Micro-Forming

Dear Colleagues,

The trend towards increasing the number of functions of a product while reducing its size is evident today in numerous important industrial sectors, such as electronics, medical technology, automotive engineering, and communications technology. This development, in turn, has led to an ever-increasing miniaturization of components and geometrical features which requires cost-effective, yet environmentally friendly, precise, and high-quality production methods for high volumes.

For the processing of metallic, polymer, ceramic, and composite materials, micro-forming processes offer a number of advantages, such as high productivity, near-net-shape forming of complex geometries, high component stiffness and strength. Extensive research work in recent years has resulted in progress in overcoming challenges in the application of micro-forming, which arise in particular from the occurrence of size effects. These affect the deformation behavior, forming limits, tribology, quality control, and component handling. Difficulties can also arise concerning the design and manufacture of tools, fixtures, and devices needed for forming, due to their micro-sizes and complex geometries. Further challenges concern the precise and rapid measurement of dimensions and properties of the products, which are often complex and rarely standardized. Process control and modeling also play an increasingly important role in micro-forming development for seamless and integrated products and process and machine design and analysis to competitively reduce lead times and products costs, while maintaining a high product quality. The deformation behaviors of materials have been successfully investigated with simulations at different length scales, starting at the atomic scale, through the mesoscopic scale, with consideration of crystal–plastic relationships, up to the macroscopic scale, where the material micro-structure remains unconsidered. Their application into actual micro-forming cases is also of increasing interest.

This Special Issue focuses on current achievements in research on micro-forming. The focus is both on fundamental studies on the characterization and influence of size effects and on application-oriented work dealing with process development and optimization, including the design of tools, machines, process controls, measurements, and inspection, as well as the relevance of simulation methods in these fields.

Prof. Dr. Christoph Hartl
Prof. Dr. Muammer Koç
Guest Editors

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• Micro-forming
• Size effects
• Tribology
• Tools and machine concepts
• Process monitoring
• Process modeling