Tooling and binder design for sheet metal forming processes compensating springback error

Part shape error due to springback can be a manufacturing defect in sheet metal forming processes. This manufacturing problem can be corrected by using appropriate designs of the tooling and the binder shape together with a binder constraint. In the present work a methodology for tool and binder design based on inverse springback calculations is developed and demonstrated. The design procedure invokes finite element analysis of the manufacturing process. The proposed method was demonstrated for two cases of forming of channel geometries (two-dimensional and three-dimensional) with an aluminum alloy sheet. The tooling needed to form the desired parts was numerically designed using the proposed algorithm then constructed with the aid of CNC machining. The designed tooling was found to produce the desired part shapes demonstrating both the accuracy of the numerical simulations and the success of the proposed tooling design algorithm.