Sheet metal forming with the aid of flexible punch, numerical approach and experimental validation

This paper presents experimental and finite element studies of rubber-pad forming process. Three types of rubber, i.e. natural rubber, silicon rubber and polyurethane rubber are used as flexible punch. The influence of punch speed and rubber material on punch load and specimen thinning is investigated experimentally. Stress and strain distributions in the workpiece, die and flexible punch are investigated numerically during the process using finite element software ABAQUS/Standard. Good correlation is achieved between finite element simulation and experimental results in terms of thickness prediction of formed component.