Experimental and numerical investigation of the sheet forming in hydroforming process

In this research, the effect of viscosity of fluid on forming of flat head cylindrical cups by using hydrodynamic deep drawing process assisted radial pressure, was studied experimentally and also by finite element analysis. In this paper Firstly, to determine forming parameters such as maximum pressure and applied pressure path, process was carried out by numerical simulation by finite element method. Then by using several types of fluid with different viscosity as pressure carrying medium, several experiments were carried out. For every fluid, thickness distribution in final part and maximum punch force were investigated. By comparison of experimental results with numerical data, it has been found that results from numerical simulation were in good agreement with the experimental results. In addition in this paper it is shown that increasing the fluid viscosity leads to increasing of maximum punch force. In addition increasing fluid viscosity doesn’t have any effect in maximum blank thickening in the cup wall zone. Finally, in this research it is shown that by selecting fluid with appropriate viscosity, final parts with more uniform thickness distribution could be achieved.