Numerical Investigation of Dry and Lubricated Sheet Metal Forming Processes

Abstract

The current global development towards efficient and sustainable usage of resources as well as a stronger environmental awareness motivates lubrication abandonment in metal forming. Dry forming processes accomplish besides a green production technology also a shortage in production steps and time. However, the change of the tribological conditions influences the material flow during the forming operations and has therefore to be taken into account for the design of complex sheet metal forming operations. The aim of this study is a comparison of dry and lubricated processes by numerical as well as experimental investigations. To ensure reliable results a test setup is necessary which provides a discrete control of the process parameters. Furthermore, an analysis of the local material flow by an optical strain measurement system during the whole test procedure should be possible. These requirements are well fulfilled by the so called Nakajima test, which is typically used for the characterisation of the formability of sheet metals. The influence of varying friction coefficients on the material behaviour is discussed based on the numerical model built up in the Finite Element Software LS-Dyna. The numerical results show a good conformity with the experimental outcomes by identifying the strain localisation. Based on the gained knowledge of the investigations an increase of process understanding for dry forming operations will be derived.