Abstract
Sheet hydroforming is a process that uses fluid pressure for deformation of a blank into a die cavity of desired shape. This process has high potential to manufacture complex auto body and other sheet metal parts. Successful production of parts using hydroforming mainly depends on design aspects of tooling as well as control of important process parameters such as closing force or blank holding force (BHF) and variation of fluid pressure with time. An experimental setup has been designed and developed for hydroforming of square cups from thin sheet materials. Square cups have been deep drawn using constant and variable BHF techniques. A methodology has been established to determine the variable BHF path for successful hydroforming of the cups with the assistance of programmable logic controller and data acquisition system. Finite element (FE) simulations have also been carried out to predict formability with both of these techniques. It has been found that it is possible to achieve better formability in terms of minimum corner radius and thinning in the case of variable BHF technique than in the case of constant BHF technique (constant force during forming and calibration). The results of FE analysis have been found to be in good agreement with experimental data.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Doege E, Droder K (2001) Sheet metal forming of magnesium wrought alloy-formability and process technology. J Mater Process Technol 115:14–19
Sachdeva AK (1990) Development of an aluminum sheet alloy with improved formability. Metall Trans A 21:165–175
Oliveira DA, Worswick MJ, Finn M, Newman D (2005) Electromagnetic forming of aluminum alloy sheet: free-form and cavity fill experiments and model. J Mater Process Technol 170:350–362
Abedrabbo N, Pourboghrat F, Carsley J (2007) Forming of AA5182-O and AA5754-O at elevated temperatures using coupled thermo-mechanical finite element models. International Journal of Plasticity 23:841–875
Erkan Önder, Erman Tekkaya A (2008) Numerical simulation of various cross sectional workpieces using conventional deep drawing and hydroforming technologies. Int J Mach Tool Manuf 48:532–542
Zhang SH, Danckert J (1998) Development of hydromechanical deep drawing. J Mater Process Tech 83(1–3):14–25
Kang B-S, Son B-M, Kim J (2004) A comparative study of stamping and hydro forming processes for an automobile fuel tank using FEM. Int J Mach Tool Manuf 44:87–94
Hein P, Vollertsen F (1999) Hydroforming of sheet metal pairs. J Mater Process Technol 87:154–164
Kleiner M, Curbach M, Erman Tekkaya A, Ritter R, Speck K, Trompeter M (2008) Development of ultra high performance concrete dies for sheet metal hydro forming. Prod Eng Res Dev 2:201–208
Novotny S, Hein P (2001) Hydroforming of sheet metal pairs from aluminium alloys. J Mater Process Technol 115:65–69
Groche P, Ertugrul M (2008) process control at the sealing line during sheet metal hydro forming. Prod Eng Res Dev 2:3–8
Wei L, Gang L, Xiao-lei C, Yong-chao X, Shi-jian Y (2011) Formability influenced by process loading path of double sheet hydroforming. Trans Nonferr Metal Soc China 21:465–469
Choi H, Koc M, Ni J (2007) Determination of optimal loading profiles in warm hydroforming of lightweight materials. J Mater Process Technol 190:230–242
Shim H, Yang DY (2005) A simple method to determine pressure curve for sheet hydro-forming and experimental verification. J Mater Process Technol 169:134–142
Gelin JC, Labergére C, Thibaud S (2006) Modelling and process control for the hydroforming of metallic liners used for hydrogen storage. J Mater Process Technol 177:697–700
Barlat F, Lian JI (1989) Plastic behavior and stretchability of sheet metals: part-I. Int J Plast 5:51–56
Dieter GE (1988) Mechanical metallurgy. McGraw Hill, Singapore
Rao KP, Xie CL (2006) A comparative study on the performance of boric acid with several conventional lubricants in metal forming processes. Tribol Int 39:663–668
Javadi M, Tajdari M (2006) Experimental investigation of the friction coefficient between aluminium and steel. Mater Sci 24:2/1
Keeler SP (1971) Understanding sheet metal formability. Sheet Metal Industries 48:357–364
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Modi, B., Kumar, D.R. Development of a hydroforming setup for deep drawing of square cups with variable blank holding force technique. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 66, 1159–1169 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-012-4397-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-012-4397-4