A New FlexDie Implementation for Sheet Metal Manufacturing

Abstract

As trade competition is getting fiercer, innovation in all areas of product realization is becoming more of a need than a want. In this paper, the authors present an innovative idea where a FlexDie is designed to manufacture sheet metal parts. The idea is to mimic the representation of graphics and text on a screen using pixels. The developed FlexDie in this paper consists of the two halves that are similar in design. It comprises pixel like pins assembled in a twodimensional array in the XY plane. The pins’ heights in the Z-direction are adjustable to yield a desired topology. Each pixel can be altered and locked at a certain Z-coordinate. A prototype is developed to test the concept and produce preliminary results. The developed prototype consists of two-half dies, each having 8x8 square pixels, each of about 10x10 square mm. In the implemented design the Z-coordinates of the pixels are controlled and locked at desired heights via an array of screws. Sample parts consisting of three-dimensional metal sheets were manufactured using the developed FlexDie. Future work to improve the process is also discussed.