Comparison of the deep drawability of aluminum and steel using numerical simulation experiments

Abstract

Sheet metal forming processes, especially deep drawing processes give diverse results by various materials. Extreme differences occur between steel sheets and aluminum sheets. The main causes of these differences are variances in micro- and macroscopic material properties, such as anisotropy. In this study, the behavior of two distinct materials, steel and aluminum alloy, during an axisymmetrical cup drawing operation has been studied numerically. For this purpose, finite element (FE) simulations of a simple cup drawing process, which was studied in the benchmarks of the NUMISHEET 2002 have been conducted using a commercial dynamic-explicit FE-analysis package. The materials analyzed have been 6111-T4 aluminum alloy and mild steel graded as deep drawing quality. Basic process parameters, which are the blank holding force and the lubrication condition, have been varied to obtain a "successful" product and the process windows for these two materials have been compared and investigated. Thickness distributions in the blank, force requirements for the process and product quality have been used for the basis of comparison. The results are also compared with an analytical model developed by Ramaekers. © 2005 American Institute of Physics.