Investigation of the Effects of Pressure Path and Tool Parameters in Hydrodynamic Deep Drawing

Abstract

In recent years, hydroforming process has been applied in different industries such as aerospace, automotive and military industries due to its advantages, such as high dimensional accuracy, capability of forming complicated parts and high drawing ratio. Hydrodynamic deep drawing with radial pressure is one type of hydroforming process. In this paper, forming of cylindrical cups in hydrodynamic deep drawing with radial pressure is numerically and experimentally investigated and the effects of significant parameters such as pressure path, punch corner radius and die profile radius on the cup thickness distribution and punch force were studied. The results obtained showed that increasing the pressure affects the thickness reduction in critical regions of cup and from the certain pressure, the pressure does not have a significant effect on the thickness of part. On the other hand, increasing the pressure, increases the force needed for forming the cup. Also, it was found that by increasing the punch corner radius, the cup thickness will be more uniform and maximum punch force does not change. Results of studying the effect of die profile radius on thickness distribution and punch force showed that increasing the die profile radius has a positive effect on the cup thickness distribution and the force needed to form part.