Predicting the shape of blanked products: a finite element approach

Prediction of the properties of products of the blanking process is nowaday s still mainly an empirical effort. The lack of fundamental knowledge of th e process may cause lengthy process development, and obstructs process inno vation. Consequently, a validated numerical model of the process would be o f great value. In this paper, an elasto-plastic finite element model will be introduced, i n which the extremely large deformations which occur are handled by an oper ator split arbitrary Lagrange-Euler method combined with remeshing. Ductile fracture is incorporated by a discrete crack approach. To demonstrate the possibilities of the procedure, some simulation results are presented. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.