Sheet metal shrink flanging process: a critical review of current scenario and future prospects

Flanging is sheet metal forming process which has high-end applications from automobile industry to aircraft industry. Straight, stretch, shrink and hole-flanging are the variations of flanging process flange types. It is found that that market share (revenue) of flanging process in stamping industry will increase by nearly 4 billion USD during the decade of 2013-2024. Coventional stamping, incremental forming, rubber forming, fluid forming, electromagnetic forming are the technologies utilized till date for the formation of flanges. Hole-flanging is the most widely used/applied form of flanging process. Besides this, shrink flanging process finds its applications in automobile and aircraft parts. The objective of the present study deals with critical review and analysis of sheet metal shrink flanging process. Aluminum alloys were used for manufacturing aircraft parts, whereas steel alloys were used for manufacturing car body parts in the making shrink flanged parts. Strain-based models were majorly used in mathematical analysis of shrink flanging process. Shell-based elements were utilized for meshing of sheet metal for FEM analysis of shrink flanging process. Rubber forming was found to be most efficient forming technique for the formation of shrink flange portion parts. Blank shape optimization is carried out by employing FEM simulation topology optimization for shrink flanging process.