FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF A DEEP DRAWING PROCESS

Abstract

Sheet metal forming has an important place in the manufacturing industry because of the wide range of ready to use products that it manufactures. Components with smooth surfaces associated to the low cost per part, due to the high rate of production, are the main factors which make this process the first choice for the industry. Traditionally, experimental procedures have been employed to determine these changes and adjust process settings (dies, loadings, tool path) accordingly. However, this approach is time consuming and depends heavily on the experience of the tool designer. With the advent of fast computing, sheet metal forming simulations have gained popularity. Present work analyses a deep drawing process of a tapered product using Altair Hyperform. A 3-D FEM simulation model has been developed using Altair Hyperform to study the effects of various deep drawing variables such as die and punch radii, blank holder pressure on the quality of drawn components. Forming Limit Diagrams and thinning percentage contours generated by the software are analyzed to study wrinkling and possibility of tearing, the two major defects associated with deep drawn components. It has been observed that a tapered product can be easily drawn with Limiting Drawing Ratios greater than 2, something which is very difficult in case of straight cylindrical products. The results from the simulation have shown that the product formed after varying different variables such as die radius and blank holder pressure is of good quality.