One of the most important aspects in multi-stage shape drawing is the proper design of the intermediate dies especially to provide adequate metal distribution. In the current study, a method for designing the intermediate dies has been developed to manufacture hollow linear motion guide rails by multi-stage shape drawing. The design method is based on the modified virtual die method. The effectiveness of the proposed design method was verified by FE-simulations and experiments using Mn55Cr carbon steel. From the results of the FE-simulations and the experiments, the proposed design method led to a drawn product with a sound shape. The dimensional tolerances of the product were within the allowable specified tolerances.

The finite element method has been widely used in the analysis of ring rolling. For ring rolling it requires a high computational expense due to the non-steady state material flow characteristics of the process. The high computational expense causes the finite element analysis to be impractical for industrial applications. In the current study, we aim to develop a practical implicit finite element modeling method for ring rolling. This method uses a step-wise steady state assumption and is called the “Stepped method”. The stepped method divides the whole process time of unsteady-state flow model into a finite number of steady-state models. It then solves the process at several specific time steps until convergence is reached. In order to confirm the performance and validity of the newly proposed stepped method, the result from the stepped method were compared to the results from a Lagrangian finite element method and to results from experiments reported in the literature.

In the current study, the design methodology has been developed to produce shoe mold for a suitable walking shoes of the general Korean using ANN (Artificial Neural Network). To design the suitable and comfortable shoes for the Korean, the shapes of foots were measured for 513 people. In this research, the foot length, breadth and ankle were considered as design parameters. In order to find the optimal foot shape for the average value of design parameters, the average value of design parameters and the other measurements were used as input and output to the ANN. After training, the various foot measurements were predicted by ANN. Base on the ANN results, the walking shoes were manufactured by considering these measurements and designing a shoe mold. From the results, the proposed method could give a more systematic and feasible means for manufacturing walking shoes with greater usefulness and better generality.

The current study is concerned with the prediction of fracture strains for DP980 steel sheets over a wide range of loading paths. The use of DP980 steel is increasing significantly in automotive industries for enhanced safety and higher fuel efficiency. The material behavior of advanced high-strength steels (AHSSs) sheets sometimes show unpredictable and sudden fracture during sheet metal forming. A modified Lou-Huh ductile fracture criterion is utilized to predict the formability of AHSSs because the conventional forming limit diagram (FLD) constructed based on necking is unable to evaluate the formability of AHSSs sheets. Fracture loci were extracted from three dimensional fracture envelopes by assuming the plane-stress condition to evaluate equivalent plastic strains at the onset of fracture for a wide range of loading paths. Three different types of specimens -- pure shear, dog-bone and plane strain grooved -- were utilized for tensile testing to calibrate the fracture model of DP980 steel sheets. Fracture strains of each loading path were evaluated such that there shows little deviation between fracture strains predicted from the fracture model and the experimental measurements. From the comparison, it is clearly shown that the three dimensional fracture envelopes can accurately predict the onset of the fracture of DP980 steel sheets for complicated loading conditions from compressive loading to shear loading and to equibiaxial tensile loading.

Many in the industrial world that consume high amounts of energy are trying to reduce energy when manufacturing their products. Energy saving during manufacturing is a cost reduction. Reduced cost is necessary for profit improvement. The Piston Under Drive Brake used in the current study is an automotive transmission part. The original machining after hot forging was changed to machining after cold forging of a plate in order to save energy and cost. Two extrusion shapes along the outer diameter caused decreased tool life because of the interrupted cut during turning. Therefore, a thickness reduction of two extrusion areas in the outer diameter was needed. The current study suggests an effective way to reduce the thickness of interrupted cut by using progressive blanking.

The objective of the current study is to determine cross-sectional profile of intermediate dies in order to improve the plastic strain homogeneity which directly affects not only the dimensional accuracy but also the mechanical properties of final product by redesigning the intermediate dies using the conventional electric field analysis (EFA) method. Initially, the multi-pass shape wire drawing was designed by using the equivalent potential lines from EFA. The area reduction ratio was calculated from the number of passes in multi-pass shape wire drawing but constrained by the capacity of the drawing machine and the drawing force. In order to compensate for a concentration of strain in a region of the cross section of the wire, the process for multi pass wire drawing from initial round material to an intermediate die was redesigned again using the electric field analysis. Both drawing process designs were simulated by the finite element method in which the strain distribution and standard deviation plastic strain of the cross section of drawn wires were examined.

Microstructure based FE simulations were conducted to investigate the micro-mechanical properties of ferrite-martensite dual-phase steels. The FE model was built based on real microstructure images which were characterized by optical microscopy through the thickness direction. Serial sectioned 2D images were converted into semi-2D representative volume elements (RVEs) model. Each RVE model was subjected to a non-proportional loading condition and the mechanical response was analyzed on both the macroscopic and microscopic levels. Macroscopically, stress-strain curves were described under tension-compression and tension-orthogonal tension conditions and the Bauschinger effect was well captured for both loading paths. In addition, micromechanical properties were investigated in the view of stress-strain partitioning and strain localization during monotonic tension.

Electromagnetic Forming is a high speed forming technology which uses electromagnetic (Lorentz’s) forces to shape sheet metal parts. In the current study the effect of the tool-sheet interaction during electromagnetic forming on formability enhancement is investigated using FEM. The decrease in void volume fraction by having the sheet contact with die helps to improve formability. The main purpose of the current study was to predict improvement of formed sheets whether the sheet contacts or does not contact the die under experimental conditions and 3-D finite element analysis. The results show that fractures caused by the voids in the forming sheet appear only in some specific cases and the bulge height of the conical shape was shorter than the height with a free bulge. For the same height conditions, however, the formability was improved for the conical-shaped die when there is sheet contact with the die.

The current investigation was performed to study sliding-wear-rate deviation (wear-rate data scatter) in carbon steels with various microstructures. Pure iron, 0.2 wt. % C steel, 0.45 wt. % C steel, and bearing steel (AISI52100) were used for the investigation. These steels possess different microstructures. Microstructures of the pure iron, two carbon steel and the bearing steel were full ferrite, ferrite + pearlite and full pearlite, respectively. Depending on the carbon content, the carbon steel had different pearlite-volume fractions. Dry sliding wear tests of the steel were conducted using a ball-on-disk wear tester at a sliding speed of 0.1 m/s using a bearing ball (AISI52100) as a counterpart. Applied load and sliding distance were 100 N and 300 m, respectively. More than three (up to twelve) tests were conducted for each steel under the same conditions, and the mean deviations in the wear rate of the steel (microstructure) were compared. The wear-rate deviation in the steel with ferrite + pearlite microstructure was higher than that with ferrite microstructure, and the deviation decreased with the increase of pearlite volume fraction. The pure iron and the bearing steel specimens showed much less deviation. The high deviation observed from the ferrite + pearlite steel was attributed to irregular subsurface-crack nucleation and growth at the interface between the two micro constituents (ferrite and pearlite) during the wear test.

SmartCrown is a system to control the plate crown by shifting the sine-shaped work rolls in the axial direction. The control range of the plate crown depends on a depth of sine-shaped roll profile because the roll radius varies continuously along the axial direction. When the roll profile is changed to improve the control range, the contact stress between the work roll and the back-up roll also changes. In the current study, the contact stress for various profiles and rolling conditions were analyzed using the finite element method and compared with results from Hertzian contact theory. A submodel method is used to increase the accuracy of the finite element analysis. The analysis results showed that the maximum increase in the contact stress was only 53MPa, so it is anticipated that no back-up roll spalling will occur.