PRINCIPLES AND FINITE ELEMENT SIMULATION OF MULTI-POINT FORMING TECHNOLOGY FOR SHEET METAL
Abstract
Multi-point sheet metal forming is a relatively new and developing flexible sheet metal forming technology. In this type forming, die is separated into small discrete pins which can be arranged in height. So, this reconfigurable die meets the customer requirements mainly used in prototyping of sheet metal parts. Dies in conventional forming process are replaced with these pair of matrices of pins. In this study, the fundamental principles of multi-point forming (MPF) are examined and main parameters of this process are determined with numerical analysis. In FE modeling each pin is actively controlled to form the sheet part. Aluminum 1100 H14 with 1 mm sheet is used as workpiece material for sheet metal part and finite element simulations are employed then, differences between solid die forming and multi-point forming are indicated. Tearing and dimple formation are investigated and compared with conventional method. The results of the numerical analysis show the multi-point forming is very suitable for forming the sheet metal with complex shape.
Keywords
References
- 1. Nakajima N., A newly developed technique to fabricate complicated dies and electrodes with wires. J Japan Soc Mech Eng, 1969, 72(603):498–506. 2. Hardt D.E. and Gossard D.C., A variable geometry die for sheet metal forming: machine design and control. Proc Jt Autom Control Conf., 1980, USA No.2, FP7–C:1–5. 3. Webb R.D. and Hardt D.E., A Transfer Function Description of Sheet Metal Forming for Process Control. Trans ASME, J Eng Ind, 1991, 113:44–52. 4. Walczyk D.F. and Hardt D.E., Design and Analysis of Reconfigurable Discrete Dies for Sheet Metal Forming. Journal of Manufacturing Systems, 1998, 17(6):436-454. 5. Li M. and Liu Y., Multi-point forming: a flexible manufacturing method for a 3-d surface sheet. J Mater Process Technol, 1999, 87:277–280. 6. Cai Z.Y. and Li M.Z., Multi-point of Three-dimensional Sheet Metal and the Control of Forming Process, 2002, 79:289-296. 7. Cai Z.Y. and Li M.Z., Finite element simulation of multi-point sheet forming process based on implicit scheme. J Mater Process Technol, 2005, 161(3):449–455. 8. Qian Z.R., Li M.Z. and Tan F.X., The analyze on the process of multi-point forming for dish head, Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 2007, 187: 471-475. 9. Liu C., Li M. and Fu W., Principles and apparatus of multi-point forming for sheet metal, Int J Adv Manuf. Tech. 2008, 35:707-714. 10. Zhang Q., Wang Z. R. and Dean T. A., The Mechanics of Multi-Point Sandwich Forming. Int. J. Mach. Tools Manuf., 2008, 48:1495–1503. 11. Quan G.Z., KU T.W. and Kang B.S., Improvement of Formability for Multi-point Bending Process of AZ31B Sheet Material Using Elastic Cushion, International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing, 2011, 12(6):1023-1030. 12. Abebe M., Lee K. and Kang B.S., Surrogate-Based Multi-Point Forming Process Optimization for Dimpling and Wrinkling Reduction, Int J Adv Manuf. Techol., 2016, 85:391-403. 13. Abosaf M., Essa K., Alghawail A., Tolipov A., Su S., and Pham D., Optimisation of Multi-point Forming Process Parameters, Int J Adv Manuf. Tech. 2017, 92:1849-1859. 14. Engin K. E. and Eyercioglu O. Investigation of the Process Parameters of Sheet Metal Blanking Process by Using Finite Element Method, International Conference on Advanced Technology & Sciences (ICAT’16), 2016, v4:1141-1145. 15. Cai, Z. Y., Wang, S. H., Xu, X. D. and Li, M. Z., Numerical Simulation for the Multi-Point Stretch Forming Process of Sheet Metal. J. Mater. Process. Technol., 2009, 209: 396–407.
