Spatially resolved force sensing in forming processes

Force sensing is a well-established approach in the scientific world as well as industrial production to gather information regarding the status of forming processes. This information is the basis of, for example, determining the effect of new lubricants as well as the realization of process monitoring capabilities. With many forming processes being of axially symmetric nature, only individual sensors are used per investigated forming stage. However, by using multiple, spatially distributed force sensors per single forming stage, additional information regarding the process and work piece properties can be extracted. Within the following contribution, the integration of spatially distributed force sensing will be shown using the examples of different bulk forming processes. By means of these case studies, the derivation of additional information regarding the process stability and work piece quality will be performed, highlighting the advantage of employing spatially distributed force sensing, both in the scientific and industrial world.