Flexible Manufacture of Lightweight Frame Structures, 2008 (PDF)

The world market's increasing demands for lightweight constructions as a means of reducing fuel consumption in transportation systems, together with shrinking materials resources, are becoming factors of major importance. These aspects are further underlined by current efforts aimed at reducing the greenhouse-gas emissions caused by production processes. In this context, considerate use of energy-intensive materials, such as aluminum, plays a major role.This increasingly important interplay between technological development, simulation of production processes and problems of integration are reflected in this interesting collection of peer-reviewed articles by leading experts in their fields. It outlines key aspects of the theoretical and experimental work involved in setting up a processing route.It will be invaluable reading material for all of those working in process design.Lightweight building materials are currently placed at a premium due to restrictions in fuel consumption and resources, and this collection of research papers on small batch production systems for lightweight space frame structures stresses the need for more innovations during the manufacturing process. Editors Weinert (machining technology, Technische U. Dortmund, Germany), Fleischer (production science, U. Karlsruhe, Germany), Tekkaya (forming technology and lightweight construction, Technische U. Dortmund, Germany), Zah (industrial management, Technische U. Munchen) and Schikorra (forming technology and lightweight construction, Technische U. Dortmund, Germany) have collected papers describing the lightweight manufacturing techniques such as cutting on the fly, five-axis machining, hybrid laser welding, high pressure tube forming and three- dimensional rounding during extrusion. These highly technical papers are aimed at materials science engineers, technicians and researchers in the field.