Influences of lubrication conditions and blank holder force on micro deep drawing of C1100 micro conical–cylindrical cup

• Micro conical–cylindrical cups with bottom diameter of only 0.4 mm were formed.
• Limiting drawing ratio of the micro conical–cylindrical cup reaches to 2.1.
• Polyethylene film was shown to be a suitable lubricant for micro sheet forming.
• Blank holder force has great influence on forming quality in micro deep drawing.

Lubrication conditions and blank holder force (BHF) are two key processing parameters in deep drawing. This is more obvious in micro forming because of the miniaturization of the specimen size. Micro conical–cylindrical cups with internal conical bottom diameter of only 0.4 mm were well formed. The influences of lubrication conditions and BHF on micro deep drawing of micro conical–cylindrical cups were investigated using a micro blanking–deep drawing compound mold. Pure copper C1100 with a thickness of 50 μm, which was annealed at 450 °C for 2 h in vacuum condition, was chosen as the specimen material. The experiments were conducted on a universal testing machine with a forming velocity of 0.05 mm/s under 4 kinds of lubrication conditions and BHF. The experimental results showed that a micro conical–cylindrical cup with internal conical bottom diameter of only 0.4 mm was well formed, and the limiting drawing ratio (LDR) reached 2.1. The polyethylene (PE) film, which decreased the drawing force and increased the drawing ratio (DR), was superior to castor oil, petroleum jelly and dry friction, and can be chosen as a proper lubricant for micro deep drawing. The rim of the micro cup seriously wrinkled when BHF was less than 4.2 N. The bottom of the micro cup cracked when the BHF was larger than 5.6 N.