Finite element analysis of cold drawing of stainless steel bars

Abstract

Abstract Drawing is a metal forming process that is carried out by pulling a work piece through a die cavity. During the process, the cross-sectional area of the work piece reduces and the shape of the product is the same as that of the die cavity. In traditional industries, the required accuracy and quality can be achieved through multiple tryouts, by which a large amount of testing samples and time are required and accordingly results in the increase in production cost and decrease in productivity. Cold drawing is an effective way to produce bars or wires with high precision in product size. However, there is still no appropriate quantitative formula to determine how the dimensions of the die and the forming parameters affect the geometric dimensions of the product. In recent years, the progress of simulation technology allows us to investigate the effects of forming parameters on finished products dimensions. However, there was no literature discussing the effects of various parameters on the precision of the product dimensions. In this paper a finite element model is established to analyze the elastoplastic deformation of the bar inside the die cavity. An empirical formula including various forming parameters is established from a series of simulation results, and the precision can reach within 0.1%.