Influence of process parameters on the deep drawing of stainless steel

Abstract

Optimization of process parameters in sheet metal forming is an important task to reduce manufacturing cost. To determine the optimum values of the process parameters, it is essential to find their influence on the deformation behaviour of the sheet metal. The significance of three important process parameters namely, die radius, blank holder force and friction coefficient on the deep-drawing characteristics of a stainless steel axi-symmetric cup was determined. Finite element method combined with Taguchi technique form a refined predictive tool to determine the influence of forming process parameters. The Taguchi method was employed to identify the relative influence of each process parameter considered in this study. A reduced set of finite element simulations were carried out as per the Taguchi orthogonal array. Based on the predicted thickness distribution of the deep drawn circular cup and analysis of variance test, it is evident that die radius has the greatest influence on the deep drawing of stainless steel blank sheet followed by the blank holder force and the friction coefficient. Further, it is shown that a blank holder force application and local lubrication scheme improved the quality of the formed part.