Sheet metal hydroforming offers surprising advantages manufacturers that use large pressed sheet metal components, especially using thin-gauge stainless steel.
Indeed, hydroforming produces components with remarkable stability and mechanical resistance, thanks to the diffused work-hardening of the raw material. The product artifact is flat, with almost no “spring effect” typical of traditional drawing. The surface quality is also much better and aesthetically pleasing after processing.
An example is this, a leading manufacturer of refrigeration systems has contacted Inoxveneta for producing a drawn sheet-metal panel to join two refrigerated counters. Several aspects of the project were challenging, among which the panel’s length – almost 2 metres, its complex and non-symmetrical shape that reached a depth of 10 cm. Ease of installation was a must, (so there had to be no “spring effect”) and excellent surface was also mandatory. Last but not least, the investment budget was limited.
In a few weeks – with the assistance of Inoxveneta in the product co-designing – the hydroforming die was built and the first samples were delivered, respecting each project parameters at a truly competitive cost.
The panel is now in regular production with full customer satisfaction, and in 2014 a new version of this hydroformed panel is on order, to join the first.
