Technical Paper
Hydroformed Automotive Components: Manufacturing Cost Considerations
2000-10-03
2000-01-2672
The primary motivation that drives the popularity of tube hydroforming, particularly in the automotive structural industry is the anticipation and expectation of significant savings compared to established methods, like stamping and welding. These potential savings can be divided into 6 main categories. They are capital (facilities and equipment), tooling and part costs, as well as, weight reduction, assembly simplification and performance improvement. Careful and knowledgeable consideration of these factors with the goal of achieving the best balance should lead to choosing the most advantageous manufacturing option. Overemphasis on one factor may lead to disappointing results in some of the others. This paper concentrates on the 1st 3 categories examining the impact of design decisions on overall cost. Due to the ‘newness’ of hydroforming, the possibility that design decisions made with partial knowledge may build in extra cost is higher.