Simulation supported sheet metal mold design and materials selection

Today, the most important problem of sheet metal forming sector is to transform the sheet into the desired form in a fast, low cost and highly efficient way. This problem not only forms during the sheet forming process, but also it is followed by critical processes such as designing a mould and facilitating the production of products quickly. Conventionally, the mould is designed and manufactured by practiced engineers, depending on their know-how and on trial techniques. Adjusting and selecting the structural parameters of the mould is random to a certain degree, which makes it challenging to forecast the stamping effects. The convenient structural parameters of the mould and those of the important process are determined by trial and error during die adjustment, and much time and cost are required while carrying out many trials and in modifying the mould. In this thesis, sheet metal forming processes have been researched and nowadays the necessity of theoretical analysis has become inevitable. The finite element-based CAE program is used AutoForm Plus R7 and the CAD program during mold design is used Solidworks in this study. AutoForm is a highly efficient software solution that provides high accuracy and reliable results developed specifically for the sheet metal forming and molding industry, especially for the automotive industry. With the help of AutoForm, multiple analyzes are performed before the mold production is started on the computer, and with the help of these analyzes, the mold outputs that are closest to the perfect can be obtained. Simulation reports have been compared with many results in the literature, and as a result, it has helped to create an idea that the mold which designed for this study can provide parts without adverse consequences such as tearing, wrinkling and drawing marks in accordance with the desired technical specifications.