Numerical Simulations and Design of Shearing Process for Aluminum Alloys

Abstract

This work combines experimental studies with finite element simulations to develop a reliable numerical model for the simulation of shearing process in aluminum alloys. The critical concern with respect to product quality in this important process is burr formation. Numerical simulations are aimed at understanding the role of process variables on burr formation and for recommending process design parameters. The commercial code ABAQUS-Explicit with the arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian kinematic description is used in this study for numerical simulations. An elastic-plastic constitutive model with experimentally validated damage models are incorporated through the user subroutine VUMAT in ABAQUS, for modeling deformation and ductile fracture in the material. Macroscopic experiments with microscopic observations are conducted to characterize the material and to calibrate the constitutive and damage models. Parametric study is done to probe the effect of process parameters and finally, a genetic algorithm (GA) based design method is used to determine process parameters for minimum burr formation.