Study of the effect of material properties and sheet thickness on formability of conical parts in hydro-mechanical deep drawing assisted by radial pressure

Conical parts have a lot of usage in industries. Therefore, it is important to form these parts with high accuracy. In sheet forming processes, producing conical parts is one of the most difficult aspects. The two major problems that occur in the production of conical parts are rupturing and wrinkling. Among the forming processes for producing conical parts, the most capable one is hydroforming deep drawing. In this study, the effects of material properties and initial sheet thickness on forming and thickness reduction of the part were examined by using hydro-mechanical deep drawing assisted by radial pressure. For investigating these two parameters, pure copper and st14 steel are used. In experimental evaluation, sheets with thicknesses of 2.5 mm were used. In the simulation study, the thicknesses of 0.5, 1, and 2 mm were also examined. There is a good agreement between experimental and simulation findings. The results showed that for thinner sheets, the thickness reduction is less, and thus, a more uniform thickness distribution curve was obtained. Also, it was illustrated that for St14 steel sheet the thickness distribution curve will be more uniform compared with that of pure copper sheet.