Comparison stamping and hydro-mechanical forming process for an automobile fuel tank using finite element method

Recently, the use of hydro-mechanical forming process offers a new manufacturing technology for the automotive industry. In this paper, a comparison is made between the hydro-mechanical forming of sheet metal and a conventional stamping for production of an automobile fuel tank using a commercial explicit FEM code. A special attention is paid to establish an optimal loading path for producing an automobile fuel tank by means of the hydro-mechanical forming process. The finite element model for a conventional stamping process is also verified by comparison with experiment. Finally, it is concluded that the hydro-mechanical forming could produce the part with a more uniform and sound thickness distribution than the stamping operation.