Minimization of the thickness variation in multi-step sheet metal stamping

This paper presents an efficient method to optimize the intermedial tool surfaces in the multi-step sheet metal stamping process to obtain improved quality of a product at the end of forming. The proposed method is based on a combination of finite element modeling (FEM) and the response surface method (RSM). The objective of the optimization is to minimize the thickness variation of the part at the final stage. The constraint function of local fracture is introduced by the use of the forming limit curve (FLC). With acceptable accuracy and high efficiency, the multi-step inverse method is used together with RSM to check various intermediate surfaces to search for the optimal shape parameters. After the convergence of the optimization, the result is validated using commercial software DYNAFORM (R). (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.