State of the Art and Perspectives of Hydroforming of Tubes and Sheets

Hollow parts of high accuracy and high strength can be produced by forming methods using liquid media. Hydroforming of tubes has reached a high standard for small parts (volume some 1000 cm(3)) and is further developed for larger parts (volume some 10.000 cm(3)). Processes for hydraulic sheet metal forming are sometimes used for small parts from single sheets. These processes are currently under intensive investigation, which is also true for the processing of double layered sheets. Single,sheets can be formed using membranes which separate the workpiece and the liquid. This results in interesting possibilities for a part and process integration in one step. The forming performance of aluminum alloys can be enhanced by using a heated liquid media when forming without membranes.