Every car also contains a piece of the machinery used to manufacture its parts. Huge presses that shape metal cost millions. Today, they are considered the industrial standard for many precision components. Researchers in Dresden are now working to change this.
At the Fraunhofer IWU, Martin Wagner is developing a simple but effective idea. Instead of a heavy press that pushes on large areas of metal, a rolling tool performs the work. The tool only touches the metal along a narrow line. This is enough to shape parts but requires much less force. The tools cost only half as much and the machine itself is smaller and cheaper. Overall, manufacturers could reduce forming costs by up to 70 percent.
That sounds promising. But does the process also work for components that must be manufactured with very high precision? This is exactly what the smartROLL project aims to demonstrate.
Hydrogen as the first practical test
The planned application is particularly interesting for fuel cells and electrolysers. These devices play an important role in the hydrogen economy. Electrolysers produce hydrogen, while fuel cells convert it into electricity. Both require so-called bipolar plates – thin metal plates with fine channels. They are a central component of these systems, and their production quality strongly influences the efficiency and cost of hydrogen technologies.
The Fraunhofer IWU has already shown in its reference factory.H2 that the rolling process can produce these plates in large quantities. smartROLL is now expected to further improve quality. If successful, the process could also be used for many other components in the future, such as cooling plates for data centres or plug-in elements in the automotive industry.
