Speaker
Description
Sheet metal forming (SMF) simulations are traditionally carried out with rigid tool surfaces. This research aims to enable simulations with elastic dies for industrial-sized stamping dies. This is important for die try-out, digital twins, production control, and other topics in the current frontier of SMF research. No method in the literature is fully developed for simulations with industrial sized dies using elastic tools. A promising method is selected from the literature, after important modifications it is deemed to be fast and robust. The method consists of using explicit time integration where the die structures are meshed with a coarse solid mesh. The forming surfaces are modeled with a finer shell mesh attached to the tool mesh by contacts with offset. The selected model is used to reduce tryout time by >50%, a significant achievement. Two cases of production support are also demonstrated where the elastic and dynamic blankholder modeling is key. One of the main criteria in favor of the selected approach is the realistic modeling of blankholder and cushion systems in forming presses. There is an increase in preprocessing and simulation time compared to using rigid tools, but industrial dies can now be modeled within an hour and solved within a working day. It is also easy to update the model by replacing separate parts such as die solids or forming surfaces. One frontier in the SMF research area is digital factories monitored and controlled by smart digital systems, areas where this research can be further utilized.