Method and embossing die for producing a body structural part from a vault-structured sheet metal

1. A method of producing a structural part from sheet metal, in particular a body sheet having a stiffening zone in which the structural part is provided with vault structuring which increases the stiffness, and having a connection zone which is more or less free of vault structures, a vault-structured cut-to-size sheet being used as a blank for producing the structural part, said method comprising:

placing the blank into an embossing tool having a die, a resiliently mounted fixing punch engageable with a part of the blank, and a stationary forming punch engageable with another part of the blank;

lowering the die with the blank being fixed relative to the fixing punch in a region of the vault-structured stiffening zone by a fixing element which is in a leading position with respect to the die; and

further lowering of the die to shape the connection zone between the forming punch and die.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein beads are formed in the connection zone in the course of the shaping of the connection zone.

3. An embossing tool for producing a structural part having a vault-structured stiffening zone and a connection zone largely free of vault structures, starting from a blank of vault-structured sheet,

the embossing tool having a punch and a die,

wherein the die has a leading fixing element for fixing the blank in the tool and also has a basic die body,

wherein the punch of the embossing tool is of multi-piece design and comprises a fixing punch interacting with the fixing element of the die, and a forming punch displaceable with respect to the fixing punch, and

wherein the basic die body and the forming punch are provided with interacting smoothing regions for embossing the connection zone on the structural part.

4. The embossing tool as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the fixing punch has an end face that is provided with a surface contour corresponding to the vault structuring of the blank.

5. The embossing tool as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the leading fixing element of the die is made of an elastic material.

6. The embossing tool as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the elastic material is rubber.

7. The embossing tool as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the leading fixing element of the die is made of an elastic material.

8. The embossing tool as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the elastic material is rubber.

9. The embossing tool as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the leading fixing element of the die is designed as a spring-mounted slide, the end face of which slide is provided with a vault structure.

10. The embossing tool as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the leading fixing element of the die is designed as a spring-mounted slide, the end face of which slide is provided with a vault structure.

11. The embossing tool as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the leading fixing element of the die is designed as a spring-mounted slide, the end face of which slide is provided with a vault structure.

12. The embossing tool as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the leading fixing element of the die is designed as a spring-mounted slide, the end face of which slide is provided with a vault structure.

13. The embossing tool as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the smoothing regions of the die and of the punch comprise bead regions for embossing beads on the structural part.

14. The embossing tool as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the smoothing regions of the die and of the punch comprise bead regions for embossing beads on the structural part.

15. The embossing tool as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the smoothing regions of the die and of the punch comprise bead regions for embossing beads on the structural part.

16. The embossing tool as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the smoothing regions of the die and of the punch comprise bead regions for embossing beads on the structural part.

17. The embossing tool as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the smoothing regions of the die and of the punch comprise bead regions for embossing beads on the structural part.

18. The embossing tool as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the smoothing regions of the die and of the punch comprise bead regions for embossing beads on the structural part.

19. A method of making a vehicle body structural part from a sheet material blank which has a stiffening zone with vault structuring increasing stiffness of the sheet material, said method comprising:

placing the blank in an embossing tool having a die, a resiliently mounted fixing punch engageable with a part of the blank, and a stationary forming punch engageable with another part of the blank,

moving the die and blank toward one another with fixing of a portion of the vault structuring clamped against lateral movement, and

further moving the die and blank toward one another to compress a portion of the vault structuring to form a connection zone.

20. The method according to claim 19 , wherein said fixing of the portion of the vault structuring against lateral movement includes engaging the sheet material blank with elastic parts of the embossing tool.

21. The method according to claim 19 , wherein beads are formed in the connection zone in the course of the shaping of the connection zone.

22. The method according to claim 20 , wherein beads are formed in the connection zone in the course of the shaping of the connection zone.

23. An embossing tool for producing a structural part having a vault-structured stiffening zone and a connection zone largely free of vault structures, starting from a blank of vault-structured sheet, comprising:

elastic means for elastically clamping the vault-structured sheet during a first part of relative movement of a die, a resiliently mounted fixing punch engageable with a part of the blank, and a stationary forming punch engageable with another part of the blank toward one another, and

smoothing means operable to smooth out connection zones in the vault-structured sheet during further part of said relative movement while said elastic means continue to clamp the sheet without compressing vault-structured stiffening zones thereof.