An Heuristic Optimization Algorithm for the blank shape design of high precision metallic parts obtained by a particular stamping process

The present paper deals with the blank shape design of high precision thin metallic parts obtained by a particular stamping process. The main objective is to optimize the blank shape in order to produce a desired 3D final part within severe fixed tolerances (±0.05mm). Presently, to overcome this issue, a very expensive and time consuming trial and error method is used. Here an attempt is made to develop an automatic numerical procedure based on commercial finite element modeling (FEM) code and Heuristic Optimization Algorithms (HOA). This procedure is composed of two stages: first, an initial guess of the blank shape is performed using the inverse approach (IA), then an update of the blank shape is obtained iteratively combining HOA and incremental FEM code (ABAQUS®ABAQUS® or STAMPACK®STAMPACK®). The proposed approach is validated on industrial case where the part is stamped in two stages by the mean of manual press, without blank-holder and using tools characterized by complex 3D geometry. This approach has demonstrated its effectiveness and simplicity to provide with a reasonable number of iterations an optimal solution which is in a very good agreement with the experimental results.