Like GreenBath, the DEEPEST project (“Development of Sheet Metal Drawing Processes by Simulation”), developed within the Technology and R&D area of M&M Group, was successfully completed on October 31, 2022. Both projects are now in the implementation phase within the company itself. Although we have already talked about it on our website, this time we want to go a little deeper into this project.
General objective of DEEPEST
The general objective of DEEPEST (IDI-20210358) is the development of a simulator capable of predicting the behavior of various aluminum alloys during the sheet metal drawing process, minimizing trial and error operations, and also determining limiting factors for the forming process. In addition, the physical characteristics of various drawing equipment are analyzed, which allow defining the limitations of the machines’ capacity. The development of this project translates directly into savings in production costs by manufacturing products that better meet the required dimensional tolerances.
What does DEEPEST contribute?
After this project, it has been achieved in M&M thanks to its implementation in the company itself:
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Development of a simulator of the drawing process that considers the physical and kinematic characteristics of the process, as well as the mechanical properties of the target alloys.
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Research and characterization of the most used alloys in the aeronautical sector in order to analyze the variation of their mechanical behavior due to natural aging.
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Search for process improvements and new performance procedures, minimizing the failure rate in forming operations.
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A system to reduce the number of trial and error tests in the industrialization of parts destined for drawing processes. This saves costs, time and raw materials.
Thus, thanks to the development of DEEPEST, “a deep knowledge of the raw material has been acquired for its correct processing in sheet metal drawing processes, optimizing the work methodology”, explained Dr. Fernando Mas, CTO of M&M Group, who recalls that “to this we can add the development of finite element models, allowing us to simulate the operating conditions considering the physical characteristics and mechanical properties of the process based on the different materials”.
It should be recalled that the development of DEEPEST has been subcontracted to the Advanced Center for Aerospace Technologies (CATEC) and financed by the Center for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI) in the call for R&D Projects.
