Forming of Components with Microgearings from Coil Material—Numerical Modeling of the Process Chain and Experimental Validation

Abstract

Compared to alternative production methods, cold forming offers technological, economic and ecological potential for the mass production of microgears. Within the current boundaries of the technology, the cold forming of modules m < 0.2 mm is not possible due to size effects, high tool stresses and handling problems. The investigations of this contribution present a novel process chain for the multi-step forming of microgears with a module of m = 0.1 mm. For this purpose, a numerical model of the first two steps of the process chain is set up and confirmed based on experimental forming tests. The results have proven the feasibility of the process chain by a complete forming of the gear teeth.

Keywords

• micro forming
• microgear
• sheet-bulk metal forming
• multi-step micro forming