Process monitoring and closed loop controlled process

With the increase in complexity of customer-specific component geometries in production and the simultaneous improvement in the properties of the finished components, the tasks facing the metal processing industry are ever more challenging, bordering on the impossible. For this reason, technologies and processes which exploit the potential of manufacturing options more effectively than was previously the case, which open up broader fields of application and reduce costs, are of crucial importance. In this connection, process monitoring and process control are of particular importance, since they firstly enable more prompt recognition and correction of faults and secondly facilitate seamless quality control. The use of high-strength materials such as aluminium and the simultaneous increase in the complexity of components for reasons relating to design and functionality intensify the problems even further. The requirement for reproducibility must be regarded as a further,very important criterion for mass production [1]-[5]. When combined, the points listed above, which characterise almost all production operations at the present time, result in the following general specification criteria: - work at the limits of the forming capability of the materials, and - work in a very narrow process window. The resulting links are shown in Figure 1. What stands out, compared with processes in use to date, is the narrower field of tolerance within which manufacturing must now take place.