LightBat – Light battery housings from thin-walled large scale extruded profiles

Lightweight strategies in the automotive sector enable an increase in performance and range for electric vehicles. Hot extruded aluminum components offer high mechanical properties with a low weight. Together with OTTO FUCHS KG and ISPT GmbH & Co. KG, a process-safe manufacturing method for thin-walled, large-area profiles is to be developed. Through appropriate sensor integration, both the process parameters and the profile geometry can be monitored inline. In addition to transferring the results from laboratory to industrial scale, the hot extrusion and quenching process are numerically modeled. Process parameters and the resulting profile quality are compiled in a database to enable recommendations for the production of flawless components. During extrusion trials, several defects such as die deformation, profile distortion, wrinkling and thinning are identified. Temperature, quenching rate, and die geometry in particular have a significant inluence and must be precisely controlled to produce defect-free profiles.