Hot stamping of high strength aluminium panel components with complex structures
A novel technology, solution Heat treatment, Forming, and in-die Quenching (HFQ), was developed for manufacturing complex-shaped, lightweight, high strength aluminium components by a team at Imperial College London. In the HFQ forming process a hot aluminium blank is formed using cold dies, and the formed component is then held within the cold dies until quenched. This technology has already been employed in automotive manufacturing, and this project will explore the application of HFQ to the wider transportation industry.
Creep Age Forming of train front large skin panels
Creep Age Forming (CAF) is an advanced forming technique that combines stress relaxation (creep) with artificial ageing to fabricate large scale components or structures in a vacuum autoclave. This research project aims to implement the CAF technique to the transportation industry.