Warm Hydromechanical Deep Drawing of AA 5754-O and Optimization of Process Parameters

Abstract

Warm hydromechanical deep drawing (WHDD) has increasingly been implemented by automotive industry due to its various benefits including mass reduction opportunities in auto body-in-white components and improved formability for lightweight alloys. In the first part of the current study, WHDD of AA 5754-O was studied. In order to obtain the highest formability, an optimization study was performed for AA 5754-O WHDD process parameters (tool temperature, hydraulic pressure (HP), and blank holder force (BHF) loading profiles) through finite element analysis (FEA) + experimentation approach. Results showed that the optimal temperature for punch is 25 °C and 300 °C for die and blank holder. In addition, HP was found to be more effective on formability when compared to BHF. Both fast increasing HP and blank holder loading profiles contributes to higher formability.