Numerical Simulation of the Effect of Punch Paths on the Quality of Sheet Metal Stretch Forming

Abstract

Presented here is the simulation of uniaxial stretch forming using two punches in a sheet metal forming operation. In the finite element modelling, the sheet metal strip was held by two bank holders and two punches are able to move in two directions to stretch the sheet metal. Due to the friction between the punch and sheet metal, it was found that friction affects the sheet metal forming quality, however by adopting an optimal punch path the effect of friction in sheet metal forming can be reduced. The effect of punch paths on the quality of the sheet metal are also reported in this paper.