METALS AND MATERIALS, Vol. 4, No. 4 U998), pp.

583-592

Applications of Simulation Techniques to Sheet Metal Forming Processes

Soo-Ik Oh, Jong-Kil Lee*, Jeong-Jin Kang** and Joo-Pyo Hong**

Department of Mechanical Design and Production Engineering, Seoul National University

San 56-1 Shinrim-dong, Kwanak-ku, Seoul 151-742, Korea
*Kia R&D Center, Kia Motors Corporation
781-1 Soha-dong, Kwangmyung-shi, Kyungki 423-701, Korea
**Graduate School, Seoul National University
San 56-1 Shinrim-dong, Kwanak-ku, Seoul 151-742, Korea

Sheet metal forming is one of the most widely used processes in manufacturing. Traditional die design prac-
tice based on trial and error method is time consuming and expensive. For this reason, the simulation tech-
nique based on Finite Element Method (FEM) becomes more popular to develop and optimize die design.
Two FE codes for the analysis of the sheet metal forming processes are presented in this paper. The one is
a two dimensional implicit code named KSHELL, and the other is a three dimensional explicit code, ES-
FORM. Draw bending, tube inversion and spring back processes were simulated by KSHELL. Three point
bending, automot:ive panel stamping and square cup drawing with Tailor Welded Blanks (TWB) were simu-
lated by ESFORM. The simulation results arc discussed by comparing with experimental measurements.
Key words : sheet metal forming, finite element method (FEM), tailor welded blanks (TWB)

1. INTRODUCTION [5-8]. The success of implicit sheet forming codes in-

Sheet metal forming is one of the most widely used
processes in manufacturing. Without properly designed
die or process parameters, the final products are sub-
jected to various types of defects, such as tearing, wrin-
kles and dimensional inaccuracies. Traditional die design
practice based on trial and error method is expensive
and time consuming. For this reason, simulation tech-
nique based on Finite Element Method (FEM) becomes
more popular to optimize die design.
There are two types of the time integration method
used in FEM. One is implicit method and the other is ex-
plicit method. The implicit method has been used by
many researchers since the early stages of the study [1-
4]. It is known that the implicit method is more accurate
and economical for two dimensional quasi-static prob-
lems where contact formulation is relatively simple and
the required computation time is not so large. For three
dimensional sheet forming simulations, explicit method
is more popular due to ills simpler interface formulation
and manageable computation time. Many FE codes,
such as PAM-STAMP and LS-DYNA, based on the
explicit time integration method have been developed
and used in three dimensional sheet fi)rming simulations
debted to the developments of efficient shell elements
by various researchers, such as, to name a few, Hughes,
Liu, Belytschko, and Zacharia [9--12].
In order to predict the final dimensions of sheel form-
ed products accurately, it is essential to consider spring
back. It is known that explicit formulation is not suitable
for spring back predictions due to unreasonably high
computational efforts [13]. Therefore, it is customary to
simulate three dimensional sheet forming operations by
explicit method and spring back predictions by implicit
method.
Many of the new technologies have appeared in sheet
metal forming. The forming of' tailor welded blanks,
among them, becomes more popular in the automotive
industries. A Tailor Welded Blank (TWB) sheet is com-
posed of two or more sheets that have been welded to-
gether in a single plane prior to forming [14]. The sheets,
that are being welded, can be identical, or can have dif-
ferent thicknesses, mechanical properties, or surface coat-
ings. They can be joined by wirious welding processes
such as laser welding or mash seam welding. The con-
cepts of sheet metal forming using TWB are currently
prevailing in the automotive industries worldwide [15,
16]. The usage of TWB is activated in the Korean au-
584 Soo-lk
tomotive companies and is expected to become popular
[17]. Now the challenges in forming of TWB include
how to predict and evaluate the performance of TWB in
forming and how to achieve the maximum tbrmability
performance [18].
In the present paper, two elastic-plastic finite element
codes to analyze the sheet metal forming processes are
presented. One is two dimensional implicit code,
KSHELL, and the other is three dimensional explicit
code, ESFORM. Plane strain draw bending, three point
bending with spring back and tube inversion processes
are simulated by using K S H E L L Forming behavior of
three point bending, square cup drawing of TWB and au-
tomotive panel stamping processes are studied by using
ESFORM.
2. FORMULATIONS
In this paper, we review the formulations used in the
two sheet forming programs, KSHELL and ESFORM,
briefly.
In order to analyze a large deformation problem tak-
ing into account the geometrical nonlinearity, the up-
dated Lagrangian formulation was used. The variational
form of the equations of motion, which is derived from
the equilibrium equation by using the divergence
theorem, is expressed as follows.
; 6 J GdV + f3vZpvdV - ~ r t d S =t) (1)
V V St
where ~"is strain rate tensor; cr is Cauchy stress tensor; v
is velocity vector; p is material density; t is external sur-
face traction vector per unit surface area; V is volume; S,
is a surface on which external tractions are applied. In
Eq. 1, the terms imply internal virtual work rate, inertia
virtual work rate, and external virtual work rate, respec-
tively. Body forces were neglected. In the two-di-
mensional implicit code, KSHELL, the term of inertia
virtual work rate was not taken into account.
Degenerated shell element with bilinear shape func-
tion is widely used in sheet metal fi~rming simulation be-
cause of its effectiveness and simplicity of formulation.
It was derived from three dimensional solid element for
the first time by Ahmad et al. [19] and it was applied to
nonlinear problem by Hughes et al. [9]. It was sim-
plified with the assumption of no warping and using
corotational formulation, and implemented to explicit fin-
ite element method by Belytschko et al. 120]. The for-
mulation by Belytschko's was used in ESFORM and
that by Hughes' in KSHELL.
Oh et aL
"I'he geometry of a shell element can be described by
the summation of the two vectors as shown in Fig. 1.
X(~, /7, ~)= xm(~, T/)"I-~(Oxfib(~, 7) (2)
where x denotes the position vector of a generic point of
the shell; x m is the position vector of a corresponding
point on the reference surface; x f~b is a unit vector
emanating from the same point in the fiber direction; ~"
(Q is defined as (~/2)h in which h is the thickness of the
shell. For ~ fixed, the surface defined by Eq. 2 is called
a lamina. And for ~, r/fixed, the line defined by Eq. 2 is
called fiber. The fibers are not generally perpendicular
to the laminae.
The velocity field of a shell element can be described
with the assumption of Mindlin-Reissner theory and iso-
parametric hypothesis as
v = vm + ( v f i h (3)
Recently, further improvements over Belytschko's if)r-
mulation has been proposed by Belytschko et al. [21,22]
and Zhu et al. [12]. These formulations are currently im-
plemented in ESFORM and it is being tested.
The constitutive equations used in KSHELL and ES-
FORM are the rate type. In order to maintain the ob-
jectivity, co-rotational coordinate system was used. The
stress rate, ~j is expressed by
ai j = C u~l "~i - C #kt( Skl
_ E " " t'
(4)
where
and ~E is the elastic strain rate; ~P is the plastic strain
rate. The plastic strain rate was determined by the as-
sociated flow rule. The anisotropic yield fimctions used
Fig. 1. Geometry of shell element.
 Applications of Simulation Techniques to Sheet Metal Forming Proccs:ges 585

in the formulations are the ones by Hill and Barlat [23,
24].
In KSHELL, interface contact between two different
objects is treated by applying the kinematic constraints
and it is implemented in the stiffness matrix. In three di-
mensional applications using ESFORM, penalty method
was used to calculate the contact force vector. In contact
searching procedure, the POsition Code Algorithm
(POCA) [25] is used as a trivial-rejection scheme. The
spatial domain is divided into subdomains which are
given unique position codes. Every node is given the po-
sition code of the subdomain which it belongs to, and
contact search is conducted only between the nodes of
the same position code to reduce the global searching
time.
3. A P P L I C A T I O N S
tively. Coulomb friction law is assumed with friction
coefficient of 0.144. Two cases of simulations were per-
formed with two different blank holding forces, 2.54 kN
and 19.6 kN at each side blank holder.
Solutions were obtained by using different integration
strategies in thickness direction. Fig. 3 shows predicted
thickness distributions with two different integration
schemes. One is two-point Gauss quadrature and the oth-
er is 7-point trapezoidal rule. Prediction shows that the
two-point Gauss quadrature predicts stiff behavior in
bending and unbending process, which result in overly
thinning in the vertical wall. This result suggests that
higher order integration is needed to accommodate the
non-linear stress distribution in thickness direction.
Spring back was calculated based on the simulation
results. Fig. 4 shows the predicted spring back together

3.1. Plane strain draw bending

In plane strain draw bending operation, workpiece un-
dergoes complicated deformation modes, such as bend-
ing, unbending, and stretching processes. Due to the
complex deformation modes, the prediction of spring
back needs more caution to achieve the desired accuracy.
The two dimensional draw bending process was selected
as a benchmark problem in NUMISHEET '93 [26]. The
spring back prediction of the same process is presented
here.
Fig. 2 shows the draw bending process schematically.
The dimensions of the blank sheet are 35(I ram, 35 ram,
and 0.78 mm in length, width, and thickness, respec-
tively. The width of the sheet is large compared to its
thickness, and the process may be assumed to be a plane
strain deformation. The material of the sheet is mild Fig. 3. Predicted thickness strain distribution of draw
steel and its stress-strain curve can be represented by bending part.
565(0.007t17+eP) '':~s'' in MPa. The Young's modulus
and the Poisson's ratio are 206 GPa and 0.3, respec-

Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of two dimensional draw

bending. Fig. 4. Predicted spring back of draw bending part.
586 Soo-lk Oh et al.
Fig. 5. Definition of spring back of draw bending pro-
cess.
with the other predictions published in NUMISHEET
'93. The definition of the spring back angles, 01 and 4,
are given in Fig. 5. It can be seen from Fig. 4 that the
Fig. 6. Predicted deformations of tube inversion at punch displacement of (a) 0.00 inch, (b) 0.24 inch, (c) 0.47 inch,
(d) 0.94 inch, (e) 1.42 inches and (t) 1.89 inches.
simulation results vary over considerable range. It is also
noted that experimental measurements by various in-
vestigators show similar scattering. It seems that more
study has to be done on spring back predictions.
3.2. Tube inversion
Tube inversion process was simulated by the two di-
mensional implicit code, KSHELL In tube inversion pro-
cess, bending, unbending and expansion in circum-
ferential direction take place simultaneously. The im-
portant process parameters arc', the inner radius, tube
thickness and die comer radius. Tube inversion can be
done in two ways, one is inside-out inversion and the
other is outside-in inversion depending upon the guide
at die comer. Improper design ,of this process can cause
buckling and tearing during the process.
In tube inversion process, bending radius is usually
very sharp compared to tube thickness and bending and
expansion occur simultaneously. Such complex deforma-
tion mode causes difficulties in simulation.
 Applications of Sbnulation Techniques to Sheet Metal Forming Processes 587

Fig. 7. Experimentally measured cross section of in-

verted tube wall [27].

A1-Hassani et al. [27] examined the characteristics of

the tube inversion process experimentally. In this study,
inside-out tube inversion process from AI-Hassani was
simulated and the simulation results are compared to AI-
Hassanfs experimental results.
The simulation was performed under axisymmetric
condition. The inner diameter of the tube and thickness
are 49.2 mm and 1.6 mm, respectively. The die corner Fig. 8. Schematic diagram of three point bending test.
radius is 4.0 ram. The material of the tube was alu-
minum and the flow stress equation is given by
also seen that the accuracy of the strain solution does
~ = 220.64 x (0.123+gP) ~13~ MPa (6)
not improve with increasing integration order. This is be-
The Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio are 96 GPa cause that the magnitude of the bending strain is almost
and 0.3, respectively. Coulomb's friction law was used linear along the thickness.
and the friction coefficient between the die and the tube Fig. 10 shows the predicted and measured bending
is 0.1. Fig. 6 shows the deformed geometries at different load as a function of punch displacement. It is seen from
punch displacements predicted by the simulation and Fig. the figure that three-point Gauss integration predicts low-
7 shows the deformed geometry measured by ex- er bending load compared to the measured one. As in-
periment [27]. tegration order increases, predicted bending load ap-
proaches to the measured value.
3.3. Three point bending The stress is usually a non-integer exponent function
It is well known that the accuracy of a bending dom- of the strain. So higher order integration is needed to get
inant solution depends strongly on the number of in- accurate solution. Fig. 11 shows the predicted and
tegration points in through-thickness direction. To es- measured effective stress distributions along the thick-
timate the dependency of the solution on integration ord-
er, we simulated three point bending problem by using
ESFORM. Schematic diagram of the three point bending
process is given in Fig:. 8. This geometry is identical to
that used by Cho et al. [128]. Three cases of the simu-
lation were done with 3, 5 and 7 points Gauss in-
tegration. The FE mesh of the workpiece consists of 700
quadrilateral 4 node shell elements. The :flow stress of
the sheet is given by
= 879.5(0.00111 +~-p)0.2 MPa (7)
and the Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio are 87
GPa and 0.33, respectively.
Fig. 9 shows the measured and predicted bending
strain distribution through the thickness at the 5.5 mm
off from the punch tip at the punch displacement of 35.0 Fig. 9. Bending strain distribution through the thickness
mm. It can be seen from Fig. 9 that the predicted strains in three point bending at 5.5 mm off from punch tip
are in excellent agreement with the measurement, lit is when punch displacement of 35.0 mm.
588 Soo-lk Oh et aL

Fig. 12. Spring back angle.

The comparison shows that the predicted values are in

excellent agreements with the measured ones.

Fig. 11. Effective stress distribution in three point bend- 3,4. Square cup drawing with TWB
ing at 5.5 mm off from punch tip when punch dis- Square cup drawing process is investigated to study
placement of 35.0 mm. the weld line movement in TWB forming. Square cup
drawing process is shown schematically in Fig. 13. The
dimensions of the tools are the same as those used in
ness. It can be seen that the three-point Gauss in- MUMISHEET '93. Sheets of the same material but with
tegration results in very poor solution. On the other different thicknesses, 0.7 and 1.4 mm, were welded to-
hand 7-point integration gives excellent result compared gether to make initial blank. The initial blank of 150
to the measured effective stress distribution. mm square was prepared by cutting the welded blank
The simulation results suggest that we need the 7-
point integration for the simulations ol! bending dom-
inant processes. It is noted, however, that higher order in-
tegration results in large amount of computation time.
It has been shown that spring back analysis by ex-
plicit method may be possible but it is not practical due
to large computation time [13]. Therefore it is customary
to carry out loading analysis by explicit method and
then spring back analysis by implicit method. In order to
study spring back behavior, plastic loading and elastic
unloading were simulated by KSHELL. Also the predict-
ed spring back angle at various punch displacements are
compared to those measured by experiments in Fig. 12. Fig. 13. Schematic diagram of square cup drawing.
 Applications of Simulation Techniques to Sheet Metal Forming Processes 589

Table 1. Simulation conditions for TWB square cup

forming
Weld line BHF BHF BHF
location (kN) type ratio
Case I center 19.2 uniform 5:5
Case II center 19.2 non-uniform 4:6
10 mm off
from center
Case III 19.2 uniform 5:5
toward thick-
er sheet

with weld line located vertically at the center and at 10

mm off from the center line toward the thicker sheet. In
order to study the possibility of controlling the weld line
movements, blank holding force is applied by four dif-
ferent hydraulic cylinders. The pressure of the hydraulic
cylinder can be controlled independently. The total blank
holding force is 19 kN. The three different simulation
conditions are summarized in terms of weld line lo-
cations, and blank holding force distributions in Table 1.
The Coulomb friction law is assumed and friction
coefficient of 0.144 is used in simulations. Tensile tests
show that the flow behavior of base sheet and welded
portion is considerably different. However, numerical
tests show that material properties of welded portion can
be neglected in the simulation. The thickness difference
of the welded sheet was accounted by using the node
constraint method as shown in Fig. 14. As it can be seen
from Fig. 14, the nodes along the weld line are con-
straint in such a way that they can transmit the in-plane
force and moment across the weld line.
Figs. 15 and 16 show the predicted and measured de-

Fig. 15. TWB square cup forming with weld line lo-
cated vertically at center (case I). (a) experiment, and (b)
simulation.

formed shapes for cases I and II1 at the punch dis-

Fig. 14 Weld part modeling with nodal constraint.
placement of 40 mm. The predicted thickness dis-
tributions are also shown in Figs. 15 and 16. It appears
that the predictions are in good agreements with ex-
periments. The predicted and measured weld line move-
ments are summarized in Table ;2. Here again, the pred-
ictions are in excellent agreements. It may be men-
tioned that small crack appeared parallel to weld line in
case HI.
590 Soo-lk Oh et al.

Fig. 16. TWB cup with weld line located 10 mm off

from the center toward thicker sheet (case Ill). (a)
experiment, and (b) simulation.

Table 2. Maximum weld line displacement after form-

ing (mm)
Experiment Sire ulation
Case I 3 4
Case II 2 3
Case III 8.5 9

Fig. 17. Forming simulation of automotive front fender.

3.5. Automotive front fender (a) thickness strain distribution and shape at 1.0 mm up
The forming of the automotive front tender that was from the bottom, (b) dangerous region, and (c) FLD at
used as a benchmark problem in NUMISHEET '93 was region A.
 Applications of Simulation Techniques to Sheet Metal Forming Processes
simulated by ESFORM. All the input data used for the
simulation, such as material properties, the geometries of
the tools, frictional conditions, were the same as those
given in NUMISHEET '93. The FE mesh of the work-
piece consists of 19701 quadrilateral 4 node shell ele-
ments. Fig. 17a :is the predicted geometry together with
the predicted thickness strain distribution when the
punch was located at 1.(l mm up from the bottom point.
It is seen from the figure that the amount of the thinning
in the front part was very large, i.e. the portion A in Fig.
17b. The possibility of tearing during forming is predict-
ed from the FLD (Forming Limit Diagram) shown in
Fig. 17c. The predicted strain distributions are in rea-
sonable agreements with the measurements.
4. CONCLUDING REMARKS
At present, a number of commercial and in-house
codes for sheet metal simulation are available, and they
have become indispensable tools for forming process
design. Also the practicality of these codes are in such a
way that they are being used day-in and day-out for prac-
tical tool designs. In spite of their robustness these sof-
tware achieved, there are rooms for further improve-
ments.
In terms of basic formulations, the capability of
predicting deformation behavior of bending with sharp
radius. It seems that most of the shell fornmlations have
predicting sharp radius bending, while we encounter
these types of problems in practice quite often. Useful
sheet forming simulations should include accurate pred-
iction of spring back to control the dimensional accuracy
of formed parts. However, a lot of improvements need
to be made for this purpose. The accuracy of the spring
back prediction may depend on shell formulation itself
or proper constitutive relations, such as hardening rules
and anisotropy. A more study may be needed.
Simulation software is, at this momenL a predictive
tool. That is, the actual process design is done through
parametric studies. Such a design method is still cumb-
ersome, and it may be necessary to develop an op-
timization tool. The optimization should include tooling
geometry design and blank design.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work is partially supported by Ministry of Com-
merce, Industry and Energy and also by the Korea Sci-
ence and Engineering Foundation (KOSEF) through
ERC/NSDM at Pusan National University. Their sup-
591
ports are gratefully acknowledged.
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