Opening speech

We are honoured to once again have Torbjörn Appelros, Senior Director, Head of Stamping, Global Manufacturing Engineering, Volvo Cars, as the opening speaker for Techtank Conference. Volvo Cars is one of the co-organizers of the conference, and an active part of the Stamping and Forming Center of Excellence in Olofström, Sweden, powered by RISE in collaboration with Techtank.

Keynote speaker!
Steel and aluminium in a zero emissions world

reProd® – resource-autarkic production based on secondary semi-finished products

reProd® is a novel approach to shorten the recycling loop of metallic components by utilization of pre-used sheet metal parts as a semi-finished product for remanufacturing of 2^nd lifecycle components. Sourcing and using secondary semi-finished products instead of virgin metallic materials facilitates the omission of process steps, such as iron smelting, steel making and so on. Those avoidable steps involve the highest energy consumption, the highest CO₂ emissions and thus cost portion of the conventional recycling on pure material level. For the remanufacturing approach, the forming technologies need to be adapted in order to be stable towards the impacts coming from the previous manufacturing and lifecycle period. Finally, a new component is produced, differing in design, function, and properties from conventional, single-life cycle products. Beside the positive impacts on sustainability, there are still scientific and technological challenges.

Hot stamping of high strength aluminium alloys. Lightweighting of real automotive bumper.
Hot stamping is widely used in the automotive industry to produce lightweight body structures with high crash properties. Global warming and the emerging of EV vehicles demand a further light-weighting of current cars and new process developments are needed to decrease the global weight of the vehicles and reduce the Co2 emissions.

In this regard, hot stamping of high strength aluminium alloys is under study in different laboratories and universities all over the world. In this technical talk, all the steps needed for the wholistic development of the aluminium hot stamping process for the manufacturing of a real bumper are explained. Crash and corrosion test results are shown proving that the new technology is appropriate to produce very lightweight components and structures. The work allows to understand the role of different process parameters and to define the lay-outs of aluminium hot stamping lines.

Potentials for closed Loop applications with Track & Trace data

Start-up effects, fluctuations in material quality or tolerances in the tool often cause problems and the production of rejects. Thanks to continuous component tracking in the press shop using Schuler Track & Trace, the gap to complete transparency in production is closed.

All data and information are linked and put into context. Such systems cannot replace qualified personnel but support and discharge them on the basis of closed quality control loop applications.

Digital Twins (DT) are one of the most hyped technologies of the 2020s and are ‘poised for proliferation’ thanks to recent advances in Industry 4.0, Internet of Things (IoT), data management, and data processing technologies. The researchers at BTH will present how synchronized digital replicas of a physical entity can be exploited to design innovative solutions – products, software, services, and combinations of thereof – able to solve key global health, sustainability, and development problems. DTs can be used early in the innovation process to simulate the behavior of a new system under varying conditions, predict the outcome of scenarios given the status of the system at the time of the analysis, and to move prototyping and testing of complex systems to the virtual realm.

State of the art FE-simulation models used in sheet metal forming have shown great success in designing automotive parts by reducing development cycle time and need for rework. With the increased complexity of automotive components design imposed by need for competitive aesthetics, light weight, availability of new materials, it is now necessary, more than ever to use the formability of the materials close to their limit. Accurate FE-models that can account for complex load cases like non-linear strain paths, stretch-bending etc. is a priori to take on this challenge. The researchers in the sheet metal forming group at BTH are currently working on this challenge. Further, developing strategy for using advanced FE-models and metamodels towards digital twins for systematic product development and quality assessment.

Volvo Group – Sustainability transformation & Fossil free steel
Addressing climate changes is the most important task today and Volvo Group is determined to drive and contribute within this area.

Our vehicles have a large content of steel and despite steel being the most recycled material, the production of steel is one on the main contributor of global CO₂ emissions.

As one step on the sustainability journey, Volvo have, within the partnership with steel producer SSAB, brought the first vehicle produced by Fossil free steel to the market during 2022.

Session A: Virtual Production Studio Lab at Blekinge Institute of Technology

The Virtual Production Studio Lab project is led by Blekinge Institute of Technology and will be a technically innovative arena and a place where the movie and gaming industry meets the traditional manufacturing industry and creates excellence in Blekinge. The VPSL will be the infrastructure foundation for a clustre within Virtual Production, and together with the business community do research and develop the technology, as well as create training courses and educational programmes to secure the skills needed around the technology.

Join this session to learn more and ask questions about the Virtual Production Studio Lab. More information can also be found here.

Session B: Stamping and Forming Testbed at RISE – Research Institutes of Sweden – in Olofström

Stamping and forming testbed performs research and development in the field of forming of components in materials such as, high strength steel, aluminum, composites, titanium alloys and nickel-based superalloys. We perform FE-modelling, testing and characterization of materials and tribological systems.

Research and development of forming demands knowledge in multiple disciplines, i.e., material, tribology, and process, but also equipment for test and verification. This can be found within the testbed in Olofström. The testbed works together with the industry to develop manufacturing methods and try new materials for components with a holistic focus that create sustainability through choose of material, manufacturing process and recyclability.

Join this session to learn more and ask questions about the Stamping & Forming Testbed at RISE in Olofström.