INDUSTRIAL INTEGRATED METHODOLOGY FOR DEEP-DRAWING PROCESSES OPTIMIZATION BY NUMERICAL-SIMULATION

Numerical Simulation of Deep-Drawing process strongly increased its performance in the past years: today several reliable research and commercial codes are available and have been well tested and run on most important hardware platforms, from workstations to supercomputers. Many applications have been developed dealing with not only academic or geometrically simplified problems but also large, complex industrial components: so next step in the future from an industrial point of view will be the integration of numerical simulation tools in processes and components design environment. The paper describes the main activities performed at CRF for achieving efficiency and dissemination of integrated methodology in order to optimize components, dies and processes. It also shows the results obtained in the numerical simulation of the deep-drawing process of a car component. The work has been done in co-design with CAD system suppliers, processes designers and numerical simulation experts. The code PAM-STAMP has been utilized in order to perform numerical simulations. The CAD-FEM integration and the role of numerical simulation in process optimization are particularly focused. Finally some experience concerning times, results analysis, impact of methodological procedures' performances and trends for the future are described from industrial point of view.