Effect of Loading Location of Viscous Medium on Sheet Deformation in Viscous pressure Bulge (VPB) Test

Viscous pressure forming (VPF) uses a highly viscous but flowable material as pressure-carrying medium (PCM). Due to the relative low flowability of viscous medium compared with fluid, nonuniform pressure distribution in viscous medium can be used to control and regulate the deformation sequence of the workpiece through controlling the loading mode of viscous medium. In the present study, viscous pressure bulge (VPB) tests with three kinds of loading location of viscous medium (central zone, corner zone and the whole deformation zone) are conducted and the influences of loading location of viscous medium on sheet deformation behavior are investigated via numerical simulations and experiments. It is found that changing the loading location of viscous medium can greatly affect the deformation behavior of sheet metal. When the viscous medium is injected from the die corner zone, a local high pressure formed at the corner zone of sheet metal and a higher limiting dome height and strains are obtained.