DETERMINATION OF BLANK HOLDER FORCE IN SHEET METAL DEEP DRAWING PROCESS

Blank holder force (BHF) is an important measure to control the sheet metal forming. BHF is identified quickly using artificial neural network (ANN) on the basis of its analytical description. And critical rupture and wrinkle BHF curves are given. A close-loop control system is established to finish the forming process.

MULTIPOINT BLANK HOLDER FORCE CONTROL IN HYDROFORMING OF FUEL TANK

The study of multipoint blank holder force（BHF） control is carried out for hydroforming a complicated shape motorcycle fuel tank. By finite element method （FEM） simulation, the configuration of multipoint blank holder cylinders and the setting of local BHF are optimized, and the influences of the multipoint BHF on the hydromechanical deep drawing and conventional hydroforming processes are studied. The desired fluid pressure and whole BHF are predicted for hydromechanical deep drawing process. Finally, simulation results are testified by forming experiment, and they are in agreement very well.

Effect of Variable Blank Holder Force on Rectangular Box Drawing Process of Hot-galvanized Sheet Steel

At first, a series of finite element method （FEM） simulation tests were used to find the critical forming conditions of hot-galvanized sheet steel during the rectangular box drawing processing when constant blank holder forces were applied. According the test results, the reasonable alteration scope of initial variable blank holder force （VBHF） was as 1.9-2.3 T. Then, based on the test productions of blank holder force, 12 typical VBHF curves were applied to perform the simulation tests by the simulation software of DYNAFORM. The simulation test results showed that VBHF had great effects on drawing formability of hot-galvanized sheet steel during the rectangular box drawing. However, the different VBHF curves were applied to control the whole drawing and it would get great different effects. At the same tine, the VBHF had great effects on the maximum thick thinning ratio, but had little effect on the maximum thick incrassation ratio. So, reasonable application of the VBHF would greatly decrease the fractures. When the VBHF profile is taken as curve L, the best effect of drawing formability could be obtained. When curve I is used, contrary effect could be gotten. The other types of curves would cause effects between above two types of VBHF curves. Finally, the actual tests were applied to check the validity of the FEM simulation tests. The results show that the FEM simulation tests are good ways for predicting and optimizing the VBHF.

WRINKLE LIMIT BLANK HOLDER FORCE MODELS IN SQUARE-BOX DEEP DRAWING WITH VARIABLE SEGMENT BLANK-HOLDERS

Constituting the reasonable control models of the wrinkle limit blank holder forces is the sticking point of the processes of the deep drawing with variable blank-holder forces, especially in the square-box forming. To begin with, a mode of segmenting flange of the square-box into eight zones is put forward according to the fact that the uniformity of flange deforming can be improved by control-ling segment blank-holders. Considering the integral influence of shear stress, a new concept, strain relaxation factor is defined. Hereby, the law of distribution of stress and stain in the deforming flange of square-box is achieved. Then based on these mechanical analysis models and the energy principle, the wrinkling flexivity functions of the straight flange and the circle flange are given, and the corresponding formulae of wrinkling limit blank-holder force in these two situations are also educed. In these processes, ply-anisotropy, strain hardening, thickness and friction are considered. In the end, a calculating example is designed to validate the rationality of the formulae of wrinkling limit blank-holder force, at the same time, the influences of the ply-anisotropy exponent and the strain hardening exponent on the wrinkle limit blank holder forces are also analyzed.

Multi-Objective Optimization of VBHF in Deep Drawing Based on the Improved QO-Jaya Algorithm

Blank holder force(BHF)is a crucial parameter in deep drawing,having close relation with the forming quality of sheet metal.However,there are different BHFs maintaining the best forming effect in different stages of deep drawing.The variable blank holder force(VBHF)varying with the drawing stage can overcome this problem at an extent.The optimization of VBHF is to determine the optimal BHF in every deep drawing stage.In this paper,a new heuristic optimization algorithm named Jaya is introduced to solve the optimization efficiently.An improved“Quasi-oppositional”strategy is added to Jaya algorithm for improving population diversity.Meanwhile,an innovated stop criterion is added for better convergence.Firstly,the quality evaluation criteria for wrinkling and tearing are built.Secondly,the Kriging models are developed to approximate and quantify the relation between VBHF and forming defects under random sampling.Finally,the optimization models are established and solved by the improved QO-Jaya algorithm.A VBHF optimization example of component with complicated shape and thin wall is studied to prove the effectiveness of the improved Jaya algorithm.The optimization results are compared with that obtained by other algorithms based on the TOPSIS method.

Research on Thermal Deep-drawing Technology of Magnesium Alloy (AZ31B) Sheets

Forming technology of Mg alloy (AZ31B) sheets can be investigated by thermal deep drawing experiments. In the experiments, the blank holder and die contacting with the blank were heated to the same temperature as the blank by using the heating facility. The circular blank heated in an oven is formed at a temperature range of 100~400 ℃ to obtain the optimum forming temperature range and the effects of major technical parameters on the workpiece quality. It is found that the blank is brittle at temperatures lower than 200℃. Temperatures higher than 400℃ are not suitable for forming of the sheets because of severe oxidation and wrinkling. AZ31B shows an excellent formability at temperatures from 300 to 350℃ and can be formed into a workpiece with good quality. When the blank holder force is 9 kN, extruded sheets with a thickness of 1 mm can be formed into cups without wrinkling. Workpieces show strong anisotropic deformation behavior on the flanges.

Shear Fracture of Advanced High Strength Steels

Failure experiments were carried out through a stretch-bending test system for advanced high strength steels, i.e. dual-phase （DP） steels and martensitic steels （MS）. The die radius in this system was designed from 1 to 15 mm to investigate the failure mode under different geometries. Two failure modes were observed during the ex- periments. As a result, critical relative radii （the ratio of inner bending radius R to sheet thickness t） for DP590 and DP780 steels were obtained. The stretch-bending tests of DP980 display some trends unlike DP590 and DP780 steels, and curve of DP980 in different thicknesses does not coincide well. High blank holder force exhibits more possibility of shear fracture tendency than low blank holder force. The unique character of high strength martensitic steel （1500MS） is that no shear fracture is found especially over small bending radius （R =2 mm） under the same experi- mental conditions. Microstructure analysis indicates that there are obviously elongated grains on shear fracture sur- face. It shows smaller diameter and shallower depth of the dimples than the necking failure.