[HN Gopher] Ultrasonic deep drawing cuts friction by 20%, extend...
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       Ultrasonic deep drawing cuts friction by 20%, extends tool lifespan
        
       Author : PaulHoule
       Score  : 73 points
       Date   : 2025-03-05 00:31 UTC (3 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (techxplore.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (techxplore.com)
        
       | zeckalpha wrote:
       | Sonic lubricant!
        
       | mmastrac wrote:
       | It took a while to parse this headline.
       | 
       | (Ultrasonic (deep drawing)) : (((cuts friction) by 20%) &
       | (extends (tool lifespan)))
       | 
       | Apparently "deep drawing" is a metallurgic process.
        
         | SecretDreams wrote:
         | It just means you're stretching and pulling in sheet metal to
         | make a shape with depth. A simple one would be aluminum cans.
        
       | kadushka wrote:
       | Deep drawing: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_drawing
        
         | Etheryte wrote:
         | That's interesting, why is it called drawing when the actual
         | motion is pushing or pressing? I would've expected drawing to
         | mean pulling by means of vacuum or similar.
        
           | ghostly_s wrote:
           | It's only pushing from the perspective of the punch.
        
           | snitty wrote:
           | Blacksmiths draw out metal by pushing with their hammers.
           | Same thing.
        
           | WJW wrote:
           | The blank (typically just a flat disc) is wider than the
           | finished product and so the metal that will eventually form
           | the wall starts outside the perimeter of the finished
           | product. When the punch moves downwards, it hits what will
           | become the bottom and then "draws in" the rest of the
           | material. Hence the name.
           | 
           | See https://www.manufacturingguide.com/en/deep-drawing for a
           | graphical illustration.
        
         | samstave wrote:
         | This would be fun: Put an AI bot with an input and a Deep Draw
         | output with Protein Folding logic to make a cellular wall...
         | 
         | ("make a deep draw wall based on protein folding
         | 
         | This is fun:
         | 
         | https://i.imgur.com/JRCE4Xr.png
         | 
         | https://i.imgur.com/aEgNRih.png
         | 
         | https://i.imgur.com/4w8H9Tg.png
         | 
         | https://i.imgur.com/FE6GkJH.png
         | 
         | I need to work on it though.
         | 
         | ---
         | 
         | https://i.imgur.com/ORc6ueK.png
         | 
         | https://i.imgur.com/ClH4Coy.png
         | 
         | ----
         | 
         | https://i.imgur.com/CTslAxE.png
         | 
         | ------
         | 
         | https://i.imgur.com/pUhSGho.png
         | 
         | I need to attempt in Cursor or Windsurf Agent mode and have it
         | build a scene
         | 
         | =====
         | 
         | https://i.imgur.com/vQm92yC.png
        
           | samstave wrote:
           | https://i.imgur.com/xvRBSBO.png
        
       | shove wrote:
       | This has my gears turning wondering what other ultrasonic
       | "lubrication" applications might be possible. Potentially a whole
       | world of industrial and mechanical improvements.
        
         | WJW wrote:
         | I'd think that the pressure in these forming operations would
         | be too great for the ultrasonics to really matter, but
         | apparently not. If they can scale it up to things like
         | extrusions it could be a big deal.
        
       | TimSchumann wrote:
       | Didn't know the people behind the mp3 format were into tooling
       | for metalworking. Guess it makes sense, it involves a practical
       | application for use of sound, and they are a research
       | institution.
       | 
       | I wonder if the metal can hear the difference if it's not the
       | full 192 kHz.
        
         | rat9988 wrote:
         | I'm not sure we can call it "the people behind the mp3 format".
         | Fraunhofer is a very big instituion.
        
           | simne wrote:
           | May be "PeopleS behind the mp3 format"? :))))
           | 
           | Really, I hear in early 90s, how Telefunken developed PAL TV
           | standard (and also RGB, YUV and some other things, now you
           | could read about on Wikipedia).
           | 
           | - They working like Gallop - asked people from street, to
           | answer simple questions like "is this color Red or Yellow?",
           | and with large number of samples they got statistical
           | approximation, about curves of sensitivity of human eye, and
           | then just use these approximation as direct wavelengths for
           | Red/Green/Blue respectively.
           | 
           | Fraunhofer, as I know, used similar approach, but for sound,
           | and got model of sensitivity of human ear.
           | 
           | So, what I want to say, for these researches don't need many
           | scientists, but need wide enough sample and good reliable
           | execution of math.
           | 
           | BTW, much later I read about research conducted in US air
           | forces, targeting some ideal human pilot size to made most
           | convenient plane control (and sure cheapest).
           | 
           | But they got so disappointing results, that have decide to
           | make pivot - instead of make one standard size, they designed
           | usual for us now adjustable chairs, tilting steering wheel,
           | and pedals with adjustable suspension.
        
         | jlg23 wrote:
         | That's not the same group. "Fraunhofer" is not a single group
         | but the umbrella organization for 76 different institutes:
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraunhofer_Society
        
       | NotYourLawyer wrote:
       | This reads like a press release. Is there any actual information
       | available?
        
         | chaboud wrote:
         | It's actually just jargon-ified. When pressing a piece of sheet
         | metal into a die (concave form) with a punch (convex form) to
         | stretch and compress the metal into a deep shape (e.g., a cup,
         | can, etc.), using ultrasound to induce some wiggles can reduce
         | the chance of tearing, likely allowing for less material use
         | and greater yield rates for a machining process.
         | 
         | Basically, if you're forming metal with high force, give it
         | some high speed micro-wiggles and things will be better.
         | 
         | This should feel pretty natural for folks who have tried to
         | squeeze into skinny jeans after Thanksgiving.
        
           | NotYourLawyer wrote:
           | I actually understood the jargon fine. It just felt like a
           | puff piece.
        
       | squeedles wrote:
       | Deep draw makes a lot of parts, including your soda cans. If they
       | can roll it out in practice, this is a big deal.
       | 
       | And yes, to the MP3 commenters, Fraunhofer has many centers doing
       | lots of industrial research on manufacturing technology. The
       | German research approach is to pick a topic and set up a
       | Fraunhofer institute in particular city for that, whereas the US
       | has NSF, DARPA, DOE, the national labs all working Willy Nilly
       | with whoever, wherever. MP3 was done mostly at the Fraunhofer in
       | Erlangen. I've worked on CNC things with the Fraunhofer folks in
       | Aachen and elsewhere.
        
       | hinkley wrote:
       | About twenty years ago the big discovery in pressing sheet metal
       | was electromagnetism. It let them make deeper dies, and I believe
       | generate less heat and wear with existing dies.
       | 
       | I wonder if these solutions compose, or if the magnets were
       | introducing ultrasonic noise.
        
       | contingencies wrote:
       | Not a physicist, haven't done ultrasonic drawing but have
       | experimentally designed and tested ultrasonic polymer welding
       | systems from scratch. Ultrasonic energy transfer is impressive
       | but it has a lot of downsides: including but not limited to high
       | sensitivity to target geometry, input vector, pressure, and feed
       | rate. I guess in a deep draw application near-uniform pressure
       | distribution and feed rate are both guaranteed but the input
       | vector may be very expensive to iterate. I guess maybe these wins
       | are documented on thin materials with custom tooling for
       | ultrasonic input and the additional cost of tool design and
       | energy input is not computed. Perhaps a subset of this technique
       | may become popular, for instance application to outermost draw
       | profile edges where perhaps tears are more common and access
       | remains easier, which might enable more generic and portable
       | (nominally draw punch and die independent) ultrasonic input.
        
       | mikewarot wrote:
       | It sounds like they've managed to include a non-thermal form of
       | annealing[1] into the press/stamping process. A quick Google
       | shows that this seems to be an area of much closed research and
       | trade secrets.
       | 
       | [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vibratory_stress_relief
        
       | namuol wrote:
       | This reminds me of fluxless ultrasonic "active" soldering which
       | allows for bonding metals to ceramics and otherwise difficult
       | metals: https://youtu.be/WuYdsStS1MQ
        
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       (page generated 2025-03-08 23:00 UTC)