Efficiency of rubber-pad cushion in bending process of a thin aluminum sheet

The present paper presents numerical and experimental comparative studies between the conventional bending process (bending using punch and V-die) and bending with a rubber-pad cushion. In fact, a finite-element method is introduced to compare these two procedures used to bend AA1050-H14 Aluminum thin sheet. An elastoplastic constitutive model with quadratic yield criterion of Hill 48 and isotropic hardening behavior has been adopted in FE simulations performed using ABAQUS explicit. To model rubber material, a Mooney–Rivlin theory is used in the finite-element simulation. The purpose of this study is to see the difference between the two methods in terms of effort evolution, springback, stress distribution, thinning. Analyze the effect of the rubber material; in fact, natural rubber, and polyurethane with hardness 50, 70, and 90 shore A are investigated. This numerical study was validated by an experimental investigation that proved the efficiency of the elastic cushion to bend in a better way this thin aluminum sheet.