FABTECH 2019, North America’s largest metal forming, fabricating, welding, and finishing, was held on November 11-14 in Chicago, Illinois. The event achieved record attendance, with a total of 48,278 attendees from 95 countries over the course of four days.
During FABTECH, Light Metal Age spoke with Paul Benny, president of FluidForming Americas, about their new hydroforming technology for aluminum and other metals. In this video, Benny talks briefly about the new process and how it can be applied to the application of aerospace parts.
More information on the FluidForming process can be found on the company’s website. The site explains that, like conventional hydroforming or sheet metal stamping, FluidForming is a way of deforming ductile and malleable metal sheets or tubes into lightweight and durable parts or components. Instead of hydraulic oil, the company use highly pressurized water as the forming liquid. FluidForming notes that, in this way, the process can dramatically lower tooling and production costs, reduce production times, and by eliminate the need for environmentally harmful and costly hydraulic fluid.