• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
• /
• 2008.10a
• /
• pp.118-121
• /
• 2008

Flexible die is more efficacious than fixed die which is generally used in stretch forming process in view of production cost. Accordingly, in order to verily the validity of the flexible forming process, curved thin skin structure forming analyses using the fixed and flexible die were performed. As results, merit and demerit with regard to the fixed and flexible die were confirmed. The result of the stretch forming process analysis using the flexible die was better than that using the fixed die in view of the elastic recovery. However wrinkles were occurred on the sheet material due to die cavities between the punches in the flexible forming process, thus the solutions against these problems were presented.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.206-213
• /
• 2011

A flexible die, which is composed of a number of punches with adjusted heights to form a three-dimensional curved surface, is a crucial part of a flexible forming technology. In this study, the punch and control system of the flexible die were designed. The flexible die is divided into three modules, namely, punch, control and joint, and the corresponding modules were developed. The punch module materializes a three-dimensional forming surface by the control module, which is composed of an AC servo motor set and a linear guide. The joint module is necessary for the sequential motion between the servo motor set and the punch module. A sequential motion algorithm for the AC servo motor set, that uses the data of the punch relative heights, was also proposed. Finally, a flexible stretch forming test was carried out using the presently designed flexible die.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
• /
• v.17 no.8
• /
• pp.570-578
• /
• 2008

A flexible forming apparatus is composed a number of punches which have spherical pin tip shape instead of conventional solid die. The flexible forming tool consisted of punch array in a matrix form was proposed as an alternative forming method to substitute the conventional line heating method which use heat source to induce residual stress along specified heating lines. In this study, application of the flexible forming process to the small scale curved plate forming was conducted. Numerical simulations for both solid and flexible die forming process were carried out to compare the shape of the products between flexible and conventional die forming process. In addition, spring-back analysis was conducted to figure out the feasibility of the flexible forming process comparing with the die forming process in view of final configuration of the specimens. Moreover, experiment was also carried out to confirm the formability of the process. Consequently, it was confirmed that the flexible die forming method has capability and feasibility to manufacture the curved plates for shipbuilding.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
• /
• v.18 no.7
• /
• pp.556-564
• /
• 2009

Flexible forming process for sheet material using reconfigurable die is introduced based on numerical simulation. In general, this flexible forming process using the reconfigurable die has been utilized for manufacturing of curved thick plates used for hull structures, architectural structures and so on. In this study, numerical simulation of sheet metal forming process is carried out by using flexible dies model instead of conventional matched die set. The numerical simulation and experimental verification for sheet metal forming process using a flexible forming machine that is more suitable for thick plate forming process are carried out to confirm the appropriateness of the simulation process. As an elastic cushion, urethane pads are utilized using hyperelastic material model in the simulation for smoothing the forming surface which is discrete due to characteristics of the flexile die. In the flexible forming process for sheet metal, effect of a blank holder is also investigated according to blank holding methods. Formability in view of occurrence of dimples is compared with regard to the various punch sizes. Consequently, it is confirmed that the flexible forming for sheet material using urethane pad has enough capability and feasibility for manufacturing of smoothly curved surface instead of conventional die forming method.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
• /
• 2009.10a
• /
• pp.281-284
• /
• 2009

Flexible forming process for sheet metal using reconfigurable die is introduced based on numerical simulation. Numerical simulation of sheet metal forming process is carried out by using flexible dies model instead of conventional matched die set. Elastic cushion which has high resilience behavior from excessive deformation are inserted between forming punches and blank material for smoothing the forming surface which has discrete due to characteristics of the flexile die. As an elastic cushion, urethane pads are utilized using hyperelastic material model in the simulation. Formability in view of surface defect such as onset of dimple is compared with regard to various punch sizes. Consequently, it is confirmed that the flexible forming process for sheet material has appropriate capability and feasibility for manufacturing of smoothly curved surface instead of conventional die forming process.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.17-24
• /
• 2010

A stretch forming method has been widely used in sheet metal forming process. Especially, this process has been adopted in aircraft and high-speed train industries for skin structure forming having a variety of curvature. Until now, solid dies, which are designed with respect to the specific shapes and manufactured as a single piece, have been usually applied to stretch forming process. Therefore, a great number of solid dies has to be developed according to the shapes of the curved skin structure. Accordingly, a flexible die is proposed in this study. It replaces the conventional solid dies with a set of height adjustable punch array. A usefulness of the flexible die is verified through a formability comparison with the solid die using finite element method considering an elastic recovery and the stretch forming apparatus with the flexible die is developed.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
• /
• v.21 no.7
• /
• pp.432-440
• /
• 2012

In this article, the design of the flexible forming process considering die shape compensation using an iterative over-bending method based on numerical simulation was conducted. In this method, the springback shape obtained from the final step of the first forming simulation is compared with the desired objective shape, and a shape error is calculated as a vector norm with three-dimensional coordinates. The error vector is inversely added to the objective surface to compensate both the upper and lower flexible die configurations. The flexible die shapes are recalculated and the punch arrays are adjusted according to the over-bent forming surface. These iterative procedures are repeated until the shape error variation converges to a small value. In addition, experimental verification was conducted using a 2000-kN flexible forming apparatus for thick plates. Finally, the configuration of the prototype obtained from the experiment was compared with the numerical simulation results, which had springback compensation. It is confirmed that the proposed method for compensating for the forming error could be used in the design of flexible forming of thick-curved plates.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
• /
• 2008.11a
• /
• pp.77-78
• /
• 2008

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
• /
• 2009.10a
• /
• pp.241-244
• /
• 2009

This paper deals with a usefulness verification of stretch forming process using flexible die. The stretch forming method is widely used in aircraft and high-speed train industries for manufacturing of skin structure, which is made of sheet metal. A great number of solid dies are originally used and developed for specific shapes with respect to different curvature radii of the skin structures. Accordingly, flexible stretch forming process is proposed in this study. It replaces the conventional solid dies with a set of height adjustable discrete punches. A usefulness of the flexible die is verified through extensive numerical simulations of the stretch forming process for simply curved sheet plate. The elastic recovery is considered and formability evaluations are conducted through a comparison of symmetry plane configurations.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.34 no.3
• /
• pp.299-305
• /
• 2010

In general, the flexible forming die that has been used in the flexible forming process has the identical punch size; hence, its flexibility is relatively low because the range of allowable curvature radii is limited due to the uniform punch tip radius. Hence, a conceptual design of a sectional flexible die is presented for enhancing the flexibility of the forming process. Two punches of different sizes are used to configure the arbitrary forming surface. For a forming region with a relatively large curvature radius, a large punch array block is used; on the other hand, for the forming regions with small curvature radii, a small punch block is used. The cross-sectional profiles are compared with the target shape for evaluating the effectiveness of the process. Consequently, it is confirmed that the sectional flexible die can be used along with a combination of punch blocks of different sizes for manufacturing objective surfaces of complex shapes.