Coventry Metal Forming Company Contributes to a Major Technical Advance

PAB has contributed to a major technical advance in forming deep drawn and complex high strength Aluminium components for the Automotive Industry

There is ever mounting pressure on the automotive industry to reduce vehicle CO2 emissions; with benefits being felt by both vehicle owners and the environment.

Aluminium components are currently being used extensively in Vehicle designs but in standard grades. This new process allows the use of higher and stronger grades which can result in using thinner materials thus gaining further weight savings.

PAB Coventry Ltd, a city based engineering company which has recently invested £1.2 million on new machines for its Coventry workshop, is actively contributing to the development of this technology, along with other industry experts including the team from Impression Technologies Ltd (ITL) who founded the project at Imperial College London.

A licence agreement has been signed allowing PAB to use ITL’s innovative HFQ technology for forming aluminium parts. The licence agreement permits PAB to produce parts using the patented HFQ system. This enables lighter, stronger solutions to the challenges faced by the world’s automotive and transport industries

HFQ stands for Heat Treatment Forming and in-die Quench, and will materially reduce carbon footprint by extending the use of lightweight aluminium parts in vehicles.

Dr George Adam, Chief Executive Officer of Impression Technologies, said:

“HFQ enables the production of lighter, stronger and more sophisticated structures in Aluminium than has been possible to date cost effectively. We are very excited to be working with PAB, and as a result a number of their customers will be able to meet their aims of improving the performance of their vehicles while reducing carbon footprint.”

Mark Brazier, director at PAB Coventry commented, “PAB is committed to supplying only the best to its customers. We believe that the HFQ technology represents a step change in the forming of Aluminium components that will open new design possibilities for our customers and enable them to make lighter and stronger Aluminium structures. We are proud to be using our metal forming expertise to help take this project forward and were honoured to be awarded the world’s first production license.”

“With the support of a £1m TSB funded research project and a 7 million Euro research Programme,PAB are partnering with several major Automotive Manufacturers.

Mark Brazier continued “Not only is this a great coup for our company, we also think it is an honour for the City of Coventry to be able to play a part in, what could prove to be one of the most significant advances in the automotive industry for years. Despite the development and research taking place in London, the team at Imperial recognises the manufacturing and engineering heritage of the Midlands and the calibre of the work produced. We are also hoping to create 10 new jobs over the coming years.”

It is in all of our interests to see how this technology progresses and the effect it will have once it makes it onto the production lines.

If you would like to know more about HFQ technology or to find out how PAB Coventry can help you, please contact us.

PAB Coventry has years of expertise and knowledge in metal product design and development.