The rubber pad forming (RPF) process has been used extensively in the aircraft industry for many years. Up to 60% of all sheet metal parts are fabricated using this process. The rubber pad forming process is performed using a rubber upper die and a rigid mould as lower die. During operation, the contained rubber die exerts a pressure on the blank and will thereby deform the pre-fabricated blank over the mould. The rubber cushion can be used for many different products, which implies that the production of a specific product only requires one (rigid)mould. This makes the rubber pad forming process relatively cheap and flexible, for small product series in particular. On the other hand, the cycle time of rubber pad forming is rather long. But since in aircraft industry product series are limited, this does not hamper the application of this process. The press of the Structures and Materials laboratory is used to investigate the application of the Rubber Pad Forming Process outside the aerospace industry.
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