On the prediction of side-wall wrinkling in sheet metal forming processes

Prediction and prevention of side-wall wrinkling are extremely important in the design of tooling and process parameters in sheet metal forming processes. The prediction methods can be broadly divided into two categories: an analytical approach and a numerical simulation using finite element method (FEM). In this paper, a modified energy approach utilizing energy equality and the effective dimensions of the region undergoing circumferential compression is proposed based on simplified flat or curved sheet models with approximate boundary conditions. The analytical model calculates the critical buckling stress as a function of material properties, geometry parameters and current in-plane stress ratio. Meanwhile, the sensitivities of various input parameters and integration methods of FEM models on the prediction of wrinkling phenomena are investigated. To validate our proposed method and to illustrate the sensitivity issue in the FEM simulation, comparisons with experimental results of the Yoshida buckling test, aluminum square cup forming and aluminum conical cup forming are presented. The results demonstrate excellent agreements between the proposed method and experiments. Our model provides a reliable and effective predictor for the onset of side-wall wrinkling in sheet metal forming processes.