Numerical simulation of aluminum alloy ladder parts with viscous pressure forming

Viscous pressure forming (VPF), a recently developed flexible die forming process that is suitable for difficult to form material, can obtain the better stress states of sheet blank during forming process in manufacturing complex shape parts. The process of manufacturing aluminum alloy ladder parts with VPF and solid metal punch was simulated by the FE software DEFORM. Under different blank holder pressure (BHP), the stress state, the strain state, the forming of small radius curved face and the distribution of thickness were analyzed. The simulation results show that, compared with solid metal punch forming, the sheet blank can flow into die cavity more easily with VPF due to the improvement of the stress states; the severe thickness reduction can be avoided, the sheet blank can contact the die perfectly and the parts have high dimensional accuracy.