Project start TransForm

In August 2023, “TransForm”, a project to explore the benefits of active material flow control in paper deep-drawing, has started at PtU. The German Research Foundation (DFG) is funding “TransForm” to gain an increased understanding of wrinkle formation in paper deep-drawing and improve the quality of the formed part.

With an increase in the processing quality of paper, more and more paper fiber-based packaging can be used instead of plastic packaging. This meets both legal requirements and the growing consumer demand for sustainable packaging. Deep-drawing as a three-dimensional forming process enables a high variety of shapes and thus a wide range of sustainable alternative products.

Currently, the comprehensive substitution of plastic packaging with paper is still limited by the lower forming degrees that can be achieved and the defect patterns that occur. One particularly pronounced defect pattern in the deep-drawing of paper is the formation of wrinkles in the flange. These are basically caused by tangential compressive stresses as a result of material displacement in the forming process, but their exact local and temporal formation and development are not yet sufficiently understood. Increasing this understanding and developing methods for locally influencing the formation of wrinkles is the central objective of “TransForm – Controlling the wrinkling of fiber-based materials by adaptive process control and camera-based data acquisition in transparent forming tools”.