Development of forming tool concept validator with variable stiffness blank-holder for high strength steel applications

Abstract

This paper presents numerical and experimental results of a prototype tool that includes blank-holder elements of variable stiffness. The application is developed for high-strength steel applications aiming to achieve improvements in the forming operation, namely expand the limits of formability for the tested materials. A numerical model was built including material constitutive models description for the high-strength steel grades used while a forming tool was designed and constructed in order to evaluate the proposed concept. The obtained experimental and numerical results show a positive geometry control and reduction of failure risk. These results are a contribution to the validation of a variable-stiffness blank-holder concept for this particular case study. Keywords: High strength steel, Numerical simulation, Tool design