Research database

GREENER - Reduction environmental impact of metal forming processes by understanding and developing electro-assisted plasticity

Duration:
24 months (2025)
Principal investigator(s):
Project type:
Nationally funded research - PRIN
Funding body:
MINISTERO (Ministero dell'Università de della Ricerca)
Project identification number:
2022WF78T3
PoliTo role:
Partner

Abstract

Manufacturing is a cornerstone of the economy of all the developed countries, it also impels and stimulates all the other sectors of economy, also provides a wide variety of jobs, both blue- and white- collar jobs, which bring higher standards of living to many sectors in society and builds a strong middle class. On the other hand manufacturing has a deep impact on the environment we live in, in the last years all the data on energy consumption, global temperatures, CO2 levels in the atmosphere, other impacts of industrialization, and population growth head up, meaning things are moving toward more challenging, and less sustainable, conditions. The demand for goods is continuously increasing in developed countries and the people of developing countries are pushing to reach the same life standards of people in developed countries: this means that the production of goods will increase more and more in the next years. This means that a big effort must be spent to make more sustainable manufacturing processes; the aim of this project, lying in this context, is to develop new knowledge to be used to design new manufacturing routes to reduce the environmental impact of metal forming operations. It has been calculated that the 80% of metal parts undergo, during their manufacturing path, to an high temperature forming stage. In the last years a lot of effort has been put to reduce the impact of these processes by optimizing process parameters, tooling, and routes. Despite this the basic principle exploited is still the same: heating up the components to be formed to soften the material then apply a load until the desired deformation is achieved. The idea of this project is to improve the formability of metals, and reduce the forces and temperatures to be applied, by applying an electric current in the workpiece during the forming. Some authors noticed an effect of electricity on the plastic deformation behavior and defined the electro-plasticity as the softening of the material, due to the electric current, beyond the effect of the Joule heating. This phenomenon is far to be understood, and even its occurrence is under debate. The aim of this project is to investigate the effect of electric current on the forming of aluminum, steels and titanium and to try to use the acquired knowledge to develop more sustainable forming routes where lower temperatures and lower forces must be applied, leading to a reduction of the environmental impact of these processes. The objectives of the project, if reached, will both fill an open question in the understanding of plastic behavior and metals and will enable the development of more sustainable manufacturing processes to produce metal parts. The project will also include a detailed sustainability assessment to investigate the environmental impact of manufacturing processes based on the developed knowledge.

Structures

Partners

  • POLITECNICO DI TORINO
  • POLITECNICO DI TORINO
  • UNIVERSITA' DEGLI STUDI DI GENOVA
  • UNIVERSITA' DEGLI STUDI DI NAPOLI FEDERICO II - Coordinator

Keywords

ERC sectors

PE8_10 - Industrial design (product design, ergonomics, man-machine interfaces, etc.)
PE8_7 - Mechanical and manufacturing engineering (shaping, mounting, joining, separation)
PE8_9 - Production technology, process engineering

Budget

Total cost: € 295,918.00
Total contribution: € 197,326.00
PoliTo total cost: € 91,738.00
PoliTo contribution: € 61,172.00