Polymer Injection Forming (PIF) Of Thin-Walled Sheet Metal Parts - Preliminary Experimental Results

Polymer Injection Forming (PIF) is a new technology to manufacture sheet metal/polymer macro-composite components in a one-operation production process. During the process, a metal blank is shaped inside an injection mould by using the injection pressure of the molten polymer. In the same step the polymer is permanently bonded to the metal sheet creating a fully finished product in only one production step. Thus, the PIF technology is a combination of the injection moulding and sheet metal forming processes. In this paper, the influence of the main injection moulding process parameters on the sheet metal formability has been experimentally investigated. The results show that melt temperature and clamp force have a great effect on the sheet deformation since they affect respectively the ductility of the sheet metal and the degree of pure drawing. In order to maximize sheet metal formability avoiding the flash formation, the main process parameters have been optimized.