DEVELOPMENT OF AN INDUSTRIAL-PROCESS FOR PRODUCING LEAD BATTERY TERMINALS

This paper presents an alternative solution for the manufacture of lea d battery terminals currently produced by casting. The solution is bas ed on a multi-stage process consisting of two metal forming operations followed by final piercing. The metal forming operations induce the d esired shape on the raw material by means of plastic deformation, whil e the piercing operation opens the inner hole of the component by remo ving the scrap left by the previous forming stages. The main objective of this work is to present the theoretical and experimental results o btained during the development of the process, which are important for designing an industrial tool. The theoretical analysis is based on th e utilization of the finite element method to characterize the materia l flow, establish the process sequence and related preform geometries, and to design the tools for the metal forming stages of the productio n cycle. The experimental rests were performed on a laboratory prototy pe tool. These experiments confirmed previous theoretical analysis, an d validated the new proposed technology for producing high-quality lea d battery terminals. Copyright (C) 1996.