunity to work with various metals, shapes and processes. By applying its extensive experience, Jones Metal’s hydroforming performance provides companies with a cost-efficient end product for both short and long production runs.

One example of Jones Metal’s extensive hydroforming experience is working with sheet metal. There are several advantages of the hydroforming process when working with sheet metal, and Jones Metals uses hydroforming to produce quality parts for the aerospace, automotive and other industries.

Here is a general description of how hydroforming works with sheet metal. The process can use a punch or a die. The sheet metal blank is formed using highly pressurized liquid. When a die is being used, the sheet is exposed to the pressurized liquid or diaphragm and is pressed into the die, creating the desired shape. The amount of pressure depends on the type and thickness of the sheet metal being used and the severity of the corner radii in the die.

The other approach is using a punch for hydroforming sheet metal. This process, which is described clearly on the Jones Metal Products website, uses a punch to press the sheet metal into the pressurized fluid. The pressure of the liquid in the cavity can be adjusted to provide the best results. Hydroforming sheet metal with a punch will lower the tooling costs due to the lack of female dies sets. A greater draw depth is also possible, as well.

One of the advantages of hydroforming sheet metal, in either of the process described above, is the final pieces will be have a better surface finish and uniform appearance and accuracy. This is possible because the metal is formed against the pressurized liquid and diaphragm, rather than the metal-on-metal contact of stamping processes.

Watch this video on Jones Metal Products Company® website to get a look at how the hydroforming process works. Or, contact Jones Metal Product and we’ll help you solve your most difficult engineering challenges.


 
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