Numerical and experimental investigation of parameters affect the forming load during rubber pad sheet metal forming

Abstract

The flexible die forming of sheet metal with the aid of rubber pad as a pressure-carrying medium is one of the advanced forming technologies for sheet metal forming components. In this research, rubber pad forming process was used to produce cups with different shapes. The sheet made from low carbon steel with a thickness of 0.5 mm. The rubber pad has made from polyurethane with different values of hardness and thickness which are (50, 60 and 70) shore A, and (40 and 80 mm), respectively. This pad is used to apply counter pressure to form the sheets. The former block is with three different shapes, which are flat, hemispherical, and complex. A numerical study has conducted to look into the deformation style of this process by 2D-FE simulation under the ANSYS Workbench platform. Numerical and experimental results illustrate that the forming load increases with increase rubber hardness while it decreases with increase the rubber pad thickness.