Sheet Metal Forming Using Additively Manufactured Polymer Tools

Abstract Due to various trends, such as e-mobility, a long-term change in the automotive value creation structure is foreseeable. Shorter development cycles demand early prototypes and cause more changes. Currently, there is no cost-effective production process for originally deep drawn sheet metal parts in series quality at small production volumes. In this paper, the application of additively manufactured functional elements in deep drawing tools is investigated. Besides the first concept of such tools, first experimental test series are described and analyzed.