A Practical Approach to Analysis of Hydromechanical Deep Drawing of Superalloy Sheet Metals by Using Finite Element Method

Hydromechanical deep drawing (HDD) is one of the most convenient processes in which a sheet metal is drawn against a counter pressure rather than a rigid die in conventional stampings. This process has been increasingly used to produce aerospace and automotive components. More recently, aerospace industry is demanding new materials with capability to produce high strength to weight ratio products. Also several investigations have been carried out on hydromechanical deep drawing, numerical considerations in order to design the process parameters to produce a cost-effective with high quality component by using this process for superalloy cups has not been investigated. Nickle-based superalloy sheet metals are more prominent in aviation and spaceflight industries. In this paper, numerical simulation of hydromechanical deep drawing for Haynes230 nickle based superalloy has been investigated. Moreover, the pressure paths which yield rupture and wrinkling have been realized. Furthermore, differences between applying uniform and gradual pressure into the pressure chamber have been detected to nominate a pressure path for successfully producing a superalloy cup made by HDD. Subsequent to that, chamber pressure against punch travel curves were depicted. For this investigation, 3-D finite element method was employed and the results obtained from numerical simulation were validated using experimental data already available in the literature.