Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2016) 85:2589–2596
DOI 10.1007/s00170-015-8127-6
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Analysis of bending mechanism and spring-back characteristics
in the offset Z-bending process
Sutasn Thipprakmas 1 & Pakkawat Komolruji 1
Received: 12 July 2015 / Accepted: 12 November 2015 / Published online: 20 November 2015
# Springer-Verlag London 2015
Abstract The Z-bending process has rarely been investigated
because Z-shaped parts can be fabricated by applying two
bending steps through V-bending processes. In recent years,
the Z-bending process has been increasingly applied to reduce
the number of processing steps and fabrication time. However,
the number of studies on this process is still lacking, which
means there is still difficulty with die and process designs
when attempting to control the spring-back/spring-forward
characteristics. In this study, to solve these problems, the off-
set Z-bending process was examined using the finite element
method (FEM) and laboratory experiments. Based on the
stress distribution analysis, the bending mechanism was inves-
tigated and clearly identified by analyzing changes in the
stress distribution; the analysis showed that the theories of
V-bending processes could not be used for the offset Z-
bending process. This study also suggests that for the offset
Z-bending process, in which the punch is moveable and the
die is fixed, the amount of spring-back should not be equal to
each other. In addition, the effects of the bend angle on the
spring-back/spring-forward characteristics were investigated
and clearly identified by analyzing the changes in the stress
distribution. Based on the laboratory experiments, the FEM
simulation results showed good agreement in terms of both
the bend angles and bending forces.
Keywords Spring-back . Spring-forward . Bending .
Z-shape . Offset . Finite element method
* Sutasn Thipprakmas
sutasn.thi@kmutt.ac.th
1
Department of Tool and Materials Engineering, King Mongkut’s
University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok, Thailand 10140
Abbreviations
t Workpiece thickness
μ Friction coefficient
θ Bend angle
l Workpiece length
RIn-d Inner die radius
RIn-p Inner punch radius
ROut-d Outer die radius
ROut-p Outer punch radius
Wl Web length
BS Bending stroke
SG Spring-forward
1 Introduction
To fabricate curved shapes in sheet metal parts, a bending
process is commonly applied. A sheet metal is formed into a
desired shape using a bending die. Most bending dies are
designed to perform a single bending operation, which is clas-
sified according to their design shape, which could be L-, V-,
U-, or Z-bent shaped parts. The shape of bent parts is also
dictated by the type of bending die used. In the past, many
studies have focused on improving the quality of bent parts by
performing experiments and using the finite element method
(FEM) [1–18]. Because Z-shaped parts can be fabricated by
applying two bending steps though V-bending processes,
most studies have investigated the V-bending process
[11–18]. Furthermore, in the past, the designs of the Z-
bending die and process were done based on V-bending the-
ories. For these reasons, the Z-bending process has rarely been
investigated in the past. In recent years, to satisfy green
manufacturing, the offset Z-bending process, which uses the
offset punch and die set and can make two bends at the same
time on a press machine [19, 20], has been the focus to
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decrease energy consumption by reducing the number of pro-
cessing steps and fabrication time. In addition, by applying
this technique, the second bend will not interfere with the first
bend and a bend angle of less than 90° bend can be fabricated
[19, 20]. However, there is a lack of research on the offset Z-
bending process [19]. This lack of research means that a basic
database with its information is insufficient to design a suit-
able bending die to control the spring-back characteristics;
also, the already large energy consumption and the number
of wasted parts increase during the trial-and-error phase.
Therefore, understanding the bending mechanism and
spring-back characteristics is necessary. In the present re-
search, the offset Z-bending process was examined using
FEM and laboratory experiments. On the basis of the material
flow and stress distribution analyses, the bending mechanism
was investigated and clearly identified by analyzing the
changes in the stress distribution. Unlike the V-bending pro-
cess, in which the only spring-forward characteristic is gener-
ated in the leg, the results showed that the spring-back and
spring-forward characteristics are generated in the web and
create an unbalanced stress distribution on each bend angle
side. These results suggest that in theories for the offset Z-
bending process, in which the punch is moveable and the die
is fixed, the amount of spring-back should not be equal to each
other. Therefore, the V-bending theory cannot be used for
offset Z-bending die and process designs and an understand-
ing of the bending mechanism based on the material flow and
stress distribution is necessary. In addition, the effects of the
bend angle on the spring-back characteristics were investigat-
ed and clearly identified by analyzing the changes in the stress
distribution. To verify the accuracy of the FEM simulation
results, laboratory experiments were performed. The FEM
simulation results showed good agreement with the experi-
mental results in terms of both the bend angles and bending
forces.
2 FEM simulation and experimental procedures
2.1 FEM simulation procedure
In the present study, the model of the offset Z-bending process
that was investigated is shown in Fig. 1. A two-dimensional
plane strain with a thickness of 3 mm was applied. As per past
studies [10–14], the punch and die were set as rigid types and
the workpiece material was set as an elastoplastic type with
rectangular elements; approximately 10,000 elements were
used. The two-dimensional, implicit, quasi-static finite element
method of a commercial analytical code, DEFORM-2D, was
used for the FEM simulation. In this FEM model, the used
solution algorithm is based on the Newton-Raphson iteration.
The adaptive remeshing technique was applied to prevent di-
vergence due to excessive deformation of the elements. The
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2016) 85:2589–2596
Movement
ROut-p
direction
θ2
RIn-p
Workpiece θ1 Punch
ROut-d l
RIn-d t
Die
Wl
Fig. 1 FEM simulation model
plastic properties of the workpiece are assumed to be isotropic
and described by the von Mises yield function. As shown in
Table 1, the workpiece material was aluminum A1100-O (JIS)
and its properties were taken from tensile test data. The speci-
men details for the tensile test are shown in Fig. 2 The
elastoplastic, power-exponent, isotropic hardening model was
used, and the constitutive equation was determined from the
stress-strain curve. The strength coefficient and the strain hard-
ening exponent values were 153.5 MPa and 0.20, respectively.
In addition, the other material properties are given in Table 1,
where E, ν, and σu denote Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratio,
and the ultimate tensile stress, respectively. Additionally, the
process parameter conditions are listed in Table 1.
2.2 Experimental procedure
To validate the FEM simulation results, laboratory experi-
ments were performed. As per experiments from past studies
[10–14], a 5-ton universal tensile testing machine (Lloyd In-
struments Ltd.) was used as the press machine. Figure 3 shows
the offset Z-die used for the experiments. In the experiments, a
profile projector (Mitutoyo model PJ-A3000) was used for the
bend angle measurement after unloading. The obtained bend
angles were inspected based on five samples from each bend-
ing condition. The amount of spring-back was calculated, and
the average spring-back values with the standard deviation
(SD) are reported. The observed bend angle and bending force
were recorded and compared with those analyzed by the FEM
simulation.
3 Results and discussions
3.1 Analysis of the bending mechanism
Figure 4 shows the stress distribution analysis during the
bending phase. With the initial bending stroke of 4.6 mm,