Sheet metal forming simulation

Today the metal forming industry is making increasing use of simulation to evaluate the performing of dies, processes and blanks prior to building try-out tooling.

Finite element analysis (FEA) is the most common method of simulating sheet metal forming operations to determine whether a proposed design will produce parts free of defects such as fracture or wrinkling.

[2] Crack in the vertical wall due to high tensile stresses, some small radius block the material flow and results in excessive thinning at that point usually more than 40% of the sheet thk.

Even relatively small amounts of springback in structures that are formed to a significant depth may cause the blank to distort to the point that tolerances cannot be held.

Nowadays the simulation software's comes under CAE (computer aided engineering), used the finite element analysis to predict the common defects in design stage, prior to die manufacturing.

[citation needed] Rapid improvements over the past few decades in computer hardware have made the finite element analysis method practical for resolving real-world metal forming problems.

[citation needed] As computer hardware and operating systems have evolved, memory limitations that prevented the practical use of Implicit Finite Element Methods had been overcome.

Two broad divisions in the application of Finite Element Analysis method for sheet metal forming can be identified as Inverse One-step and Incremental.

Inverse One-step with its lack of tooling and therefore poor representation of process is limited to geometry based feasibility checks.

Proof tools in the past were short run dies made of softer than normal material, which were used to plan and test the metal forming operations.

Sheet metal simulation that considers the deformation of not only the blank but also the die can be used to design tools to successfully form these materials.

[11] Tata Motors engineers used metal forming simulation to develop tooling and process parameters for producing a new oil pump design.

A simple simulation model was created to determine the effect of blank edge radius on the height to which the material could be formed without tearing.

[14] For high strength aluminium structures in 2x, 6x and 7x series grades, novel simulation algorithms[15] have been developed via the Hot Form Quench (HFQ) technology platform, supported by a extensive library of alloy material cards; being then applied for the production of lightweight body-in-white, electric vehicle battery enclosures and aerospace structures.

Nowadays FEA software's such as LS DYNA, AUTOFORM, HYPERFORM, PAMSTAMP are very good for virtual process simulations prior to product manufacturing.