Development of Boss Forming Simulation Technologies with a Rotary Tool

摘要

Magnesium alloys are light weight and highly recyclable. To use magnesium alloys as parts of products such as automobiles, it is very effective make bosses by using plastic workings because this can reduce material loss and welding for producing parts. The bosses can be produced by a press cylindrical tool with rotation to the surface of the magnesium alloy sheet. To reduce the period of development of the tools in forming condition investigations, numerical simulation with FEM is very useful. FEM technologies have been developed for making bosses with plastic working. Because of the symmetry of the tool, the axisymmetrical FEM is applied as the first step. Bosses were found to increase in height as the friction coefficient increased. To investigate the friction between the tool and the alloy sheets, a ring compression test was conducted. The temperature of the alloy sheets increases as the bosses are formed. Therefore, the compression test was conducted at an elevated temperature. The heat transfer rate also affects the results of the forming simulation. To improve the shape of bosses from the simulation results, 3D simulation was performed. The shape of bosses in the 3D simulation is better than that in the 2D simulation by taking into account the traction at the contact area of the cylindrical tool.