Metal flow control during hot forming of square cups with local-thickened plates and varied friction conditions

Obtaining square cups with the radius at the bottom corner lower than the thickness of original plate via a single-step hot forming process is a challenge. In this paper, a processing way was proposed by combining local-thickened plate and friction control, to manufacture square cups with small corner radii. Through finite element (FE) simulations, the metal flow during hot forming of square cups was optimized by varying the shape of the local thickened section and adjusting the friction conditions at the interfaces between blank and tools. It was found that the filling ratio of the bottom corner can be significantly improved by increasing the friction coefficient at the interfaces between the blank and the upper punch, and that between the blank and the central zone of counter punch. The established flow dividing surface (FDS) model is capable for describing the variation of metal flow with the friction coefficients. Base on the simulation results, hot forming experiments were also carried out, and square cups with small radii of 2 mm at the bottom corners were successfully manufactured.