The Evolution of Sheet Metal Forming Simulation in Stamping Industry

The field of sheet metal forming has experienced numerous innovative changes over the past few decades, such as new forming techniques and application of computer technologies. New forming techniques include application of tailor-welded blank, high strength steel forming, hydroforming, press automation and so on. One of the computer technologies is the implementation of Computer Aided Engineering (CAE), such as sheet metal forming simulation. The application of sheet metal forming simulation has been commonly utilized in the stamping industry to predict the forming feasibility of a wide variety of complex components, ranging from aerospace and automotive components to household products. Since the early 1990s, engineers have adopted LS-DYNA, because of its "incremental solution" capabilities, as their solver of choice for sheet metal forming simulations. Through continuous improvement and implementation, the incremental solution has proven to be accurate, reliable and effective. eta/DYNAFORM with its engine driven by the powerful LS-DYNA solver, has over the years been developed and changed from a FEA oriented approach to a process oriented environment that is most suitable for the tool & die industry. It is widely utilized by the tool and die industry to troubleshooting stamping defects, improving tooling design and product quality. Combining the strengths of the solver accuracy, enhanced computer processing speed, and user-friendly graphic user interface (GUI), eta/DYNAFORM has greatly assisted the tool and die industry in shortening tool making lead time and reducing it’s associated cost. As the demand for sheet metal forming simulation technology accelerates, the need for new technology and requirements have also grown rapidly. In this paper, the evolution of LS-DYNA based sheet metal forming simulation technology from a FEA based environment has been changed to a tooling process based application. The key features include Blank Size Engineering (BSE), Die Face Engineering (DFE), Die Structure Analysis (DSA), Springback Compensation Process (SCP) and Tubular Hydroforming (THF).