Investigation of Die Wear during Fine-Blanking Process of a Kind of Automobile Synchronizer Slipper by FEM and Experiments

Abstract

In this paper, die wear during fine-blanking process of a kind of automobile synchronizer slipper was investigated based on Finite Element Method (FEM) and experiments. The Finite Element (FE) model to simulate the fine-blanking process of the automobile synchronizer slipper was established on the DEFORM-3D software platform, and Archard's wear model was employed to calculate die wear during the process. Meanwhile, mesh refinement and automatic remeshing technique were used during meshing process of the blanked materials and bottom die in order to achieve high accuracy results of FE simulations and improve the computational efficiency. Simulation results have been verified and show good agreement with the real manufacture. In addition, relationships between die wear and the process parameters during fine-blanking process such as pressure pad force, ejector force, blanking speed, blanking clearance, fillet radius of bottom die as well as hardness of bottom die were investigated, respectively via FEM. The simulation results indicate that die wear is in proportion to the pressure pad force, ejector force, blanking speed and fillet radius of bottom die, while in inverse proportion to the blanking clearance and hardness of bottom die, which will provide a reliable reference for the real manufacture and engineering application.