Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Shizuo Kimura

Yukihisa Watano

Motoatsu Shiraishi

Mitsuki Nakamura

Masayuki Enomoto

Sachihiro Yamashita

Kunio Nokajima

Makoto Urano

Shinji Shinozawa

Yasuo Hashimoto

Nagatada Yagi

An apparatus for shaping a workpiece of a super-plastic metal has a shaping die assembly for holding the workpiece therein to shape the workpiece with a pressurized gas while the workpiece is being heated, and a furnace assembly surrounding outer surfaces of the dies. The shaping die assembly includes a plurality of dies separable from and joinable to each other, the dies having flanges extending from mating surfaces thereof. The furnace assembly includes a plurality of furnaces separable from and joinable to each other, the furnaces being detachably mounted on the dies, respectively. The shaping die assembly is housed in the furnace assembly with the flanges projecting out of the furnace assembly when the dies are joined to each other. Heaters for heating the shaping die assembly are mounted on inner wall surfaces of the furnaces in a space defined between the furnace assembly and the shaping die assembly. While the workpiece is being held between the dies which are joined to each other, the flanges are gripped by clamping mechanisms.

Apparatus for shaping superplastic metal workpiece

A method for producing a wheel rim of an automotive vehicle comprising the steps of supporting a cylindrical body on a vertical axis between an upper punch attached to an upper mold and a lower punch attached to a lower mold; fitting a side die to an outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical body, with the cylindrical body supported; then lowering the upper punch together with the upper mold to insert the upper punch into an upper portion of the cylindrical body and to form the upper end portion of the cylindrical body into the flange portion by press forming between the upper punch and the side die; thereafter releasing the cylindrical body from the supported state at its lower end surface; and further lowering the upper punch together with the side die and the cylindrical body to insert the lower punch into a lower portion of the cylindrical body and to form the lower end portion of the cylindrical body into the flange portion by press forming between the lower punch and the side die, whereby the working steps can be reduced in number.

Method for producing wheel rim

A method and a system for forming a rod-like member into a three-dimensional frame structure, involving a work feed station for individually feeding a rod-like member, a bending station for bending the rod-like member having a prescribed length into a two-dimensional frame structure, a welding station for welding two mutually abutting ends of the two-dimensional frame structure of the rod-like member; and a forming station for plastically forming the two-dimensional frame structure into a three-dimensional frame structure. Typically, the two dimensional structure comprises a loop structure formed by joining two opposite ends of the rod-like member by welding, and the rod-like member consists of a pipe member. Thus, by welding the mutually abutting parts of the rod-like member together when it is formed into a two-dimensional frame, retaining the rod-like member for the welding is simplified as it involves the retaining of the rod-like member against its positional variations only in one direction. Further, by stamp forming or otherwise plastically forming the two dimensional frame structure including a loop, a three-dimensional structure having a high dimensional accuracy can be produced.

Method and system for forming a three-dimensional frame structure

Growing community of inventors

Sayama, Japan

Shizuo Kimura