Practice of Process Modeling of Metal Forming in Manufacturing Environment

For the last two decades, applications of finite element analysis have tremendously reshaped the metal forming and manufacturing industries. Today, this method is commonly employed as an effective tool to help engineers (1) in conceptual development or virtual prototyping phase precisely predict the behavior of the part to be formed so that the tools can be correctly designed and (2) in product improvement phase correctly and effectively identify the root causes of product defects and provide solutions. These demands, however, have not been well satisfied, mostly because of the difficulties in the complex nonlinearities and boundary conditions in metal forming, implementation of accurate and sophisticated solution methodologies and an accurate material response through appropriate constitutive equations. Approximations and limitations of the programs may not result in the desirable accuracy sought from the simulation and therefore may lead the engineers in a dilemma in interpretation of simulation results...