This press release is available in Spanish.
At one of its installations in the Bizkaia Technology Park, TECNALIA Technology Corporation has inaugurated an innovative prototype for vehicle body panels, within the remit of the European PROFORM research Project.
The aim of this research initiative is to develop a new concept of manufacture of body parts for the car, based on variable profiling together with forming operations, laser cutting and electromagnetic forming (non-continuous localised details along the length of the part), reducing time and cost of manufacture.
Most body parts of a car are obtained by means of stamping, given that the great variety of shapes that can be achieved with this technology. Its main disadvantage is its high cost, both in tools and in investment (large presses) as well as its low flexibility (any change in the shape of the part means a complete change of the tool).
Given the lower cost and flexibility of profiling technology and its installations, this is a more efficient option for the manufacture of parts. However, its introduction into the car assembly sector has been slowed by the limitation of the geometrics that can be obtained (only straight parts of panels and which have constant thickness). With the PROFORM project a new technology is being developed which will enable the manufacturing of parts with curved edges, conical shapes and variable profiles, enabling obtaining car components such as cross bars, chassis and reinforcement struts at a lower cost.