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Regional control of sheet metal formability via establishing differentiated pressure field using heterogeneous elastomers in flexible die forming process

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Abstract

Isostatic pressure-carrying properties of conventional flexible dies commonly fail to adapt to the forming of shell with sharp geometry change since pressure required by local region of sheet metal is unequal. In order to deal with this problem, a forming method based on differentiated pressure field was proposed in this work. Heterogeneous elastomers fabricated from partitioned elastomers with different mechanical properties were employed to create a differentiated and adjustable pressure field. Analytical modeling, finite element analysis, and bulge tests of the proposed forming process were carried out. Concretely, when heterogeneous elastomers’ ratio of shore hardness of two partitions (ζ) decreased from 34 to 1, filling ratio (ω) of sheet metal corresponding to the “softer” side of the flexible die reduced from 48.76% to 40.71%, and deviation of the filling ratio (λ) decreased from 12.09% to 0, showing the descending filling capacity and deformation nonuniformity. In addition, position of bulged dome shifted from center to one side where sheet metal was in contact with the “stiffer” partition of heterogeneous elastomers along the radial direction. The controllable nonuniform deformation and strain in different regions could be induced. Numerical results showed that through adjusting ζ of heterogeneous elastomers to enhance or weaken the pressure on one side of the sheet metal, stress path deviated or approached the equal biaxial tension stress state, which explained the mechanics of the proposed forming method. Further applications of the proposed method in the forming of nonsymmetric shell components will be expectable.

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Funding

The presented investigations have been supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (nos. 52275329, 51905156, and 51805309), the Natural Science Foundation of Henan (no. 232300421059), and the fellowship of the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (no. 2020M672221). The authors kindly acknowledge this support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang, 471023, China

    Yi-quan Shu, Nan Xiang, Hao-ran Wang, Meng-han Yang, Tao Huang, Jun-qing Guo & Fu-xiao Chen

  2. National Key Laboratory for Precision Heat Processing of Metals, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150001, China

    Nan Xiang

  3. College of Mechanical & Electrical Engineering, Shaanxi University of Science & Technology, Xi’an , 710021, China

    Peng-yi Wang

  4. Provincial and Ministerial Co-Construction of Collaborative Innovation Center for Non-Ferrous Metal New Materials and Advanced Processing Technology, Luoyang, 471023, China

    Jun-qing Guo & Fu-xiao Chen

Authors
  1. Yi-quan Shu
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  2. Nan Xiang
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  3. Hao-ran Wang
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  4. Meng-han Yang
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  5. Peng-yi Wang
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  6. Tao Huang
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  7. Jun-qing Guo
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  8. Fu-xiao Chen
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Contributions

Yi-quan Shu: formal analysis, data curation, and writing—original Draft. Nan Xiang: conceptualization, writing—review and editing, and funding acquisition. Hao-ran Wang: investigation. Meng-han Yang: investigation. Peng-yi Wang: investigation and funding acquisition. Tao Huang: investigation and visualization. Jun-qing GUO: writing—review and editing. Fu-xiao Chen: writing—review and editing.

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Correspondence to Nan Xiang.

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Highlights

• Flexible die-forming method using heterogeneous elastomers was proposed to balance lateral stress in the manufacturing of non-symmetric shell components.

• Regional control of sheet metal formability was achieved by establishing differentiated pressure field.

• Extra indexes were proposed to quantitatively evaluate sheet formability based on a newly developed analytical model.

• Stress path and sectional pressure field of sheet metal were employed to clarify the forming mechanism.

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Shu, Yq., Xiang, N., Wang, Hr. et al. Regional control of sheet metal formability via establishing differentiated pressure field using heterogeneous elastomers in flexible die forming process. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 126, 4135–4156 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-023-11380-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-023-11380-7

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