Two-stage cold stamping of magnesium alloy cups having small corner radius

A two-stage cold stamping process for forming magnesium alloy cups having a small corner radius from commercial magnesium alloy sheets was developed. In the 1st stage, a cup having large corner radius was formed by deep drawing using a punch having large corner radius, and the corner radius of the cup was decreased by compressing the side wall in the 2nd stage. In the deep drawing of the 1st stage, fracture was prevented by decreasing the concentration of deformation with the punch having large corner radius. The magnesium alloy sheets were annealed at 500 °C to increase the cold formability. Circular and square cups having small corner radii were formed by the two-stage cold stamping. For the circular cup, the height of the cup was increased by ironing the side wall in the 1st stage. The radii of the bottom and side corners of the square cup were reduced by a rubber punch for applying pressure at these corners in the 2nd stage. It was found that comparatively shallow magnesium alloy square cups used as cases of laptop computers and mobile phones can be satisfactorily formed at room temperature without heating by the two-stage stamping.     

Deep drawing of square cups with magnesium alloy AZ31 sheets

The square cup drawing of magnesium alloy AZ31 (aluminum 3%, zinc 1%) sheets was studied by both the experimental approach and the finite element analysis. The mechanical properties of AZ31 sheets at various forming temperatures were first obtained from the tensile tests and the forming limit tests. The test results indicate that AZ31 sheets exhibit poor formability at room temperature, but the formability could be improved significantly at elevated temperatures up to 200 °C. The test results were then employed in the finite element simulations to investigate the effects of process parameters, such as punch and die corner radii, and forming temperature, on the formability of square cup drawing with AZ31 sheets. In order to validate the finite element analysis, the deep drawing of square cups of AZ31 sheets at elevated temperatures was also performed. The experimental data show a good agreement with the simulation results, and the optimal forming temperature, punch radius and die corner radius were then determined for the square cup drawing of AZ31 sheets.     

Development of a new process for producing deep square cups through conical dies

In this article, a new process for increasing the drawability of square cups has been developed. A circular blank is pushed by a flat-headed square punch through a conical die with a square aperture. The deformed blank conforms to the square shape of the die throat and finally a square cup is obtained. The developed technique has a simple tooling set in which the drawing process can be efficiently preformed in a single-acting stroke without using draw beads or blankholder. A commercial finite element simulation package, DYNAFORM, is used to investigate the developed setup in order to determine the optimum die cone angle. An experimental setup is built accordingly with a half cone angle of 18°. Brass alloy (67/33 Cu–Zn) and commercially pure aluminum (Al99.5w) sheets are used in the experimentations. The effects of the original blank thickness (t_o=1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, and 3 mm) and the orientation of the blank rolling direction (0°, 22.5°, 45°, and 67.5°) to the punch side on the limiting drawing ratio (LDR) and punch load are experimentally investigated. The present process successfully produces square cups with drawing ratios of 2.92 for brass and 2.74 for aluminum. The new process has shown superiority over the conventional methods through achieving high drawing ratio especially for thick sheets (2–3 mm). Comparison between experimental results and the available published work showed that the required punch force in the new process is significantly reduced while the LDR is increased.     

Formability of AZ31 magnesium alloy sheets at warm working conditions

Fine-grained AZ31 magnesium alloy sheets were prepared through hot-rolling process. To investigate the mechanical properties of the sheets, uniaxial tensile tests were conducted at various temperatures and strain rates. The formability of AZ31 alloy sheets at warm working conditions was evaluated by limit drawing ratio (LDR) tests and limit dome height (LDH) tests at temperatures from 50 to 240 °C. It is demonstrated that LDR increases remarkably with temperatures, whilst LDH does not seem to increase much with temperatures. The maximum LDR reaches 2.65 at a punch speed of 30mm/min at 200 °C, whereas the maximum LDH is only 10.8 mm, showing good deep drawability and poor stretchability of AZ31 alloy sheets. In addition, punch speeds and punch temperatures were found to have significant effects on the deep drawability of AZ31 magnesium alloy sheets.     

AZ31B镁合金板径向推力充液拉深试验

镁合金板冷成形性能差,采用液压成形的方法可提高其冷成形性能。对AZ31B镁合金板进行径向推力充液拉深试验,分析液压力大小、模具尺寸和坯料尺寸对最大拉深高度的影响规律,并对液压拉深件破裂位置、裂纹走向及裂纹形态进行分析。研究结果表明,当凸模圆角半径较大时,随着液压力的增大,得到的最大拉深高度也大;凸模圆角半径较小时,仅有当液压力大小合适时,才能改善其成形性能;板坯直径越大,最大拉深高度就越小。破裂位置一般在拉深试件的底部圆角、凸缘和侧壁处,且裂纹走向、裂纹断面呈现不同的形态。     

Plate forging of tailored blanks having local thickening for deep drawing of square cups

A plate forging process of tailored blanks having local thickening for the deep drawing of square cups was developed to improve the drawability. A sheet having uniform thickness was bent into a hat shape of two inclined portions, and then was compressed with a flat die under restraint of both edges to thicken the two inclined portions. The bending and compression were repeated after a right-angled rotation of the sheet for thickening in the perpendicular direction. The thickness of the rectangular ring portion equivalent to the bottom corner of the square cup was increased, particularly the thickening at the four corners of the rectangular ring undergoing large decrease in wall thickness in the deep drawing of square cups became double. The degree of thickening can be adjusted by controlling the punch stroke in the bending. By using the tailor blanks having local thickening, not only the decrease in wall thickness at the bottom corner of the square cup was prevented, but also the limiting drawing height of the cup without fracture was increased to 28.3 mm, whereas that for the uniform blank was 21.3 mm.     

Finite element modeling and experimental results of brass elliptic cups using a new deep drawing process through conical dies

This paper introduces a new technique for deep drawing of elliptic cups through a conical die without blank holder or draw beads. In this technique an elliptic-cup is produced by pushing a circular blank using a flat-headed elliptic punch through a conical die with an elliptic aperture in a single stroke. A 3D parametric finite element (FE) model was built using the commercial FE-package ANSYS/APDL. Effects of die and punch geometry including, half-cone angle, die fillet radius, die aperture length and punch fillet radius on limiting drawing ratio (LDR), drawing load and thickness strain of the cup have been investigated numerically for optimal process design. A die with half cone angle of 18° has shown the best drawability for the new technique. An experimental set-up has been designed, manufactured, and used for experimental production of elliptical shaped sheet-metal cups. A total of seven punches having aspect ratios ranging from 2 to 2.25 and a die with an aspect ratio of 2 have been manufactured and used. Tensile tests were carried out to obtain the stress–strain behavior for the formed sheet metal. Experiments were conducted on blanks of brass (CuZn33) with initial thicknesses of 1.5, 1.9, 2.4 and 3 mm at different clearance ratios (c/t). Effects of blank thickness and clearance ratio on limiting drawing ratio, drawing load and thickness strain were numerically and experimentally investigated. Finite element model results showed good agreement with experimental results. An elliptic cup with a limiting drawing ratio (LDR) of 2.28 has been successfully achieved using the proposed technique and set-up.     

Tool temperature control to increase the deep drawability of aluminum 1050 sheet

A feasibility study on the tool temperature control to increase the deep drawability of Al-1050 sheet is performed. The conventional deep drawing process is limited to a certain limit drawing ratio (LDR) beyond which failure will ensue. The purpose of this study is to examine the possibilities of relaxing the above limitation through the tool temperature control, aiming towards a process with an increased LDR. The idea which may lead to this goal is strengthening the punch-nose radius part by cold punch which has frequently been potential failure area in cup drawing process, while heating the remainder of the blank to reduce the stress on the cup sidewalls. Over the ranges of conditions investigated, the deep drawability of Al-1050 is found to be strongly sensitive to the temperature of the die and punch. The experimental implementation shows that the tool temperature control is very effective way to promote deep drawability of Al-1050.     

Cold stamping formability of AZ31B magnesium alloy sheet undergoing repeated unidirectional bending process

The repeated unidirectional bending (RUB) process was carried out on an AZ31B magnesium alloy in order to investigate its effects on the cold stamping formability. The limiting drawing ratio (LDR) of the RUB processed magnesium alloy sheet with an inclination of basal pole in the rolling direction can reach 1.5 at room temperature. It was also confirmed that cell phone housings can be stamped successfully in crank press using the RUB processed AZ31B magnesium alloy sheet. The improvement of the stamping formability at room temperature can be attributed to the texture modifications, which led to a lower yield strength, a larger fracture elongation, a smaller Lankford value (r-value) and a larger strain hardening exponent (n-value).     

Deformation behaviors of magnesium alloy AZ31 sheet in cold deep drawing

To investigate how the popular magnesium alloy AZ31 sheet （aluminum 3%, zinc 1%） behaves in cold working, deep drawing experiments at room temperature, along with finite element（FE） simulation, were performed on the cold forming sheet of the AZ31 alloy after being annealed under various conditions. The activities were focused on the fracture pattern, limit drawing ratio（LDR）, deformation load, thickness distribution, anisotropic effect, as well as the influences of the annealing conditions and tool configuration on them. The results display that punch shoulder radius instead of die clearance, has much influence on the thickness distribution. The anisotropy is remarkable in cold working, which adversely impacts the LDR. The fracture often happens on the side wall at an angle to axis of the deformed specimen. The results also imply that the LDR for the material under present experimental conditions is 1.72, and annealing the material at 450 ℃ for 1 h may be preferable for the cold deep drawing.     

细晶5083铝合金非等温拉深工艺研究

通过实验研究了拉深凹模温度、拉深速度、压边间隙及润滑条件对细晶5083铝合金非等温拉深工艺的影响。实验结果表明:细晶5083铝合金板料在凹模温度为250℃以上具有良好的拉深成形能力。当凹模温度为275℃时,极限拉深比达到2.9;当在较佳的凹模温度不同的拉深速度下进行拉深时,得出细晶5083铝合金非等温拉深工艺在一定的拉深速度范围内对应变速率不敏感,在压头速度≤2mm/min时均能拉深成功。考虑了润滑层厚度和材料在升温过程中的热膨胀性能,通过实验得出的最佳压边间隙为1.9mm。选用水基石墨作为润滑剂,润滑层厚度达到0.3mm左右时拉深能够成功进行。     

铝锂合金的温热拉深成形性能

在数值模拟研究压边力、毛料直径、凸凹模圆角半径、变形温度等对5A90铝锂合金板材拉深成形影响的基础上,采用正交试验设计方法对拉深成形工艺参数进行优化设计,并进行相应的拉深成形试验。研究表明,变形温度对拉深成形影响最显著,其次是毛料大小的影响,而变形速度和压边力的大小对拉深成形影响较小。通过对试验结果的计算、分析和总结,获得了5A90铝锂合金板材拉深成形的最佳工艺参数组合,在最佳工艺参数条件下,铝锂合金的极限拉深系数达到了0.45。     

Influence of initial texture on formability of AZ31B magnesium alloy sheets at different temperatures

Repeated unidirectional bending (RUB) process was carried out to improve the texture of AZ31B magnesium alloy sheets. Influence of initial texture on formability of AZ31B magnesium alloy sheets at different temperatures was investigated. Compared with the as-received sheets, the limiting drawing ratio of the RUB processed sheets increased to 1.3 at room temperature, 1.5 at 50 °C and 1.7 at 100 °C, respectively. The improvement of the press formability at lower temperatures can be attributed to the texture modification, which led to a smaller Lankford value and a larger strain hardening exponent. However, the press formability of the sheet with a weakened basal texture has no advantage at higher temperature. This is due to much smaller r-value that results in severe thinning in thickness direction during the stamping process which is unfavorable to forming. Anyhow it is likely that the texture control has more effect on the press formability at lower temperature.     

Mechanical anisotropy and deep drawing behaviour of AZ31 and ZE10 magnesium alloy sheets

The influence of the initial microstructure on the deep drawability and the associated microstructural evolution in two different magnesium alloy sheets, AZ31 and ZE10, has been examined. Tensile testing at room temperature shows that the AZ31 sheet has high plastic strain ratios, r = 2–3, which are caused by strong basal-type texture. The ZE10 sheet shows lower r values, r ～ 1, as a result of its weak texture. Deep drawing experiments carried out over the temperature range 100–300 °C revealed that the ZE10 sheet can be successfully deep-drawn at lower temperatures than the AZ31 sheet. The ZE10 cups show earing despite the weak texture and low normal anisotropy, while earing of the AZ31 cups is negligible. In the ZE10 cups, deformation is accommodated mainly by 〈a〉 slips and by compression as well as secondary twinning. The occurrence of dynamic recrystallization is observed in successfully deep-drawn AZ31 cups.     

Friction aided deep drawing of sheet metals using polyurethane ring and auxiliary metal punch. Part 1: experimental observations on the deep drawing of aluminium thin sheets and foils

Friction aided deep drawing based on the Maslennikov process is investigated as a method to facilitate the deep drawing of sheet metals with poor drawability. Aluminium foils and thin sheets of 0.1–0.4 mm in thickness are used as a model for the material with poor drawability. An auxiliary metal punch is used together with a polyurethane ring to increase the drawing efficiency and to improve the dimensional accuracy of the drawn cup. The effect of drawing conditions such as thickness, hole diameter and the hardness of the polyurethane ring on the cup height are mainly investigated. Also, the optimum number of drawing operations required to achieve a given drawing ratio is examined by repeating compression and unloading the polyurethane ring. The experimental results show that even for foil and thin sheets, deep cups with drawing ratios of 2.25 and with good shape and dimensional accuracy can be obtained by repeating the drawing operation about ten times. The achievable drawing ratio is appreciably larger when compared with that obtained by the conventional deep drawing process.     

Multi-Stage Cold Deep Drawing of Long Pure Titanium Cups Using Coloured Sheets for Prevention of Seizure

Long pure titanium cups were formed by multi-stage cold deep drawing using commercial coloured titanium sheets for preventing seizing. The titanium sheets have sufficient ductility and high r-value for the deep drawing, whereas the seizure tends to occur during the deep drawing due to high reactivity with die materials. The coloured pure titanium sheets were treated by electrochemical coating so as to get oxide surface layer effective for preventing the seizing. By the use of commercial coloured sheets, the investment of coating machines can be avoided in sheet metal forming makers and the quality of the oxide layer can be controlled. The effects of the thickness of the oxide layer, die materials and lubricants on the occurrence of seizure in multi-stage deep drawing were examined. It was found that the coloured pure titanium sheets have sufficient ability in preventing the seizure in multi-stage deep drawing processes.     

AZ31镁合金板材室温拉深破裂行为

为了探索提高AZ31镁合金板材室温冲压性能的途径,通过断口形貌分析,对板材室温拉深变形过程中的破裂机理进行了研究.结果表明,室温下,对于普通轧制板材,在拉深比达到1.2后即在冲头肩部发生破裂;对于等径角轧制板材.其拉深比可达1.6以上;当拉深比达到1.8时,在杯形件凸缘发生破裂,断面光滑平整.为解理断裂.这主要与板材在拉深变形中的应力应变状态和其非基面织构有关.单向拉伸与断口分析表明其冲压性能和破裂行为的差异,主要是因为这两种板材织构不同所致.     

Improvement of formability in deep drawing of ultra-high strength steel sheets by coating of die

The formability of deep drawn ultra-high strength steel sheets in dies coated with either titanium nitride (TiN) or Vanadium carbide (VC) at different drawing speeds and ironing ratios was investigated. TiN was deposited via chemical vapour deposition and physical vapour deposition (PVD) while thermal diffusion was used for VC deposition. In non-coated dies, seizure occurred on both surfaces of the die and the side wall of the drawn cup irrespective of the deep drawing conditions. The deep drawability is improved with coating of die. Whereas in coated dies, seizure became significant only during deep drawing extreme conditions of 120 mm/s for TiN-coated dies; and this was prevented in VC-coated dies across all drawing conditions. The VC-coated die was suitable for deep drawing of ultra-high strength steel sheets. The delayed fractured observed in the ultra-high strength steel cups occurred for a large amount of ironing ratio and drawing speeds; and this can be prevented by appropriate heat treatment.     

Parametric analysis of warm forming of aluminum blanks with FEA and DOE

1 Introduction Warm forming of lightmass materials has been investigated as an alternative manufacturing process to achieve higher formability compared with forming at room temperature due to a substantial increase in material ductility[1?8]. SHEHATA et a…     

防盗瓶盖用8A06-H16铝合金带材工艺研究

研究了不同的退火温度和冷变形量对8A06铝合金组织、性能特别是对深冲性的影响，确定了8A06铝合金H16状态带材的生产工艺参数。在工业生产条件下，其产品的各项技术指标均达到用户的要求。