Microformingðfrom Basic Research To Its Realization: U. Engel, R. Eckstein
Microformingðfrom Basic Research To Its Realization: U. Engel, R. Eckstein
Microformingðfrom Basic Research To Its Realization: U. Engel, R. Eckstein
Abstract
The production of miniature parts is gaining importance due to the trend of miniaturization which is increasingly determining the development
of products ranging from mobile phones and computers to medical products. The application of conventional manufacturing processes for the
production of such microparts is possible, but there are problems that result from the small dimensions. This fact applies also in the ®eld of metal
forming, however, in the meantime many research projects in several countries could improve this situation. This paper gives a review of the problems
associated with miniaturization, the way of solution starting from basic research, and the results showing the progress of microforming today.
# 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction The ®rst and rapidly yielding ®nding was that the know-how
of metal forming cannot be easily scaled down to the micro-
To start with, a de®nition: the term microforming, in the scale revealing simultaneously many other reasons why this
context of metal forming, is understood to be the production technology is not applied to this day. It is well-recognized
of parts or structures with at least two dimensions in the sub- that it is not only the peculiarity of the process itself which
millimetre range [1]. Parts of such a size are commonly used has to be understood, but there are also many problems
and more and more required in extremely high numbers, in related to the tool and machine tool for which new solutions
particular for electronic components in micro-system tech- must be found. Meanwhile, a lot of research activities have
nologies (MST) and micro-electromechanical systems been initiated worldwide covering this ®eld of problems and
(MEMS) as they characterize today many products pushing showing that microforming is on a promising way towards
forward their miniaturization. Typical examples for such its application in industrial production. It is not the intention
parts are pins for IC-carriers, fasteners, micro-screws, lead of this paper to present the state of the art of microforming.
frames, sockets, and any kind of connecting element (Fig. 1). This was given recently elsewhere [1]. The intention is to
Secondly, its history: in 1990 as awareness of the tech- show by means of examples the necessity of basic research
nology grew, the industry produced such partsÐactually by to realize this special application of metal forming.
turning and millingÐthe question arose as to why this could
not be done by metal forming. For the metal forming society
this is quite a justi®ed question since forming is the pre- 2. Microforming system
destined method of manufacturing near net shape parts
especially when high production numbers and high produc- A microforming system can be split upÐlike conven-
tion rates are required. However, at this time it became tional forming processesÐinto four groups as shown in
obvious, that there was no basic knowledge on microforming Fig. 2.
and practically no application visible, not even in the pro- Beside the challenges that are also known in the ®eld of
totype stage. But there were some visions. One was given by conventional forming, like tool design, wear and appropriate
Maeda [2] who proposed the development of a super micro- treatment of the material, problems appear in microforming
precision press-machine. This was one of the occasions to that are strongly coupled with miniaturization itself. These
start basic research on microforming at the authors' institute. problems are observed in all four groups:
The material behaviour changes with miniaturization,
*
Corresponding author. caused by size effects that occur when a process is scaled
E-mail address: u.engel@lft.uni-erlangen.de (U. Engel). down from conventional size to the micro-scale. The ¯ow
0924-0136/02/$ ± see front matter # 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 9 2 4 - 0 1 3 6 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 4 1 5 - 6
36 U. Engel, R. Eckstein / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 125±126 (2002) 35±44
3. Microforming process
3.1. Similarity
Fig. 5. DCE test: (a) dependence of cup height on friction; (b)±(d) FEM Fig. 6. Increase of friction indicated by the cup height ratio of a DCE test
calculation, development of the cups. depending on punch travel.
U. Engel, R. Eckstein / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 125±126 (2002) 35±44 39
reason for this effect is that the random size and orientation
of the geometrical features characterizing the microstructure
(e.g. grain size) and topography (e.g. lateral extent of closed/
open lubricant pockets) become dominant when the speci-
men dimension is reduced.
Fig. 8. Effect of miniaturization on areas with open and closed lubricant Fig. 9. Forward rodÐbackward can extrusion; initial diameter is 0.5 mm
pockets (LFT). (LFT).
40 U. Engel, R. Eckstein / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 125±126 (2002) 35±44
Fig. 13. Bending forces and yield strength in bending tests. Effect of Fig. 15. Inhomogeneous strain distribution of coarse grained material
miniaturization and grain size (LFT, mate). (LFT).
grainÐhigh forces'' has been observed when scaling down a grain will be deformed according to the shape of the tool,
process while the grain size was constant (115 mm in Fig. 13, regardless of its possibly unfavourable orientation. This
left-hand side) [7] and also increasing the grain size by heat leads to higher forces [17].
treatment while the process dimensions were constant A further material phenomenon, which occurs in sheet
(Fig. 13, right-hand side) [9]. This contradicts the regular metal working processes, is the in¯uence of the sheet
theory, where the ¯ow stress decreases, when the grain size anisotropy on the process. The effect of the anisotropy in
increases (Hall±Petch relation). In order to ®nd reasons for micro-sheet metal blanking processes has been investigated
this phenomenon, experiments have been carried out, which in connection with the production of lead frames (Fig. 1).
apply the method of optical strain measurement to micro- They contain long and narrow slots made by blanking, which
forming processes. means that the shearing lines have a distinct direction. It has
Sheets made of CuZn15, 0.5 mm in thickness were bent. been shown that the maximum punch force depends on the
Applying the material in the hard state with ®ne grains (grain angle between the rolling direction and the shearing lines F
size approx. 10 mm) the deformed area shows a strain (Fig. 16) [18,19]. Furthermore, the anisotropy has an effect
distribution that is typical for the bending process on the material ¯ow during a blanking process: experiments
(Fig. 14): elongated material at the outer radius of the have been carried out applying punches with rectangular
arc, compressed material at the inner radius and an unde- shape. The width of the punch wP was half the thickness of
formed area in the middle. This layer structure is disturbed the sheet (Fig. 16). This ratio has been investigated, since
when the material is coarsely grained (grain size approx. narrow slots are typical for lead frames. During the ®rst
70 mm, Fig. 15), which is caused by the different crystal- phase of the blanking process (until the cutting edge of the
lographic orientation of the grains. Different orientation punch has reached about the middle of the sheet), the
could be the reason for the increasing bending forces when material ¯ow causes a lateral expansion D of the material,
there is only one grain in the normal direction of the surface de®ned as the increase of the distance between the two
of the sheet. When the number of grains is larger, i.e. more X-marks in Fig. 16. The experiments have shown that D
than 1, preferably those with lower resistance against defor- clearly depends on F. During the second phase (until
mation will be elongated. When the number is 1, each single material separation takes place) D remains nearly constant.
It should be emphasized that the amount of D is a function of
further material parameters (e.g. recrystallized or hard state)
and must be taken into account when blanking is continued
subsequently in the immediate vicinity.
4. Research in progress
Fig. 17. Warm forging: flow stress and scatter decreasing with temperature
(LFT).
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