Effects of forming media on hydrodynamic deep drawing

Apart from the punch and the die, a pressurized fluid (water or oil) is used in hydroforming. The presence of such pressure media is the main difference between hydroforming and conventional deep drawing. No comprehensive study has yet been conducted on the effect of forming media on the formation of cylindrical cups via hydrodynamic deep drawing assisted by radial pressure. This study investigated the formation of such cups through Finite element (FE) simulation and experiments. First, the process was modeled numerically using ABAQUS FE software. After simulation, copper and St14 sheets were formed with water and oil as the forming media. The effect of these forming media on thickness distribution and maximum punch force was investigated. By examining the thickness distribution curve of the hydroformed cup, a close agreement was found between experimental and numerical results. Using oil as the forming media reduced thinning at the corner radius zone of the punch and increased the maximum punch force. Changing the forming media does not significantly influence the maximum thickening at the cup wall region.