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Experimental and numerical analyses of sheet hydroforming process for production of an automobile body part
M.H. Parsa a, , P. Darbandi b
School of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, University College of Engineering, University of Tehran, P.O. Box 11155/4563, Tehran, Iran b Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Tehran, P.O. Box 11155/4563, Tehran, Iran
a

a r t i c l e
Article history:

i n f o

a b s t r a c t
An approach for substituting conventional manufacturing method of a three pieces shell fender by one piece has been proposed. This approach is based on sheet hydroforming process, which has many advantages over conventional stamping processes. For production of shell fender by sheet hydroforming, two possible manufacturing procedures have been evaluated numerically, namely; pure stretching and draw-in. In addition, results of both nite element simulations and experiments on small size specimens show superiority of draw-in procedure. The advantage of draw-in over pure stretching procedure has

Received 9 April 2006 Received in revised form 21 July 2007 Accepted 24 July 2007

Keywords: Sheet hydroforming Auto body parts Stamping Fluid pressure FEM

been explained using thickness variation measurements. Furthermore, the draw-in procedure of shell fender has been optimized with respect to initial blank size, uid pressure and required tools using an explicit commercial forward nite element program. Finally, the effects of sheet material and uid pressure on the required deformation force in laboratory scale have also been evaluated. 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1.

Introduction

Sheet hydroforming process is one of the new technologies that seems to be capable of satisfying the industrial requirements in the eld of sheet metal forming. This technique, in which one of the tools is replaced by a soft tool was initially proposed about two decades ago, has many advantages over the conventional stamping processes. Sheet hydroforming has the ability to solve inherent problems and limitations associated with conventional processes. Typical tools for sheet hydroforming consist of a punch, a blank holder, a pressure chamber, and a rubber diaphragm that is used for sealing of liquid in the pressurized chamber as shown in Fig. 1. Sheet

hydroforming advantages include, increasing drawing ratio, better surface quality, less spring back, minimizing thickness variations of the products, and reducing tooling cost especially for nonsymmetrical components, etc., that lead to possibility of manufacturing complex stampings with less difculties with regards to rigid tools (Zhang and Danckert, 1998; Zhang, 1999; Kandil, 2003; Zampaloni et al., 2003; Lang et al., 2004; Zhang et al., 2003). For clarifying the ability of this process, sheet hydroforming has been subjects of many research works (Zhang et al., 2004; Yossifon and Tirosh, 1989; Thiruvarudchelvan and Lewis, 1999; Thiruvarudchelvan and Travis, 2003; Rimkusa et al., 2000; Ahmetoglu et al., 2004; Hein and Vollertsen, 1999; Novotny and Hein, 2001), and it has

Corresponding author. Tel.: +98 21 61114069; fax: +98 21 88006076. E-mail addresses: mhparsa@ut.ac.ir, m h parsa@yahoo.com (M.H. Parsa). 0924-0136/$ see front matter 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2007.07.023

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Fig. 1 Schematic of sheet hydroforming process.

been proposed as a good candidate for production of stampings in automotive industry (Lei et al., 2000; Kang et al., 2004; Nakamura et al., 1994). For design analysis, application of the conventional methods of evaluations for sheet hydroforming are very expensive and time consuming, while the numerical and simulation approach such as nite element method can enhance existing knowledge and reduce tool cost and lead-time. This is done by predicting formability and providing virtual tryout before tool construction in advance (Lei et al., 2000; Kang et al., 2004). Since different strategies can be selected for production of any stampings, in this research it has been attempted to simulate the production of a complete hydroformed shell fender that substitutes two complex stampings, in order to select the best possible procedure. The manufacturing procedure of the mentioned part has been analyzed from the blank design to the nal product. Then, in order to evaluate the nite element results, experimental examinations have been carried out on the down sized specimens. In the following sections, the simulation and experimental procedures and results will be presented.

Fig. 2 Flow diagram of the simulation steps.

2.

Sheet hydroforming simulation

of shell fender, capabilities of two methods for production of shell fender have been evaluated, numerically. Based on the evaluations, the best possible procedure has been selected for production of the shell fender. Then the sheet hydroforming process of integrated part has been optimized with respect to the constraint that exerted by the die and uid pressure using a commercial nite element program with capability of large deformation simulation. Also the effects of sheet materials on the deformation behavior have been evaluated. Since sheet hydroforming experiments had been carried out on the 1:8 ratio scale of real size, hydroforming simulations were carried out on both real and small sizes. Fig. 2 illustrates, the simulation steps as ow diagram. In the following sections brief discussions on the new integrated part, simplied model, simulation steps and assumed boundary conditions, will be discussed.

Based on the past experience, it is believed that sheet hydroforming using a punch is suitable and practical for manufacturing of nonsymmetrical complex shell fender that consists of two welded stampings (Parsa and Shahabizaheh, submitted for publication). For dening the best manufacturing strategy for production of complete shell fender based on numerical simulations, the shape and size of initial blank has been determined rst. Since both stretching and draw-in production procedures seem to be applicable for manufacturing

2.1.

Model description

Two parts shown in Fig. 3 constitute the conventional shell fender. Normally three steps are required to make this specimen. These are (i) laser welding and pressing to make part A, (ii) stamping of part B, and (iii) nally joining of parts A, B. But by noticing capabilities of the sheet hydroforming process, production of complete shell fender in one step seems to be

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Fig. 3 Conventional stamp welded fender shell parts: (A) tailor blank and (B) cup head.

Fig. 4 The complete integrated model. Fig. 5 Initial blank shape. possible. In Fig. 4 a simplied complete model is shown. This is the shape that considered for later simulations and experimental works. The resulted model is very complicated and difcult for production by conventional stamping processes.

sheets, the maximum biaxial strains are equal to 0.65 and 0.3, respectively.

2.3. 2.2. Used materials

Initial blank shape and size

Three kinds of sheet metals, low carbon steel sheet (St14), IF steel sheet and 2024 aluminum sheet with thickness of 0.8 mm have been used. The mechanical properties of used sheet metals are presented in Table 1. In the case of low carbon steel (St14), it has been found from forming limit diagram of this material that the maximum biaxial strain is equal to 0.45 (Aretz, 2004). In the case of IF steel and 2024-O aluminum

Dening the initial blank shape and size is a critical step in stamping production design especially for complicated shapes. It is a well-known fact that, if the initial blank shape and size are not correctly designed, successful stamping operation will not be attained even though well-designed tools have been applied. Therefore, for designing the initial blank shape and size, an inverse nite element program was used. The data for the shape, size and thickness of the nal product

Table 1 Mechanical properties of used sheet materials Material

St14 IF 2024-O

Yield strength (MPa)

180 146.5 96

Ultimate strength (MPa)

323 439.7 240

El. (%)
43 60 20

Hardening model
= K = Kn = Kn
n

K (MPa)
625 580 380

n
0.27 0.32 0.28

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Fig. 6 Hydroforming tool models used for simulations: (a) punch; (b) pressure chamber with guide or semi-die device; (c) schematic assembled model.

is processed with the aid of this program, which will subsequently calculate the initial blank shape and size in one step (Parsa and Pournia, 2004). The shape of the predicted blank for simulation of a full size draw-in procedure is shown in Fig. 5. In addition, 1/8 size blank was also used for simulations of drawin procedure in order to compare the simulations outcomes with experimental results. In the case of pure stretching, maximum circular blank diameter of 1200 mm for full scale and 150 mm for 1:8 scale were considered, since available sheet material for deformation plays an important role.

2.4.

Tools

Fig. 6 illustrates the shape of tools and their arrangements used for forming simulation of shell fender by sheet hydroforming. The mainly considered tools consisted of uid pressure chamber, semi-die device or guide and punch. In all of simulations, the tools were considered to be rigid.

2.5.

Boundary conditions

The quality of nal products manufactured using sheet hydroforming method, largely depends on the process parameters such as pressure, friction, size of initial blank and position of the punch and semi-die device. To establish the proper process parameter combinations after preliminary initial blank calculations, several simulations were conducted under differ-

ent boundary conditions using a commercially available FEM code. During all of simulations, tools (punch, pressure chamber components and semi-die device) were considered to be rigid, while sheet metals constitute deformable material. The uid pressure was assumed to be uniformly distributed over the surface of sheet metal whose opposite surface was located in front of the punch. Therefore, punch movements and liquid pressure acted in opposite direction and could be varied, separately. The uid pressure was varied from 0 to 30 Mpa. Contact condition between the surface of sheet and tools was dened as the surface to surface contact based on the nonlinear contact strategy (Harnau et al., 2005). Also it was assumed that the Coulomb law of friction prevailed and the coefcient of friction was considered be equal to 0.01. For simulation of shell fender production, two cases, namely stretching and draw-in were considered. In the case of draw-in procedure based on the considered tools congurations, contact could be established between punch, blank holder and one side of sheet metal surface, while movement of other side sheet metal surface that is subjected to uid pressure in some limited area was assumed to be controlled by semi-die device. Also it was assumed that the periphery of the initial blanks had the possibility of moving in three directions, rotating in two directions and deforming according to the shape of punch and semi-die device. In the case of stretching, contact could be established between punch, blank holder and one side of the sheet metal

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surface. It was considered that periphery of the initial blank was xed and there was no possibility of movement or rotation.

2.6.

Optimization procedures

After determination of the best process for production of the shell fender (draw-in process) and dening applicable range of the uid pressure variation, forward sheet hydroforming simulations of the shell fender were carried out. The main aims of these series of simulations were attempted, (i) to obtain an optimum blank shape and size, (ii) to dene the best position of the punch, (iii) to determine the most efcient combination of uid pressure and punch stroke and (iv) to study the necessity of using additional tool (guide or semi-die device) for minimizing the defects that might occur in some parts of the work piece. There are two main criteria for selecting the optimum conditions; (a) strain distribution should be uniform as much as possible; (b) strain should not exceed the maximum allowable biaxial strain of the sheet material dened by FLD diagrams. Several simulations were carried out and based on the mentioned two criteria, the optimum manufacturing conditions of shell fender were dened. The results of simulations will be presented in Section 4.

extensometer, and some accessories to control the pressure. The pressure container had been designed to withstand the pressurized uid and gave enough space for the deformed specimen. A tightly screwed cover plate was used to close the container at the top. The punch penetrated through the concentric hole in the cover plate. To seal the container an o-ring was used under the cover plate. Also a 2 mm at rubber diaphragm was used under the cover plate for sealing the pressurized container.

3.2.

Experimental procedure

3.
3.1.

Experimental tools and procedure

Experimental tools

Initially it should be point out that the experimental tools had been designed for studying the effect of parameters on forming behavior of small size shell fender in laboratory testing as a means of sheet hydroforming performance evaluation for production of full size shell fender. All the tests were carried out using 40-t hydraulic single action press. A photograph and a schematic of the used equipment for hydroforming test are shown in Fig. 7. The designed experimental test rig consisted of a pressure container, cover plate, punch, guide, load cell,

At the beginning of the sheet hydroforming test, after locating the initial blank in the desired position and orientation on the upper surface of rubber diaphragm, the cover plate was tightly screwed on the container and then the punch was inserted in the position. The entire test rig was placed on a die set, which was positioned in a single action press. To move the heavy upper plate of die set, two hydraulic jacks were used. Using a pressure feeder, the uid pressure in the container could be increased while the punch would be moved downward separately to form a complex part. During the deformation, internal pressure could be recorded by a pressure gauge, which was assembled across the feeding uid line. Also the drawing force and punch stroke could be recorded using a load cell and extensometer, respectively. Finally, after shaping of shell fender and stopping the movement of hydraulic press, the uid pressure was released and then the upper plate of die set lifted using hydraulic jacks. For experimental tryout, the blank sizes of 1/8 full scale utilized in simulations were used for pure stretching and draw in procedures. In the case of pure stretching condition, the periphery movements of 150 mm diameter circular blanks are constraint by the beads. While in the case of draw-in condition, the initial blanks were located in the desired position and orientation on upper surface of the rubber diaphragm with possibility of free movement of periphery of blank. In the preliminary test series that had been carried out for revealing the capabilities of pure stretching and draw-in pro-

Fig. 7 Experimental set-up.

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Fig. 8 The deformation of mesh for pure stretching of IF steel sheet to the depth of (a) 25 mm and (b) 30 mm compared with (c) experimental results.

cedures, different sheet metals (low carbon steel sheet (St14), IF steel sheet and 2024 aluminum sheet with thickness of 0.8 mm with mechanical properties shown in Table 1 were used. In addition, various combinations of uid pressure and punch travel based on the simulations results were tested. The uid pressure varied from 0 to 20 MPa. The criterion for selection of the process parameters for further experiments was free tearing condition of the specimens. In the next step after selection of optimum process conditions with regards to the preliminary experimental and simulation results, the effect of using material ow controlling device (semi-die or guide) with various designs were examined. This device was also evaluated at various uid pressures and for different sheet materials during draw-in procedure of sheet hydroforming process. In addition, the effect of using various steel sheets on the punch force in the case of applying uid pressure and without applying uid pressure was investigated.

For evaluating the thickness and strain distributions in specimen deformed by sheet hydroforming process in different conditions, circular grid of 4 mm diameter was printed on one face of sheet material. After deformation, the circular grid transformed into ellipse and therefore strain could be calculated based on the measurements of circular grid diameter change (ISO 12004, 1997). In all the experiments for every condition, three specimens were tested and the results were reported.

4.

Results and discussion

At rst, it must be realized that which of the two processes, i.e. pure stretching or draw-in of sheet metal during hydroforming could lead to a sound shell fender. For answering this question, simulations of the mentioned cases were carried out using commercial nite element software capable of

Fig. 9 The pictures of (a) low carbon steel (St14) and (b) aluminum sheet deformed by sheet hydroforming set-up under the condition of pure stretching.

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Fig. 10 Effective plastic strain distribution in sheet hydroforming of fender shell using low carbon (St14): (a) drawing and (b) stretching.

simulating large deformation. In Fig. 8, as an example, the resulted deformation of mesh for pure stretching of IF steel sheet to the depth of 25 and 30 mm was compared with the experimental results. As illustrated, the deformation at the nose of the punch was so concentrated that sound product could not be produced. Simulation and following experimental evaluation for sheet hydroforming of aluminum and low carbon steel sheet (St14) in pure stretching condition led to the same results. In Fig. 9 pictures of aluminum and low carbon steel sheet (St14) deformed using experimental set up of sheet hydroforming are shown. As shown, deformation of these sheet materials under the condition of pure stretching also lead to fracture. Therefore, sheet hydroforming under the condition of pure stretching for the production shell fender in all rang of considered uid pressure led to fracture and therefore it was not considered practical for manufacturing of this part.

In the next step, sheet hydroforming of shell fender under the condition of draw-in was evaluated, both numerically and experimentally. Results of simulation in this condition predicted possibility of manufacturing sound shell fender, if suitable combination of uid pressure and punch stroke were used. If the selected uid pressure at the beginning of deformation was less than 7 MPa, too much wrinkling would appear, while increasing of uid pressure up to 15 MPa, helped in prevention of wrinkling and further increase of uid pressure had no effect on the produced part. Based on the uniformity of strain distribution and lessening of biaxial strain from critical value criteria, uid pressure of 10 MPa was selected. For clarifying the main difference between two procedures (stretching and draw-in), the deformed meshes of low carbon steel (St14) in two different conditions of sheet hydroforming have been compared in Fig. 10. Results of simulations show that even in optimum uid pressure of 10 MPa, producing sound part under

Fig. 11 Path determined along the main length of the part for thickness measurements.

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Fig. 12 Comparison of thickness variation along the path mentioned in Fig. 11 for stretching and drawing. Fig. 14 Sheet hydroforming drawing experiment without using semi-die device. the condition of pure stretching was impossible, while using draw-in could lead to a sound product. Comparison of thickness variations resulted from simulations of two methods, along the main length of specimen shown in Fig. 11 reveals the main differences, which are shown in Fig. 12. Accordingly, under the condition of pure stretching, thickness was reduced locally at the normalize point of 0.4, while in the case of drawin such localized thinning would not appear. The position of local thinning that had been predicted by simulation was consistent with the position of the fractures in experimental results. Productions of sound shell fenders using sheet hydroforming under the condition of draw-in without some semi-die device for controlling of material ow seemed to be dif-

cult. In Fig. 13, the results of simulation for the production of shell fender with and without using semi-die device are shown. As illustrated, without using semi-die device, wrinkling appeared and it was not possible to produce a sound product. In Fig. 14 shell fender produced without using ow controlling device is shown. As presented, without using semi-die device, wrinkling appeared that was consistent with simulation results. Therefore, for the production of such complicated parts, using some device for controlling material ow was necessary. Fig. 15 shows the shell fender produced using semi-die device during sheet hydroforming with draw-in condition of low carbon steel sheet (St14). Using of IF steel sheet

Fig. 13 Result of simulation for production of shell fender (a) with and (b) without using semi-die device.

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Fig. 15 Sheet hydroforming of low carbon steel sheet (St14) using draw in condition and semi-die device. Fig. 17 Variation of thickness distribution in the nal product predicted by simulation and emerged from experimental results using IF steel sheets with and without application of uid pressure.

under the same condition during sheet hydroforming for producing the same part led to the successful operation. But in the case of 2024-O aluminum sheet because of low formability, sheet hydroforming operation did not lead to the sound product. Therefore, experimental results conrmed that using ow-controlling device for inuencing material ow in the desired direction would prevent wrinkling during sheet hydroforming of complicated products if sheet materials had the minimum required formability. By applying established desired condition for the production of sound shell fender during sheet hydroforming process, it became possible to evaluate the variations of strain along different directions related to the usage of different sheet materials. Fig. 16 illustrates thickness variations predicted by simulations and evaluated by experimental results using low steel carbon sheet (St14) along the path dened in Fig. 11. As it can be seen, there is a good correlation between the simulation and experimental results in locating the thinning position that was at the top of the punch. Also comparison of Figs. 12 and 16 shows that how draw-in condition would help to establish more uniform distribution of thickness than the pure stretch condition. As mentioned in the introduction, one feature of sheet hydroforming was the application of uid pressure for inuencing the deformation behavior and increasing the deformability of sheet. In Fig. 17, thickness distribution along

dened path in the nal product predicted by simulation and emerged from experimental results using IF steel sheets with and without the application of uid pressure are compared. There is a good correlation between the experimental and simulation results. Nevertheless, as shown in the gure there are differences in the thickness variations for specimens produced with and without application of the uid pressure. In the case of forming shell fender without using uid pressure, strain concentration appeared that in most cases could lead to fracture. Therefore, it can be deduced that by applying uid pressure, thickness variations become more uniform in the case of such a complex shape. Use of uid pressure during sheet hydroforming also inuenced the applied punch force. In Fig. 18 the variation of punch force with punch stroke for the cases of with and without applying uid pressure are compared. Slopes of curves especially differ by applying uid pressure at the beginning of the process and this case is more apparent for IF steel sheet. This behavior could be attributed to the effect of existing friction between tools and sheet metal. In addition, application of uid pressure increased the necessary punch force especially at the end of process. This increase in punch force was natural and appeared because of uid pressure resistance. General differences between the shapes of punch loadstroke curves of St14 and IF steel sheets could be related to the different mechanical properties of the mentioned sheet materials. As illustrated, beside the effect of uid pressure on the success of forming process and uniformity of deformation, uid pressure had signicant effect on the variations of punch load with punch stroke.

5.

Conclusion

Fig. 16 The variation of thickness resulted from simulations and experiments on low steel carbon sheet (St14) in the path dened in Fig. 11.

Manufacturing of a complicated stamping shell fender has been selected to evaluate the capability of sheet hydroforming process for the production of complex parts whose manufacturing via conventional methods required several steps.

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references

Fig. 18 Variation of punch force with punch stroke for the cases of application and without application of uid pressure.

First of all, the difference between pure stretching and draw-in procedures have been examined using nite element simulations and experiments. Simulations and experimental results showed that pure stretching procedure produced defective product, while draw-in procedure could lead to the production of a sound part in the case of a complex part. The reason for tearing of part during pure stretching procedure, could be attributed to the deformation concentrations at sharp points. In the case of draw-in procedure, such concentrations did not appear and deformation distributed more uniformly than pure stretching case. Additionally for production of shell fender using sheet hydroforming with draw-in procedure, because of the shape complexity of shape and its inuence on the material ow, some ow controlling or semi-die device was required for controlling material ow. In such a condition, sheet hydroforming could be used for the production of complex parts, through the optimization of blank geometry, uid pressure, and shape and position of the semi-die device or guide. These results have been conrmed by the simulation outcomes and experimental works.

Acknowledgment
The authors wish to express their gratitude to IDRO of Ministry of Mining and Industry in Iran for providing the nancial support of this research.

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