Rubber Forming Processes of Thin Sheets

In the last decade flexible media have been increasingly utilized in sheet metal drawing processes in order to reduce the tooling cost and to improve the product quality. In the present paper an axisymmetric deep drawing process of thin steel sheets is taken into account: in particular a flexible pad is utilized in order to simplify the tooling set. The process mechanics is investigated through numerical simulations and experimental tests with the aim to find out a proper set of operative parameters allowing the stamping of sound components and to highlight the particular deformation path of the drawing cup. The comparison between the numerical predictions and the experimental verification …