OUR EXPERTISE
NAAT utilizes the best engineering firms and renowned tool shops in the USA and China to simulate parts and design/build dies for our customers. These top-notch companies are either affiliated with NAAT under the same ownership, or business partners with a strong working relationship. As a global team, we possess a wide range of expertise to build mid to large size complex stamping dies specializing in the following areas:
Because of its lightweight nature, the application of aluminum alloys in automotive parts manufacturing is occurring with increasing frequency. Carmakers often replace steel with aluminum parts in order to improve fuel efficiency. Aluminum alloys react very differently than conventional steel grades in metal stamping due to the different mechanical and surface properties. The NAAT team is experienced in building dies for aluminum stamping and processing. Examples include a Skid Plate made from an Al-Mg3 alloy (AA5XXX) for BMW and a Rear Door Panel Reinforcement from a similar alloy for Ford.
Class A parts make up the “exterior skin” of the vehicle. This includes parts like the Body Side, Hood Outer, Door Outer, and Roof Panel, etc. It takes a very different and unique tool & die skillset to build dies for exposed Class A components as opposed to unexposed Class C parts. The NAAT team possesses such distinctive expertise and has built many Class A panel dies directly for OEM carmakers such as General Motors and Honda.
The NAAT team has built various types of forming and hemming dies for producing heat shields that are lightweight and thermal-insulated. These heat shields are made of heat resistant material laminated with or “sandwiched” between aluminum sheet metals. NAAT’s toolmakers have the expertise and experience to form and hem such specialty material into various part configurations to satisfy customers’ specific requirements.
Advanced High-Strength Steels (AHSS) are particularly light weight and constructed to meet the demands of the automotive industry to increase safety, reduce emissions, and optimize performance at lower costs.
The NAAT team has successfully built a large number of dies that run AHSS material, including dual phase steels with tensile strength from 590MPa to 1180MPa. Our staff is highly experienced in analyzing formability and compensating for springback associated with AHSS material. With a thorough understanding of the fundamental behaviors of high-strength steel, our toolmakers can fine-tune tooling to 100% part conformance with a minimal number of quality loops.
Tailor Rolled Blank are a semi-finished sheet metal product that is used to further produce distinctive stamped parts which have a continuous thickness variations within one blank. Due to the blanks containing multiple regions of different thickness, material flow inside a forming or draw die requires precise analysis to predict formability and springback as well as the location of material thickness transitions in the final part.
The NAAT team has the knowledge and experience to build dies for Tailor-Rolled Blanks with up to five different material thicknesses within one material width. For example, the NAAT engineering team performed extensive simulations on a crossmember part prior to tool build and successfully completed the die with 100% part quality in just one quality loop.
Tailor Welded Blanks are made from individual steel or aluminum sheets of different thickness, strength and coating which are joined together by laser welding – allowing for more flexible component design and at the same time reducing vehicle weight by eliminating overlapping material for joining different materials.
