Seamless Strength

Hydroforming Introduction

The hydroforming process is THE advantageous manufacturing process of choice by the aerospace, automotive, medical, defense, and electronic industries.

Hydroforming process benefits are:

  • Great design and shape flexibility
  • Short lead times for dimensionally challenging parts
  • Reduces the need for multiple annealing operations
  • Eliminates additional tooling costs if various thicknesses are required
  • Ability to use different metals with the same tooling
  • Shallow or Deep drawn parts, simple to complicated contours are not a problem
  • Saving time and money on secondary machining operations
  • Uniform exterior finish

When it comes to your hydroforming needs, place your trust in MuShield. The MuShield advantage is one of experience, knowledge, and customer-centric practices. The first component of your free consultation is the lost art of listening. We want to hear all about your project and unique hydroforming needs. Our extensive engineering experience allows us to contribute to the design process, if required. Come to us with an idea, and our industry trusted experience can help determine which materials and manufacturing methods will be most efficient and of highest quality to suit your unique needs.

MuShield’s hydroforming equipment enables the manufacture of precision sheet metal parts from the following alloys.

  • Carbon Steel
  • Stainless Steel
  • Heat Resistant Alloys
  • Non Ferrous Alloys
  • Controlled Expansion Alloys
  • Glass Sealing Alloys
  • High Strength Super Alloys

How Hydroforming Works

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Hydroforming is a unique process that offers many benefits over traditional sheet metal forming and fabrication. In most applications, only one form tool is needed which pushes a piece of sheet metal into a pressurized rubber bladder.

Since the form tool is pushing the sheet metal into the bladder, and there is no need for matched set tooling, there is limited metal-on-metal contact that may create scratches, gouges, or blemishes on the surface of the material. Hydroforming is an attractive manufacturing process due to the minimal tooling cost and limited secondary operations needed post hydroforming.

The Process

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Fueled by Results

The hydroforming process was developed in the early 1950’s. Today, the process is widely used in industries including:

  • Automotive
  • Aerospace
  • Defense
  • Medical
  • Electronic

The basic steps of the hydroforming process

A flat piece of sheet metal (a.k.a. the blank) is placed on a draw plate.

Materials we generally utilize for hydroforming production include:

  • Carbon steel
  • mumetal
  • Stainless steel
  • Heat resistant alloys
  • Non ferrous alloys
  • Controlled expansion alloys
  • Glass sealing alloys
  • High strength super alloys

After the choice material is placed on the draw plate, a chamber is filled with hydraulic fluid lowering over the drawplate – pressurizing as high as 15,000 psi depending on the application. The drawplate has an opening allowing the “form punch” to travel through into a rubber bladder. The forming punch is machined to the formed part’s internal dimensional requirements. The hydraulic pressure allows the rubber bladder to grip the blank. The form punch moves through the draw plate opening, conforming the blank to the punch shape.

Alternative forming operations often produce parts stretched around difficult angles, radii and contours resulting in thinning possibly producing metal fatigue. This, obviously, is bad.

Put your hydroforming needs in the hands of MuShield. The MuShield advantage is one of experience, knowledge and customer-centric practices. Our extensive engineering experience allows us to contribute to the design process if required. Come to us with an idea, and our industry trusted experience can help determine which materials and manufacturing methods will be most efficient and of highest quality to suit your unique needs.

Hover Below To Read Progression

Flat blank laser cut to a
developed size

Post draw, the desired shape is formed with excess material creating a flange

Final height and cut outs/hole pattern cut in a 5-Axis laser

MuShield Advantage

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Experience Matters

Hydroforming as a manufacturing process has been around for the better part of a century. At its inherent core, hydroforming is a practice that is a unique and flexible process streamlining the design and manufacturing functions.

Why choose MuShield?

The answer is simple. In fact, it’s built of three words:

Trust. Transparency. Results.

When you’re in need of a competitive advantage, consider what MuShield brings to the table:

  • Over six decades of proven success
  • Secondary Operations (laser trimming, hole cutting, heat treating, etc.) are done in-house to expedite delivery and keep costs down for our customers.
  • Short lead times
  • Simple and inexpensive tooling
  • Dimensional consistency and quality
  • Unparalleled customer service, from initial conversations about your unique needs, to design, production, and post project follow-up
  • Cost savings leading to a bolstered bottom line for your organization

The MuShield Advantage is one of experience, knowledge and customer-centric practices. Further, our extensive engineering experience allows us to contribute to the design process, which is fairly unique, enabling you, the customer to come in with an idea and little else. Our experience can help determine which materials and manufacturing methods will be most efficient and of highest quality.

Hydroforming Examples