Teflon-pad shaping process of circular metal blanks into quasi-cup specimens by theoretical and experimental methods

Abstract

Teflon-pad shaping process of circular metal blanks into quasi-cup specimens is investigated by theoretical and experimental methods in the quasi-static condition. In the experiments, circular metal sheets are formed into the quasi-cup samples by compressing them between a Teflon-filled die and a rigid punch with desirable shape. To investigate influences of different parameters on the forming progress, 12 rigid punches with different dimensions, two blank material types of aluminum and galvanized iron, three blank thicknesses of 0.6, 1.1 and 1.5 mm, and two Teflon-fillers of PVC and polyurethane are used in several experimental tests. In the analytical part, theoretical deformation models of metal blank and Teflon-filler are introduced and based on energy method, energy absorptions by the blank and Teflon-filler are calculated to derive a theoretical formula for predicting total required energy of the forming process. For this purpose, several energy absorption mechanisms are considered in the blank and filler. Furthermore, predictions by theoretical equation are compared with the corresponding experimental tests to study the verity of the calculated formulas. Theoretical and experimental results illustrate change trend of forming energy with respect to blank thickness. Also, the performed forming tests show that when external cone angle of rigid punch with respect to the horizontal direction increases, forming energy increases nonlinearly; and when the depth of spherical part of rigid punch increases, the probability of rupture increases. Additionally, the experiments demonstrate that there is a direct relationship between the forming energy and flow stress of the blanks. Furthermore, experimental observations illustrate that forming energy of a certain blank with PVC Teflon-filler is higher than that of a similar specimen with polyurethane Teflon-filler; but, the probability of wrinkling decreases when PVC Teflon-pad is used as the filler; and it is advantage of PVC Teflon-filler with respect to polyurethane Teflon.