Theoretical, numerical and experimental investigation of hydro-mechanical deep drawing of steel/polymer/steel sandwich sheets

Fabricating flat sandwich sheets into components with a required shape and dimensions is a challenging job in the metal forming field. In this article, hydro-mechanical deep drawing was used for sandwich sheet forming. The aim of the work is to achieve higher drawing ratio of these sheets. Theoretical, numerical and experimental analysis of the hydro-mechanical deep drawing of sandwich sheets was carried out. Separated layers theory method is used for theoretical analysis of the process. Then, the numerical simulation of the process was developed by finite element method. The effect of core layer thickness on the forming force of the sandwich sheet and effective parameters of the process such as strain and forming force was investigated. Experimental works were conducted on the steel/polymer/steel sandwich sheets by a hydro-mechanical deep drawing die. A good agreement was observed between theoretical, numerical and experimental results. The safe zone of fluid pressure for achieving a part without rupture was obtained. It was shown that the limit drawing ratio is increased by increasing the pressure but after a particular point, the limit drawing ratio is decreased by increasing the chamber pressure. It was also observed that maximum drawing ratio for achieving a part without rupture in the hydro-mechanical deep drawing process is higher than conventional deep drawing process.