Design Optimization of the Aeronautical Sheet Hydroforming Process Using the Taguchi Method

The aluminium alloy sheet forming processes forging in rubber pad and diaphragm presses (also known as hydroforming processes) are simple and economical processes adapted to aeronautical production. Typical defects of these processes are elastic recovery, necking, and wrinkling, and they present di culties in control mainly due to property variations of the sheet material that take place during the process. In order to make these processes robust and unresponsive to material variations, a multiobjective optimization methodology based on the Taguchi method is proposed in the present study. The design of experiments and process simulation are combined in the methodology, using the nonlinear finite element method. The properties of sheet material are considered noise factors of the hydroforming process, the objective being to find a combination of the control factors that causes minimal defects to noise factors. The methodology was applied to an AA2024-T3 aluminium alloy sheet of 1 mm thickness stamping process in a diaphragm press. The results allowed us to establish the optimal pressure values, friction coeficient between sheet and block, and friction coeficient between sheet and rubber to reduce the elastic recovery variations and the minimal thickness before noise facts

Hydroforming techniques using epoxy molds Patent

Cold metal hydroforming techniques using epoxy molds for counteracting creep or stretc

Enhanced granular medium-based tube press hardening

Active and passive control strategies of internal pressure for hot forming of tubes and profiles with granular media are described. Force transmission and plastic deformation of granular medium is experimentally investigated. Friction between tube, granular medium and die as also the external stress field are shown to be essential for the process understanding. Wrinkling, thinning and insufficient forming of the tube establishes the process window for the active pressure process. By improving the punch geometry and controlling tribological conditions, the process limits are extended. Examples for the passive pressure process reveal new opportunities for hot forming of tubes and profiles.Comment: 4 pages, 11 figure

Simulation of hydro-formability testing for tubes

With the development of dedicated tubular products for hydroforming, the need for a representative\ud test for these products evolves. Currently free expansion tests are used, but these tests only follow a more\ud or less plane strain deformation. In reality, hydroforming is used with end feeding and the plane strain deformation\ud is not representative. By performing a number of tests with different positive and negative end feeding a\ud forming limit curve can be constructed, dedicated to tubular hydroforming.\ud In the paper simulations are presented for the tests with different end feeding conditions, using shell elements.\ud The influence of material parameters is investigated. Results of the FEM analysis are comparable with results\ud from a Marciniak–Kuczynksi analysis. Some salient differences can be attributed to the more realistic incorporation\ud of boundary conditions in the FEM analysis. In the tensile/compression region, the M–K analysis requires\ud a free displacement perpendicular to the main principal strain to have a neck developed at a specific angle to the\ud loading direction. In a hydroforming test the lateral displacement of the sheet would result in a rotation along\ud the tube axis, which is prevented by the seals. The constraint displacement results in a higher forming limi

Deterministic and robust optimisation strategies for metal forming proceesses

Product improvement and cost reduction have always been important goals in the metal forming industry. The rise of\ud Finite Element simulations for metal forming processes has contributed to these goals in a major way. More recently, coupling\ud FEM simulations to mathematical optimisation techniques has shown the potential to make a further contribution to product\ud improvement and cost reduction.\ud Mathematical optimisation consists of the modelling and solving of optimisation problems. Although both the\ud modelling and the solving are essential for successfully optimising metal forming problems, much of the research published until\ud now has focussed on the solving part, i.e. the development of a specific optimisation algorithm and its application to a specific\ud optimisation problem for a specific metal forming process.\ud In this paper, we propose a generally applicable optimisation strategy which makes use of FEM simulations of metal\ud forming processes. It consists of a structured methodology for modelling optimisation problems related to metal forming.\ud Subsequently, screening is applied to reduce the size of the optimisation problem by selecting only the most important design\ud variables. Screening is also utilised to select the best level of discrete variables, which are in such a way removed from the\ud optimisation problem. Finally, the reduced optimisation problem is solved by an efficient optimisation algorithm. The strategy is\ud generally applicable in a sense that it is not constrained to a certain type of metal forming problems, products or processes. Also\ud any FEM code may be included in the strategy.\ud However, the above strategy is deterministic, which implies that the robustness of the optimum solution is not taken\ud into account. Robustness is a major item in the metal forming industry, hence we extended the deterministic optimisation\ud strategy in order to be able to include noise variables (e.g. material variation) during optimisation. This yielded a robust\ud optimisation strategy that enables to optimise to a robust solution of the problem, which contributes significantly to the industrial\ud demand to design robust metal forming processes. Just as the deterministic optimisation strategy, it consists of a modelling,\ud screening and solving stage.\ud The deterministic and robust optimisation strategies are compared to each other by application to an analytical test\ud function. This application emphasises the need to take robustness into account during optimisation, especially in case of\ud constrained optimisation. Finally, both the deterministic and the robust optimisation strategies are demonstrated by application to\ud an industrial hydroforming example

A Robust Optimisation Strategy for Metal Forming Processes

Robustness, reliability, optimisation and Finite Element simulations are of major importance to improve product\ud quality and reduce costs in the metal forming industry. In this paper, we propose a robust optimisation strategy for metal\ud forming processes. The importance of including robustness during optimisation is demonstrated by applying the robust\ud optimisation strategy to an analytical test function and an industrial hydroforming process, and comparing it to deterministic\ud optimisation methods. Applying the robust optimisation strategy significantly reduces the scrap rate for both the analytical\ud test function and the hydroforming proces

Numerical product design: Springback prediction, compensation and optimization

Numerical simulations are being deployed widely for product design. However, the accuracy of the numerical tools is not yet always sufficiently accurate and reliable. This article focuses on the current state and recent developments in different stages of product design: springback prediction, springback compensation and optimization by finite element (FE) analysis. To improve the springback prediction by FE analysis, guidelines regarding the mesh discretization are provided and a new through-thickness integration scheme for shell elements is launched. In the next stage of virtual product design the product is compensated for springback. Currently, deformations due to springback are manually compensated in the industry. Here, a procedure to automatically compensate the tool geometry, including the CAD description, is presented and it is successfully applied to an industrial automotive part. The last stage in virtual product design comprises optimization. This article presents an optimization scheme which is capable of designing optimal and robust metal forming processes efficiently

Method of making dished ion thruster grids

A pair of flat grid blanks are clamped together at their edges with an impervious metal sheet on top. All of the blanks and sheets are dished simultaneously by forcing fluid to inflate an elastic sheet which contacts the bottom grid blank. A second impervious metal sheet is inserted between the two grid blanks if the grids have high percentage open areas. The dished grids are stress relieved simultaneously

FE analysis on tube hydroforming of small diametr ZM21 magnesium alloy tube

Tube hydroforming (THF) is one of the plasticity processing methods. Tubular parts, for instance automotive components are expanded by forces such as internal pressure and axial compression in order to deform an objective shape. THF has less restriction on shape and size of workpieces owing to adopting the liquid tool. The demand of a small diameter magnesium alloy tubular parts have been increased for applying small medical and electronic devices. In this study, it was investigated that influence of process conditions such as processing temperature, internal pressure and axial feeding amount on formability of small diameter ZM21 magnesium alloy tube with outer diameter of 2.0mm and thickness of 0.20mm. Furthermore, the processing conditions for improving the formability of material in THF were examined. For prior evaluation of deformation characteristics in the warm THF of small diameter ZM21 magnesium alloy tube, a finite element (FE) simulation was conducted. The FE method (FEM) code was used LS-DYNA 3D for analysis of the FE model of the tube and the dies. The material characteristics were obtained by tensile test and fracture test. From FE analysis results, it was elucidated that effect of the processing temperature, the variable internal pressure and the axial feeding amount on deformation behavior. The formability of ZM21 magnesium alloy tube was improved by processing at 250 C. The difference of deformation characteristic between FE results and experimental results was compared. As the results, the processing condition which could improve the formability of ZM21 tube was clarified using this FE model. The effect of adding the straightening stage in the loading path after the preform on formability was investigated. The thinning of the wall thickness of the tube was inhibited by calibration after the axial feeding

A metamodel based optimisation algorithm for metal forming processes

Cost saving and product improvement have always been important goals in the metal\ud forming industry. To achieve these goals, metal forming processes need to be optimised. During\ud the last decades, simulation software based on the Finite Element Method (FEM) has significantly\ud contributed to designing feasible processes more easily. More recently, the possibility of\ud coupling FEM to mathematical optimisation algorithms is offering a very promising opportunity\ud to design optimal metal forming processes instead of only feasible ones. However, which\ud optimisation algorithm to use is still not clear.\ud In this paper, an optimisation algorithm based on metamodelling techniques is proposed\ud for optimising metal forming processes. The algorithm incorporates nonlinear FEM simulations\ud which can be very time consuming to execute. As an illustration of its capabilities, the\ud proposed algorithm is applied to optimise the internal pressure and axial feeding load paths\ud of a hydroforming process. The product formed by the optimised process outperforms products\ud produced by other, arbitrarily selected load paths. These results indicate the high potential of\ud the proposed algorithm for optimising metal forming processes using time consuming FEM\ud simulations