Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 27 (1991 ) 265-277

Elsevier

265

Investigations on the sheet bending process with elastic tools

M. Geiger, U. Engel and A. vom Ende*
Chair of Manufacturing Technology, Institute of Manufacturing Engineering, University Erlangen-Nftrnberg, Germany

Industrial Summary
The forming process investigated in this study is the bending of U-shaped parts with a rigid punch and an elastic die. The methods of the finite element approach used for the process simulation are described. One of the most important input data for such an analysis is the material characterization especially the description of the rubber-like behavior of the die. The experimental and theoretical procedures to determine the material constants are presented. The process simulation is performed for three sheet materials and different values of sheet thickness and die hardness. In comparison with some experimental results it is shown that the FEM-approach is suitable to simulate the characteristic features of the whole process such as e.g. the dependence of bend angle on material and thickness of the sheet. Furthermore the observed curvature of the bent part can be understood in terms of the calculated stress distributions on the interfaces between punch and sheet, and sheet and die respectively. The process force resulting from simulation can be taken as an upper bound. Thus, the methods discussed in this study are suited to improve the understanding of the process and to assist the engineer in designing a particular bending operation.

1. Introduction

Sheet metal forming with elastic tools has been widely used for several decades. The main applications are bending, deep drawing, stretch forming and bulging [ 1,2 ]. A rigid punch presses the blank into a pliable polyurethane pad which is displaced and applies compressive forces onto the workpiece surface. The advantages of this process are low tooling costs, flexibility in the producible workpiece shapes and the suitability for parts with coated or polished surfaces as no sliding around die edges occurs. These advantages have led sheet metal forming with elastic tools to achieve a major importance in the aircraft industry and for flexible short run production [1,3-5]. As an example, Fig. 1 shows the interior of a hydraulic rubber press working according to the Guerin*Presently at INA W~ilzlager Schaeffler KG, Herzogenaurach, Germany.

0924-0136/91/$03.50 1991--Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.

266

Fig. 1. Interior of a hydraulic rubber press for producing aircraft parts (Courtesy SPS ).

process. This press is integrated into a flexible automated manufacturing system at a major European aircraft manufacturer. The workpiece range consists mainly of shallow drawing parts and bend parts around straight and curved axes. As far as bending with elastic tools is concerned, there have been some investigations on simple V-bending in recent years (e.g. [6,7] ). Results were data for punch force, bend angle and bend radius as functions of punch displacement, sheet properties and die design. Besides one paper dealing with channel-shaped parts with great bend radii [8], however, there has been no research work on more complex cross-sections. The only known process simulation of a forming process with an elastic pad models the drawing of cylindrical cups using the finite element method [9 ]. This situation was the motivation for starting a research project in which the forming system Bending with elastic tools should be investigated on a fundamental level, Fig. 2. A symmetric U-shaped cross-section with two straight bend axes was chosen as a sample geometry for the investigation. Punches of 30 mm width, 150 mm length and different radii were used. This paper concentrates on the finite element process simulation, which was a major part of the project, Fig. 2. The finite element model will be discussed. The determi-

267

I.................................................. Experiments ~f,t~ Criteriafor improvedprocessdesign ~:~::==--,~,:i=:~.:=i=~.~tr,uu~= ='mu'utu"D I ~ Assessment of simulationresults r /

I Workpieces~%~ '
/ I

o.

\%.

;~'J ~1~
"~ ~ "
/

I Material
I doto

,,~
measurement ~

\~.

n
ofsheetanddie,

J ,I Tool,workpiece 'o'n'd'~ , l Ikl processparameters I~IA Achievedworkingaccuracy ~ for manufacture of l~ Moterialdate [ accurate parts
Fig. 2. Overview over the research project.

nation of the material properties of the sheet and especially for the die will be described. For a better interpretation of the finite element simulation, in the following a synopsis of the experimental results is given first. 2. Synopsis of the experimental investigations The experimental part of the project evaluated the effects of process, workpiece and tool parameters on the process forces, the working accuracy and the die life. The die hardness and the die dimensions were varied [4]. The results may be summarized as follows: (i) The process forces are high compared to air and die bending because the elastic pad has to be compressed to apply the bending m o m e n t onto the sheet. (ii) The dimensional deviation of the bend angle (elastic springback and reproducibility) ranges between the accuracies achievable by air bending and by die bending. (iii) The form deviation of the cross section (straightness of the web and curvature of the bending arc) is small, provided that a suitable die geometry is chosen. (iv) The die life suffices for the usual quantities in flexible production. Provided again that a suitable die geometry is chosen, more than 700 strokes are performable with a single die.
3. Simulation model

The finite element code ABAQUSrelease 4-8 was used to simulate the process. The following assumptions were made:

268

As bending around straight axes is investigated, the state of deformation may be reduced to plane strain. Because of the symmetry only one half of the cross section needs to be discretized. (ii) As mass effects are not likely to affect the process, the analysis is performed quasi-static. (iii) The punch and the case are considered as rigid surfaces. (iv) The sheet material is described by an elastic-plastic material law with isotropic hardening. (v) The elastomer die is described by an hyperelastic material law allowing for finite elastic strains. Hyperelastic materials are ideal-elastic, i.e. the small visco-elastic and visco-plastic fractions of the material behavior are neglected. Figure 3 shows the finite element model. The die is a solid block ofelastomer, the punch has a width of 30 mm and a radius of 2 mm. Plane strain solid elements are used for the sheet and the die. The contact zones between (i) punch and sheet, (ii) sheet and die, and (iii) die and cage are defined by interface elements. Care has to be taken to choose the parameters of the interface algorithm (Coulomb friction value, maximum shear stress and a parameter called stiffness in stick) to achieve a convergent solution during the whole analysis. Therefore the computational investigation of the influence of different friction values on results has to be postponed until more efficient interface algorithms will be available. The relatively small number of degrees of freedom of the finite element model is due to (i) the number of increments and iterations needed, (ii) the hardware facilities available (Apollo workstation DN 10000), and (iii) the capabilities of ABAQUS'Sinterface algorithms. Convergence in the contact zones can only be achieved with relatively few interface

(i)

Punch..j .....~[ ~ u1 \ Model Data: 4-0 CPE 8R Elements Sheet: 40 CPE 8R Die: 59 CPE 8H Interface Punch-Sheet: 16 IRS22 Interface Sheet-Die: 16 ISL22 Interface Die-Cage: 7 ISL22 Total Number of Elements: 1.38 Nodes: 594 DOE 1148

So Sheet Thickness

90

Cage

Fig. 3. Finite element model.

269

elements. This fact limits the investigations on mesh refinement in the contact region between sheet and die where the maximum stress and strain gradients
occur.

4. Determination of the material properties

4.1 Sheet metal For all sorts of sheet metal used the tensile strip test according to DIN 50114 was performed. The Young's moduli and flow curves were evaluated and stored in a material data library. 4.2 Elastomer Elastomers exhibit a rubber-like material behavior and are usually described by hyperelastic material laws which are based on a strain energy function W. These are ideal-elastic constitutive laws, neglecting the small visco-elastic and visco-plastic effects. Elastomers are nearly incompressible. The small volume change may be neglected in many rubber deformation problems, but in the present case it must be taken into account due to the considerable compression during deformation. ABAQUS4-8 offers a versatile strain energy function in a polynomial formulation depending on the deviatoric deformation tensor B [10]. B is defined by the deviatoric deformation gradient
B=F* ~T .

(I)

The relation between ]~ and the deformation gradient F is given by

F=J-W3 F

(2)

where J is the volume change. The grade of the strain energy function was chosen to be N = 2. This choice ensures a sufficiently accurate approximation of the tests performed. On the other hand higher grades than 2 should not be used because the risk of stability problems increases [ 11 ]. The strain energy function W becomes then:

w=C,o( 71-3 ) + Co1(7~ - 3 )

-'l- C2o (/] - 3)2"1- C1, (./~ - 3 ) ( 4 - 3 ) + Co2(/~ - 3 ) 2
+ (1/D1) ( J - 1)2+ (1/De) ( J - 1)4-2(Cxo +2Col)" In J (3)

and/2 are the first two invariants of the tensor B. The constants Cij determine the elastic material behavior while the constants Di define the compressibility. If the material is regarded as incompressible, the terms containing the Di are ignored. The Cauchy-stress tensor is [11]

tr= (A, +A2~) B - A z B . B + p I

(4)

270
where

A1- j
A2 - j

2 5W ~ 1 1 J [C,o+ 2C2o(L-3) +C1,(4 -3)]

25W ~Ie

2 [Col +C1, (iq - 3 ) + 2Co2( ~ - 3 ) ] J

p=~-=

~W

(2/D1) ( J - l ) +

(4/D2) ( J - l )

3 - (2/J)(Clo +2Col)

Each material (80, 90, 95 Shore A) is completely defined by a set of seven constants (five C/i and two Di). The Cij were determined by an uniaxial tensile test. The Di were obtained separately from a compression test with uniaxial deformation. A computer program was written to calculate the constants by a least square fit and to check the stability of the material law respectively. In case of the tensile test the elastomer may be taken as incompressible. Assuming that the flat test bar used in the tensile test is loaded in direction "1" of a system of principal axes, the nominal stress component for the same direction can be derived from eqn. (4):

41 41]J

(5)

Equation (5) is the approximation function for the tensile test. The deformation is expressed in terms of the stretch 41 in the direction of loading. Figure 4 shows the results, with the nominal stress-nominal strain curves from the determined constants Cij. The scatter of the samples and the non-linearity of the stress-strain curves are characteristic for elastomeres. The stability check was programmed according to [10]. The criterion used here is similar to the one of Drucker and is defined for a principal system by:

da, -de1 +d(72 "de2 +da3 "dE3 > 0

(6)

Ei is the strain in direction i. For the compression test a rectangular solid elastomer sample was encaged at five surfaces and compressed by a flat punch at the sixth surface. Figure 5 shows the results of the compression test. The approximation function is here (loading in direction "3"): a3 = 2 [Clo -~ 2C2o(24~ 2/3 + 44/3 -- 3 ) + Cn (4E 4/3 + 242/3 - 3 ) ]4~/3 + 4 [ (Co, + C,, (24~2/3+434/3 - 3 ) + 2Co2(4~ t/3 + 242/3 - 3) ]4E ~/3

+Dll (43-i)q-i)-~2(43-1

)3_2

43 (Cio+2Col)

(7)

271
5O

N 2

90 Shore A

o: Standard Deviation far 4 Samples Each Case

0
I

100
L_

200
I

300 Strain
I

400 ~o
I

% --~"
I

600
I

4 Stretch

5 ,k

5 --~

Fig. 4. Uni-axial tensile test for the determination of the material constants of the elastomers according to DIN 53504 (Flat tensile test bar with a thickness of 3 mm accordingto standard S1; vertical lines are of length 2a, where a is the standard deviation for 4 sampleseach case).

-400 -600~ -800 -1000 ~-1200 -1400 -1600 -1800

] I I I

~95 Shore A 90 Shore A

Symbols: Measured Data Lines: Approximation

-15
L

-10 Strain
I

-5 ~o
I

% --~

0
I

02

0.95

0.9 Stretch

0,95 A

1.0

Fig. 5. Elastomer compression test with uni-axial deformation. (Symbols:measured data; lines: approximations) The sets of constants C u and Di were stored in the material data library.
5. R e s u l t s

W i t h the finite element model described above calculations were performed,

272

varying the die hardness (80, 90, 95 Shore A), the sheet material (deep drawing steels St 1203 and St 1403, austenitic steel X5 CrNi 1810 and aluminium alloy A1Mg3) and the sheet thickness (0.5 mm and 1.0 mm). Figure 6 shows the deformed structure for a die hardness of 80 Shore A, the sheet material St 1403 and a sheet thickness of 1 mm. The model was loaded by prescribing the displacement of the rigid surface which represents the punch. In Fig. 6(a) the punch displacement is 16 mm. The elastomer pad is compressed beneath the punch and, because of its nearly complete incompressibility, displaced over the upper edge of the cage. As may be seen clearly, the maximum strain and stress in the die occur near the punch corner. In the real process the cracks, which are responsible for the die wear, are initiated at the point of the strain maximum. At the bottom of the die the distortion is small. Here a nearly hydrostatic state of stress develops. The simulated die deformation was found to be in good agreement with the real process where the grid line technique in combination with a digital image system was applied to evaluate the die deformation. The sheet has touched the punch in this state, that is the bend angle under load cq is 90 . The model was unloaded by reversing the direction of the punch movement. The elastic-plastic sheet springs back by an angle of 1.5 while the ideal-elastic die returns to its original shape. So, the characteristic features of the real process can be modeled. The punch force per unit length as a function of the punch displacement is shown in Fig. 7. Comparing the curves from the analysis (dotted lines) to the

J
a) Punch Displacement 16mm al = 90" b) triter Unloading
a2 = 88,5"

Sheet Material: St 1405 Sheet Thickness: s =1 mm Die: 80 Shore A

a~ Bend Angle Before Springback ~x 2 Bend Angle After Springback

Fig. 6. (a) Deformed structure at a p u n c h displacement of 16 mm, a t = 90 ; (b) after unloading, ~ 2 = 8 8 . 5 . (Sheet material: St 1403; sheet thickness s = 1 ram; die: 80 Shore A; a t : bend angle before springback; oz2: b e n d angle after springback)

273
3000 N/ram 2500
2000

Die Height 90 mm Die Width 80 mm Sheet St 1403, so = 1 mm Exp%riment Anolysis

/ .." ..."" ......'"'" ~.,...

1500 ~1000
500

............. ~ . ~ ' " 95 Sho~ A.......... ~ .......90 Shore A

-'~80 Shore A 0 -2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 Punch Displocement S st 14 16 18turn20

Fig. 7. Punch forces as a function of punch displacement. (Die height: 90 mm; die width: 80 mm; experiment: full lines; analysis: dotted lines)

corresponding experimental curves (solid lines), there is a good qualitative agreement: The force increases strongly with the displacement due to the progressive deformation of the elastomer. Therefore the die hardness has a great effect on the force needed. The most part of the imposed process work is employed for the elastic die deformation ( 50 to 90%, same observation as in [ 7 ] ). Only the rest is available for the elastic-plastic deformation of the sheet. The calculated forces may be taken as an upper bound for the real forces. In order to assess the deviations between experiment and simulation one has to consider that (i) the ideal-elastic constitutive law of the elastomere does not take into account the visco-elastic and visco-plastic effects, (ii) a scatter in the material properties from one sample to another is characteristic for elastomers, (iii) only uniaxial material tests were carried out, whilst in reality there exists a considerable amount of shear deformation, (iv) the finite element mesh had to be rather coarse because of the problems outlined above concerning the hardware facilities and the interface algorithm. In Fig. 8, for the same parameters as in Fig. 6, the contact stresses are plotted against the distance from the symmetric line. For some specified values of punch displacement, Fig. 8 (a) and (b) show the distribution of compressive stresses between punch and sheet, and sheet and die respectively (Note that the coordinate x refers to the undeformed configuration: influences of shear stresses and of the boundary condition which are taken into account establishing the force equilibrium are not visible in this figure!). The force lines are

274

90

7ot S =lOmm
s = 12 mm
~ 40 = 4 mm

!
! 10 ) 20 30 40 _x

10
0 5

\L_

i
35 mm 40

10 15 20 25 30 x - Distance from Symmetric Line

90-

N/turn~

80-

70
~ 60
n~- 5 0
s

s ='16 mm
=

12 ram\

F///./////J

~
o
o

40
30.

4 mm

20 10 0
o

10 x-

15 20 25 30 Distance from Symmetric Line

3~5 mm 40

terface

Fig. 8. Stress distribution for different punch displacements: (a) interface punch/sheet; sheet/die.

(b) in-

directed nearly completely through the punch corner. This is apparent from the stress peaks at ca. x = 15 mm (Fig. 8(a) ). Regarding the stress distribution between sheet and die (Fig. 8(b)), the stiffness of the sheet has a smoothing effect on the stress distribution. The

275

compressive stress right of the location of the punch radius (at approx, x = 15 m m ) causes the bending m o m e n t onto the sheet. The inhomogeneous distribution of compressive forces acting on the sheet surface is responsible for the resulting curvature of the sheet (Fig. 9). The ideal curvature has a constant value for a circular punch radius. In this example, with a punch radius of 2 m m and a sheet thickness of 1 mm, the ideal curvature is 0.33 m m - 1. The real curvature ranges over a broader area of the sheet. Its peak is located at the position of the maximum pressure stress transmitted from the punch (Fig. 8). This fact corresponds to experimental results. The finite element model was unloaded from several steps of the process by reversing the direction of the punch movement (Fig. 10). For each step the bend angle after unloading a2 was evaluated. With increasing punch displacement the bending m o m e n t on the legs of the blank becomes greater. As long as the legs do not touch the punch flanges, the bend angle increases nearly linearily. After the legs have touched the punch flanges only a slight increase of the bend angle is still achievable. The reason for this is a better adaptation of the sheet cross section to the punch shape. For the St 1203 sheet, for example, the point of touch is reached at a punch stroke of about 10 mm. The slope of the curves and the position of the point of touch depend on the bending m o m e n t needed (and of course on die hardness and die geometry). The amount of springback is determined by the sheet material and the relation of bend radius to sheet thickness, and it does not depend on the die layout. Table 1 lists the bend angles ~2 at a displacement 2..3 m m beyond the point of touch in comparison to the corresponding experimental results. The exper-

/mm/
0.4 0.35 ] .......... I

!
'i
i///
/ / _ / / / , I __

I o251

0.3

;o.21
O. 11

/i
St 1405 = 1 mm

,eo, Curoue
Curvature from Analysis

o.o

O|

t
o

! I
lo 1'5 2o 2'5
3'5 mm 40 .-~

x - Distance from Symmetric Line

Fig. 9. Curvature at the outer bending arc as measured (full line) compared to ideal circularity (dotted line).

276

90"

~50c

e~

-o 40 m 30 20 10

///

0_

0
0

10

12

14

16

l g m m 20

Punch Displacement s st

Fig. 10. Bend angle as a function of punch displacement. (Die height: 90 mm; die hardness: 80 Shore A) TABLE1 Bend angles of experiments comparedto analysis Material St 1203 St 1403 X5 CrNi 18 10 T h i c k n e s s Bend angle a2 ( ) so ( m m ) experiment 0,5 1,0 1,0 {-0,2) 88,1 (+0,6) (-0,2) 89,4 (+0,2) (-0.3) 88,0 (+0,4) Analysis 87,9 88,5 88,0

imental values represent the median of 15 different tool configurations (three values of die hardness, five values of die height). These results show t h a t the process simulation provide a good prediction for the bend angle a2.
6. Conclusions

In this paper a finite element process simulation of the plane strain sheetmetal bending with elastic tools is described. It is shown t h a t such simulations can be performed with commercial finite element codes like ABAQUS. Because of the locally varying pressure distribution in the interface sheet/die the whole elastomere die has to be discretized. The state of the art regarding the contact algorithms available imposes some restrictions on the choice of the discretization. So a relatively small model containing not to m a n y contact points and a systematic variation of the contact parameters are prerequisite to maintain a convergent solution for the whole path of loading and unloading.

277 T h e c a l c u l a t e d p u n c h forces p r o v i d e a n u p p e r b o u n d for the real process forces a n d m a y be used in t h e job p l a n n i n g to choose a suitable press. T h i s is i m p o r t a n t b e c a u s e high f o r m i n g p r e s s u r e s are c h a r a c t e r i s t i c for t h e f o r m i n g processes w i t h elastic tools. T h e c a l c u l a t i o n o f stress a n d s t r a i n d i s t r i b u t i o n s in t h e die is suited to assess t h e tool l a y o u t as well as t h e d a n g e r of o v e r s t r a i n ing t h e e l a s t o m e r e pad. T h e c u r v a t u r e of t h e b e n d i n g arc deviates f r o m ideal circularity. T h e r e a s o n was f o u n d b y i n v e s t i g a t i n g t h e stress d i s t r i b u t i o n at t h e i n t e r f a c e s p u n c h / s h e e t a n d s h e e t / d i e . T h e elastic s p r i n g b a c k d u r i n g t h e u n l o a d i n g is t a k e n into a c c o u n t a n d p r o v i d e s a good p r e d i c t i o n of t h e b e n d angle a2. T h e m e t h o d s of process s i m u l a t i o n u s e d a n d described in this s t u d y are useful to give a n i m p r o v e d u n d e r s t a n d i n g of t h e i n t e r a c t i o n s o f all t h e p a r a m e t e r s c o n c e r n i n g process, tool a n d workpiece. In this way t h e s e m e t h o d s m a y be a suitable i n s t r u m e n t to s u p p o r t t h e e n g i n e e r designing a sheet f o r m i n g process with elastic tools. His p r a c t i c a l experience, however, will still be in d e m a n d .

Acknowledgements
T h e a u t h o r s wish to express t h e i r g r a t i t u d e to t h e D e u t s c h e Forschungsgem e i n s c h a f t ( D F G ) which s u p p o r t e d t h e p r o j e c t f r o m 1986 to 1989 in t h e research program "Precision Forming".

References
1 G. Sachs, Principles and methods of sheet-metal fabrication, New York, Reinhold, 1951. 2 K. Lange (Ed.), Handbook of metal forming, New York, McGraw-Hill, 1985. 3 M. Geiger, U. Engel and A. vom Ende, Verbesserung der Arbeitsgenauigkeit bei der Herstellung von Blechteilen mit U-f'drmigem Querschnitt mit elastischer Matrize, in: K. Lange and H.G. Dohmen (Eds.), Pr~izisionsumformtechnik, Berlin, Springer, 1989. 4 A. vom Ende, U. Engel and M. Geiger, Manufacture of sheet metal parts with U-shaped cross section by bending with a pliable die, Sheet metal tubes sections 8(1 ) (1989) 27-30. 5 J.L. Kliment and H. de Kruijk, Das Gummiumformverfahren, seine heutige Anwendung und weitere Entwicklung im Flugzeugbau, Blech Rohre Profile, 29 (2) ( 1982 ) 49- 53 and ( 3 ) 117122. 6 Developments in the use of"Avothane" for presswork, Sheet Metal Ind., 42 (1965) 257-267. 7 H. Wilhelm, Umformen von Blech mit elastischen Werkzeugen, DFBO-Mitt., 22 (12 ) (1971 ) 264-271. 8 H.A. AI-Qureshi, On the mechanics of sheet-metal bending with confined compressible dies, J. Mech. Working Technol., 1 (3) (1977/1988) 261-275. 9 M. Holzner and V. Mannl, Mechanics of drawing with rubber pads, in: K. Lange (Ed.), Advanced Technology of Plasticity, Berlin, Springer, 1987, Vol. II, pp. 1151-1157. 10 Hibbit, Karlsson and Sorensen, ABAQUS User's Manual Version 4-8, Providence, USA, 1989. 11 Hibbit, Karlsson and Sorensen, ABAQUS Theory Manual Version 4-8, Providence, USA, 1989.