The basic formulation for finite element modeling of metal forming processes is briefly recalled with the aim of treating the case of multi body interactions. This situation occurs when the tools are considered as deformable, when the work-piece includes several materials or when the physical structure is analyzed at the micro scale. The classical approach utilizes separate meshes for each body and the contact is enforced using different numerical methods: the complete coupling, the master and slave approach and a quasi-symmetrical formulation. The single mesh method with different constitutive equations corresponding to each material is more computationally effective, but its use is restricted to the cases when the contact between the different bodies does not evolve. Finally the Euler formulation can be used with a level set method for the description of the interfaces between different materials and its application to recrystallization for example.
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