OPTIMIZATION OF THE DRAW-DIE DESIGN IN CONVENTIONAL DEEP-DRAWING IN ORDER TO MINIMIZE TOOL WEAR

An important problem in the production of drawn parts is tool wear, es pecially at the draw-die. If tool wear can be reduced this can increas e the tool lifetime and make a more continuous production flow, due to a reduction in the number of break-dawns when the tools have to be re -polished. This paper presents an attempt to reduce tool wear using th e finite-element method and a general optimization technique to re-des ign the geometry of the draw-die profile of a deep-drawing with respec t to minimizing the tool wear. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All righ ts reserved.