An Analysis of Draw-Wall Wrinkling in a Stamping Die Design

Wrinkling that occurs in the stamping of tapered square cups and stepped rectangular cups is investigated. A common characteristic of these two types of wrinkling is that the wrinkles are found at the draw wall that is relatively unsup-ported. In the stamping of a tapered square cup, the effect of process parameters, such as the die gap and blank-holder force, on the occurrence of wrinkling is examined using finite-element simulations. The simulation results show that the larger the die gap, the more severe is the wrinkling, and such wrinkling cannot be suppressed by increasing the blank-holder force. In the analysis of wrinkling that occurred in the stamping of a stepped rectangular cup, an actual production part that has a similar type of geometry was examined. The wrinkles found at the draw wall are attributed to the unbalanced stretching of the sheet metal between the punch head and the step edge. An optimum die design for the purpose of eliminating the wrinkles is determined using finite-element analysis. The good agreement between the simulation results and those observed in the wrinkle-free production part validates the accuracy of the finite-element analysis, and demonstrates the advantage of using finite-element analysis for stamping die design.