Simulation of the Structural Effects of Welded Frame Assemblies in Manufacturing Process Chains (PDF)

during the real process. This can save time and minimise costs and, at the same time, help to optimise product quality. In recent years, the process simulation in metal forming reached the appropriate level for its practical application for industrial purposes. Simulating the complete forming manufacturing process prior to the real production process is, nowadays, state of the art (ROLL 2004).

The application of the finite element analysis for describing forming processes began thirty years ago. Since that time, a rapid development has been seen. In the last fifteen years, a large number of different studies concerning forming simulation have been performed, so that nowadays the development is at an advanced level with about fifteen commercial software codes worldwide, which enable the FEA of forming processes (ROLL &, LEMKE 2005). In the area of forming simulation a lot of two-dimensional analyses are still performed, since many forming processes can be reduced into two-dimensional models (plane or axis-symmetrical deformation condition). Three-dimensional models are increasingly applied, however, with the disadvantage of difficulties during the automatic mesh regeneration. In addition, long computation times are required, so that three-dimensional practical examples can only be used with a large computational effort. In the case of extrusion moulding of aluminium profiles, different simulation methods may be applied in order to describe the material flow and the structural properties. Moreover, the simulation of the extrusion moulding process of aluminium profiles with reinforcing steel elements has been developed further (SCHIKORRA 2006). Hereby, already established material and contact laws are applied.

Prediction and application capabilities of the forming simulation are shown in Table 3-1. Failure occurrences, such as cracks, wrinkles, and necking can be predicted with a high accuracy along with material flow, resulting sheet thickness, strain allocation, and blankholder pressing. With the aid of the process simulation of the deep drawing operation step the effort for die spotting can be reduced (HOFFMANN et al. 2006).