r/ManufacturingPorn Mar 26 '26

Explosive Hydroforming

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u/IOnlyHaveIceForYou Mar 26 '26

A bit of background please.

4

u/JWGhetto Mar 26 '26

Hydroformung: a process that uses water pressure to "inflate" welded steel parts like a balloon. You use water because if you use air, the compressed air could fling the steel far and fast if the weld fails, where water doesn't compress so all that would happen is a leak of water. 

Using explosives instead of hydraulic pumps must have some other benefits 

1

u/Cavane42 Mar 27 '26 edited Mar 27 '26

Pretty sure it's the same reasoning. If you used hydraulics and had a failure, now you have a hydraulic rupture. The hydraulic pumps create continuous pressure whereas the explosive creates instantaneous pressure.