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The simulation of metal forming processes with the finite element method (FEM) is becoming more and more significant for process ana-
lysis and optimising. With regard to the quality of the calculations care must be taken to select a suitable FE model. Possibilities for FEM
applications will be shown using the examples of die bending sheets and profile bending. A practical extension of this application is the
support of the FE systems user by access to a material database.
Berechnung von Umformprozessen mit der FEM. Die Simulation von Umformvorgangen mit der Finite-Elemente-Methode (FEM) wird fur
die ProzeBanalyse und -optimierung zunehmend bedeutungsvoller. Ein geeignetes FE-Modell isl mit Hinblick auf eine qualitativ hochwertige
Berechnung sorgfaltig auszuwahlen. Am Beispiel des Gesenkbiegens von Blechen und des Profilbiegens werden die Einsatzmoglichkeiten
der FEM aufgezeigt. Eine UnterstOtzung des Anwenders von FE-Systemen durch Zugriff auf eine Materialdatenbank bildet dabei eine
sinnvolle Erganzung.
avoid extensive series of experiments the simulation of Figure 1. Market trends determine the demands made on produc-
forming processes is used as a numerical experiment [3] tion
and supplies starting points for selective experiment plan-
ning, so that experiments, which are often bound up with method of analysis which has multiple uses. Where these
considerable expense, can be reduced to a minimum. As numerical processes are used the question is often raised
among other things a reliable determination of material as to the quality of the calculations which can only be an-
data through experiments has a considerable influence on swered under the significant aspect of model influences.
the quality of the calculation, process simulation will never For an optimum generation of the FE model, however, not
be able to replace experiments. The aim of simulation is only the aspect of accuracy is important but also the time
rather to clarify as early as possible, i.e. in the design and required for the calculations which is governed by the sim-
construction phase, questions concerning: ulation times and by the amount of pre- and post-processing
the feasibility of the metal forming process; involved.
changes in the characteristics of the workpiece and pos-
sible optimising of the process, for example to minimise Use of process analysis in forming by bending
residual stresses; technology
current physical processes to extend understanding
Simulating sheet bending with the FEM. Using the
through parameter variations [3].
example of die bending the possibilities for process analy-
Methods of numerical analysis of metal forming processes ses will be introduced in the following pages. Moreover, the
can now look back on twenty years' development. At a influence of the FE model on the calculated results will be
very early stage these were used in the fields of automo- made clear. For some years the commercially available FE
tive engineering and aerospace technology. However, they system Marc has been used in the Department of Forming
are only now starting to be used by small and medium- Technology to simulate metal forming processes. In con-
sized businesses [3]. The finite element method (FEM) is a trast to elementary methods of calculating, the FEM allows
a wide-ranged analysis of the bending process including the
Dr.-Ing. Andreas Greve; Dip/.-lng. Folker Haase; Dipl.-Ing. Lutz KejJler;
Dr.-lng. Robert Schilling, Department of Forming Technology, Dortmund die-stamping process. The FE model required for the sim-
University, Germany. ulation was based on the following assumptions:
Process development
I I
Development CAD
Construction
Drafting
. Experiment
,
:I I
Experimental arrangement
. Measure
En g ineerin g -
dat a
181!
Corrections Parameter Recommendations
'D'
•
s:31
Process simulation
I I
Model generation
Calculation
Drafting
' '
I Job engineering I
Choice of operating material CAP
NC - programming
&NC - data = 7, 4 mm
Construction of «, = goo
Tool Fst. max= 100 kN
operating material
Rigid
Control system CAM
Checking Friction
(by Roll/Lange/ coefficient : µ= 0, 15
Operational data collecting
Herrmann/Wilhelm)
Figure 2. Position of process simulation in a computer-aided metal Figure 3. FE model and equivalent plastic strain distribution during
forming technology [3] die bending
- plane strain in the sheet; gridded specimens made of special stainless steel, which
rigid tools; were bent in stages, the stress distribution in the sheet was
consideration of the friction between workpiece and tool established by determining the material flow. Figure 4 il-
with the help of Coulomb's law; lustrates the good degree of consistency between the visio-
sheet free of residual stress before forming; plastically and the numerically determined circumferential
linear elastic behaviour of the sheet material and non- stress distribution in the axis of symmetry of the bending
linear, non-compressible behaviour in the area of plastic part under load in the tensile area. On the other hand, devi-
deformations; ations can be seen in the compression area of the bending
isotropic flow behaviour according to v. Mises flow cri- part. This can also be observed in the radial stress curves
terion, associated flow law and isotropic compacting be-
haviour of the material.
The work hardening curve of the sheet material, austenitic I
I
I Bending angle: & 1 = 60°
steel X5CrNi 18-9, was determined in a computer-aided I FE - calculation:
flat tensile test before the calculations. Figure 3 shows the 3, 2 f - - 1 - - - - + + - - - - h - - / - - , f - - - - - Clxx
E
FE structure and the distribution of the equivalent plastic E - - - Cfyy
1,
Beam model I'-...
I '-...
I '-...
I -...
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/' ........... I
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/ ................. I
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............ I
'--...
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Shell model
Equivalent plastic
strain (v. Mi.ses)
Solid model
0 - o. 020
0, 020 - o. 039
0, 039 - o. 059
0, 059 o. 078
0, 078 - o. 097
0, 097 - o. 117
Al Mg Si 0, 7 (T4)
- - - Beam model
E hollow profile: 60x40x4
- - - - - Shell model _ _ _+ - - - - - f - - - - - - - - - <
~ 2. 5 - - Solid model
E 50 q = 3, 15 1/m
;y_
----- ----- ·rl
c
J __--~-:::;:::;---,__J_:::;;;:~:=:"::1::=::::r===J
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o L__
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+-'
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·rl
~ 1. 5
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f-----------<-----+-- 0 30
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0 0.
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~
g1 1. 0 0 20
·rl +-'
TI .c - - - Beam model
c Material :AlMgSi0.7 (T4) 01
- - - - - Shell model
~ 0, 5 10
·rl
Rectangular hollow prof i l : 60x40x4 - + - - - - - - <
w - - Solid model
I
0 ~--~>-----~-----+---~------' 0
0 2 3 4 5 -180 -120 -60 0 60 120 180
Curvature q in 1/m Normal stress oxx in N/mm 2
Figure 9. Influence of the selected element type on the momen- Figure 10. Normal stress distribution in circumferential direction
tum/curvature ratio
The effects are slight up to the curvatures under observa- Support for model generation through access to
tion here. Beam elements are therefore extremely suitable material database
for use where the momentum/curvature ratios have to be
determined in a short computational period. In the case of Material data is often transferred to the corresponding
other analysis parameters the definition-determined limits simulation program by an input data record or interactively
of beam elements are encountered, which figure 10 shows at the start of calculating. For the FE user, this transfer
clearly. This figure shows the normal stress distribution in mechanism means a relatively long period of time spent
the direction of the circumference in the lateral web of the on research as well as a source of errors during data trans-
profile. In this case the outer profile curvature is 3.15 m- 1 fer, and can therefore no longer be regarded as practical.
and bending momentum is approximately 2200 Nm. In the For this reason, the concept of a central material data man-
case of the beam model, stress distribution runs symmet- agement system consisting of a material database with the
rically to the centre line of the profile. Compressive stress appropriate interface functions has been designed [14) and
occurs at the inner bending radius and tensile stress at the implemented within the scope of the joint project "Process
outer. In the case of the shell and solid models cross-section Simulation for Metal forming - PSU" [13). In addition,
deformation leads to a displacement of the stress free area the database was connected to the commercial FE system
in the direction of the inner bending edge. The deviations Marc.
between the shell and the solid models are mainly caused The demands the system made on the material database
here by the coarse discretion of the shell model in the area with regard to universal applicability, problem-free extend-
of the centre of the profile. The maximum stress calculated ability and short reaction times in areas critical to runtime
lie at the inner and outer bending radius. They are approx- led to the concept sketched in figure 13. The central com-
imately equal for all calculation models at approximately ponent is an SQL-based material database, the contents of
160 N/mm 2 . which are accessed via corresponding interface modules.
Figure 11 shows the outline of the deformed cross- Along with a data input system, which supports direct in-
section for the solid model as well as the profile defor- put of the material data generated in the experiment, the
mation of the web centre lines calculated with the help of material data management covers a research system for in-
the shell model. A comparison of the cross-sectional defor- teractive applications as well as an initialising system which
mations in the shell and solid models shows that the results calls the material data required for the simulation from the
of the calculations are consistent with one another. database before the calculation. The runtime system covers
Figure 12 shows some of the differences between beam, the area critical for the runtime and makes the processed
shell and solid elements. Where beam elements are used material data available during the simulation.
opportunities for analysis are restricted. It is of particu- The use of the material database in an FE bending simu-
lar disadvantage that the cross-sectional deformation and lation is characterised by the following procedure. Starting,
the changes in profile thickness are not taken into account. for example, from work hardening curves generated in flat
This is contrasted with the advantage of a short computa- tensile tests, the processed material data is written to the
tional period. With shell and solid elements, calculation material database, figure 14. In computer-aided flat tensile
results can be visualised better with the pre- and post- tests for gathering and processing material data a PC is
processor Mentat which was used here. In addition, the available for the intermediate storage of the raw data in the
cross-sectional deformation and in general the changes in form of an ASCII file. This file is then processed in accor-
thickness can also be calculated. However, the computa- dance with the necessary syntax for the data input system
tional period required for the analysis of the bending pro- and transferred to the database.
cess with shell or solid models is much greater than the The pre-processing system is divided into two fields (fig-
computational period required for a beam model. ure 14). On the one hand Mentat is used to enter the FE
~
70 Rectangular Beam element She 11 e 1ement Solid element
hollow profil: 60X40X4
s
<> ©
Curvature q = 3, 15 1/m
60 _____ ,
r
e
/
- -- - - I Computable
I
E I Curvature for the Computable Computable
E neutral line
c 50 Cross -
·rl
sectional Nat
computable Computable Computable
deformation
,-,
"'
Q)
40 Change of Not Computable
thickness computable for some Computable
·rl
'I- shell elements
0
L
cross -
I
0. sectional Any Any Any
30 I form
'I-
I
0 I -- --- She 11 mode 1
I Computational
.µ
I
- - - Solid model time Short Long Long
.c I
OJ 20
·rl
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Q)
I
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Figure 12. Possibilities for analysis in dependency on the element
I
I
classes used
10 I
0
------
~ Data acquisi
0 10 20 30 Experiment Data base
CID
Width of profile y
-~
in mm
...
Figure 11. Calculated cross-sectional deformation on the shell or
solid model
Preprocessin Preprocessing
Preprocessing Simulation
Research system With PATRAN
MDV anager B_esearch
Materials
:[nterfaces
I>
S.M
Input of:
Data types C>
Goods C>
Geometry,
Data recordsC> Mater1al-Nr. Boundary
ata record-ID-Nr. conditions etc.
Computation
With
I
[K] t.{u}= t.{F}
Postprocessin g
With PATRAN
• Output of:
Displacements,
Strains, Stress.
~~::: Temperatures etc .
• 350-420
Figure 13. System overview of the material data management Figure 14. Course of a die bending simulation
(MDV) of the program system PSU
structure, the rigid tools and the boundary conditions, and individual PSU modules for polling. These calls occur in-
on the other hand making the material parameters available ternally and are invisible to the user. After the calculation,
for the material model necessitates research in the material the results are available in the archive for post-processing
database. The material found can be selected for the simu- (figure 14) and can be evaluated with Mentat via an inter-
lation with PSU or Marc and written to the archive, which face and outputted in the form of graphics for the analysis
also contains the data generated with Mentat. report.
At the start of the simulation the material data is written
in an initialising step to the running time system of the (A 00 914; received: 04. December 1993;
material management system, where it is available to the in completed form: 16. April 1994)