Experimental and numerical study on shaping of aluminum sheets with integrated piezoceramic fibers

Force-fit integration of piezoceramic fibers in micro-formed structures is a new approach for function integration in structural sheet metal parts. In a first step, a micro-structured surface is formed in a planar semi-finished sheet metal part by micro-impact extrusion. Piezoceramic fibers are then assembled into this micro-structured surface with a small assembly clearance. The fibers and the structured surface of the sheet metal are joined by a forming process. In the next step, the sheet metal with piezoceramic fibres within a locally micro-formed substructure is shaped by deep drawing into a 3D-geometry. In this paper, results of the micro-impact extrusion and the joining by forming experiments are presented. Furthermore, the design constraints for assembly and joining due to the dimensional and form deviations of the piezoceramic fibers are discussed. Results of a numerical study of micro-forming, joining by forming and the global loading during a deep drawing process step were in good agreement with the experimental investigations. The direct comparison between experiment and numerical simulation increases the process knowledge and shows further improvement potential.