1、2010.01.16Its a knockout 冲床“以旧换新”Jan 14th 2010 From The Economist print editionEngineers find a new way to punch holes through steel工程师发现了钢板打孔的新方法ELECTROMAGNETIC pulses (EMPs) are usually associated with warfare. The idea is to use a blast of energy to fry the enemys computers and telecommunications
2、 gear. One common way proposed to do this is with an atomic bomb. In a less extreme fashion, however, EMPs have peaceful uses. They are already employed industrially to shape soft and light metals, such as aluminium and copper. Now a group of researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools
3、 and Forming Technology in Chemnitz, Germany, has found a way to use an EMP device to shape and punch holes through industrys metallic heavyweightsteel. This could transform manufacturing by doing away with the need to use large, heavy presses to make goods ranging from cars to washing machines.电磁脉冲
4、（EMP）往往和战争联系在一起。电磁脉冲概念是利用能量突然爆发来烧毁敌人的计算机和通信设备。一种常被人提及的操作方法就是原子弹爆炸。然而，EMPs 也具有不那么极端的和平用途。它们已经用于工业加工如铝和铜等的柔软轻金属造型，如今，德国开姆尼茨的夫琅和费研究所里一群钻研机械工具和造型技术的研究人员发现，可以利用EMP装置给工业用重金属钢材造型和打孔。如果制造从汽车到洗衣机的一系列产品不再需要大而笨重的压床，这可能会改变整个制造业。Verena Krusel and her colleagues performed their trick by beefing up an existing ele
5、ctromagnetic-forming machine. Such machines use a bank of capacitors to discharge a current rapidly through a coil. The coil converts the current into a powerful magnetic field. When the component to be worked is placed next to such a machine, the coil induces in it a corresponding field. Like poles
6、 repel, and the repulsion between the two fields is strong enough to make the metal distort.Verena Krausel与同事们改良了一台现有的电磁造型机器用于演示他们的新发现。电磁造型机器利用一堆电容器，迅速释放电流经过线圈。线圈把电流转化成强大的磁场。当需要造型或打孔的金属部件放置于机器旁边时，就会感应到相同的磁场。正如同极相斥，而这两个场之间的排斥力强到足以使那块金属变形。Dr Krusel and her colleagues boosted the power of their machine
7、 by strengthening its coil and speeding up the rate at which the capacitors dump their charge. The result is an extremely strong fieldone that delivers enough pressure when it hits the steel to punch out the material next to it, leaving a hole behind. The impact pressure on the steel is about 3,500
8、atmospheres. That is the weight of three small cars pressing on an area only a centimetre or so square.Krausel博士和同事们通过增加线圈的绕数以及提高电容器释放电流的速率，加大了他们的机器的功率。结果是产生一个非常强大的磁场当磁场感应到旁边的钢铁时，它产生足够的压力作用在旁边的这块材料上，打出一个孔。作用在那块钢铁上的压强约为3500个大气压，相当于三辆小型汽车的重量压在一块 1平方厘米左右的地方。The result is that the machine is able to pun
9、ch holes 30mm in diameter through the type of sheet steel used to build car bodies, which is usually around 1mm thick. The group have also used their machine to punch holes in hardened steel, including stainless steel. And, besides punching holes in steel, such a machine could also be used to form s
10、hapes out of the metal（*） without the need to use a mould or a die.结论是，这台改良的机器能够在用作汽车车身的钢板（通常为 1mm厚）上穿直径为30mm的孔。研究人员还用他们的机器在包括不锈钢在内的强化钢铁上打孔。除了打孔，这种机器不需要模具和冲模就能用于钢材造型。Firms such as Germanys giant carmaker Volkswagen are sponsoring the project because forming steel components with an EMP device provid
11、es a number of advantages. Although using a heavy press to bend metal and cut holes in it is fast, the tearing action at the edges of the holes leaves ragged, sharp tailings, known as burrs. This means that parts stamped out this way have to be cleaned up, usually by hand, which increases production
12、 costs. The need to keep replacing the stamps and dies used by the press, as they become blunt, also adds to the expense.此项目由德国的大型汽车制造商大众等公司提供资助，因为使用电磁脉冲装置造型钢铁部件有许多优势。尽管用压床弯钢铁和打孔非常快捷，但是沿着孔的边缘撕拉钢板会留下参差不齐且锋利的边角，即毛边。这意味着，用这种方式冲出来的部件需要打磨处理，而且往往是手工打磨，增加了生产成本。由于模具和冲模会变钝，需要不断更新，这也造成了成本上升。Lasers are one alt
13、ernative. They can cut cleaner holes in steel, but they are slower than stamping because they need to burn their way around the part. They are also expensive to operate. An electromagnetic punch, however, stamps its hole without tearing the metal, which means no burrs are left behind, and it never g
14、ets blunt. In fact, says Dr Krusel, her machine can punch a hole clean through a sheet of steel in a fifth of secondcompared with the 1.4 seconds needed by a laser.激光器是另一个选择。用激光器可以在钢铁上打出更光滑的孔，但是速度比冲压慢，因为激光器需要沿着部件外廓融裂钢铁。而且激光操作非常昂贵。而电磁冲压无需撕拉就能在钢板上打孔，也就不会产生毛边，而且机器永不会变钝。Krausel 博士说，她发明的机器能够用五分之一秒的时间在一块钢
15、板上打出一个光滑的孔，与之相比的是激光器需要1.4秒。The team members are now carrying out further development work on the coil. They expect factories to take up the idea quickly, because it is a modification of equipment that is already familiar. The size of holes that can be cut depends on the size of the coil, so specific
16、 coils will be needed for each application. Specific punches, however, are needed for traditional presses, so this would not seem to be a deterrentespecially as an EMP device should be able to deliver consistently accurate blows without wearing itself out. A hole, new technology, as it were.现在，研究团队成员正在进一步开发线圈。他们认为工厂可以马上采用这种技术，因为该机器由早已熟悉的机器改良而成。机器能够冲出多大的孔取决于线圈的规格，所以每一种应用需要规格不等的线圈。但是传统的冲压也需要不同的打孔器，所以这似乎不会成为一个遏制因素特别因为电磁脉冲装置既可以持续做到精确的冲击，同时不会磨损机器本身。技术是新技术，孔还是原来的孔。
