Experimental springback evaluation in hydromechanical deep drawing (HDD) of large products

Abstract

Springback is a really troublesome effect in sheet metal forming processes. In fact changes in geometry after springback are a big and costly problem in the automotive industry. In this paper the authors want to analyse the springback phenomenon experimentally in sheet metal hydroforming. Compared with conventional deep drawing, sheet hydroforming technology has many remarkable advantages, such as a higher drawing ratio, better surface quality, less springback, better dimensional freezing and capability to manufacture complicated shapes. The springback phenomenon has been extensively analysed in deep drawing processes but there are not many works in the literature about springback in sheet metal hydroforming. In order to study it, the authors have performed an accurate measuring phase on the chosen test cases through a coordinate measuring machine and the obtained measurements have been utilised for the determination of springback parameters, taking into account the method proposed by Makinouchi et al. The authors have focused their attention on the possibility of adopting a modified Makinouchi et al. approach in order to measure the springback of the large size considered test cases. Through the implemented methodology it has been possible to calculate the values of the springback parameters. The obtained results correspond to the observed experimental deformations. Analysing the springback parameter values of the different combinations investigated experimentally, the authors have also studied the pre-bulging influence on the springback amount.