Numerical Analysis of the Material Thickness Variation during Forming Process of Conical Mini-Parts

Abstract

Due to the trend of miniaturization on electrical devices, medical devices, and energy, etc., the need for micro and mini metal parts is increasing at a tremendous rate. In order to realize the potential of the mini-parts and take advantages from the mini-forming process, innovative modifications of the forming process must be developed. These modifications are particularly important with respect to the mini-parts forming, which offers an excellent opportunity to produce high accurate mini parts and to reduce manufacturing costs and time. However, severe modifications of the material thickness occur during forming of mini-parts. This paper presents a study concerning the material thickness variation during forming process of mini-parts. The main objective is to understand the material behaviour during forming of mini-parts. The material used in this analysis is copper - zinc alloy with anisotropic properties. During forming process of conical mini-parts, the material become very thin around the punch radius and become thicker at the upper end of the part. This phenomenon cause forming problems such: material fracture, wrinkling, part diameter variation, springback etc. There are multiple factors that affect the material thickness variation during forming process as: side wall angle, friction coefficient, punch radius, and punch speed. The Dynaform 5.9.1 software was used to simulate the forming process. The part obtained after each simulation was analyzed and measured to quantify material thickness variation on the final conical mini-part. To analyze the behaviour of the material during deep drawing process the obtained results for different conical mini-parts were compared. In the final part of this paper some conclusions regarding the material thickness variation during forming of conical mini-parts are presented.