Simulation of defects in micro-deep drawing of an aluminium alloy foil

Micro-forming refers to the application of conventional forming processes to manufacture products from ultra-thin sheet materials. While attempting to meet the increasing demand for cost-effective manufacturing of micro-formed components, it is very important to reduce the defects in the products. In this paper, we report a number of Finite Element (FE) simulations of the micro-deep drawing process with various sample thicknesses and eccentric distances. The simulations indicated that when the sample thickness is nearly equal to the gap between the plunger and the die, the sample is likely to develop fractures at the bottom corner. When the sample thickness is much smaller than the gap, wrinkling appears in the sample. If the sheet thickness is reduced, the wrinkles approach the bending zone. If the punch-die eccentricity is increased, the pressing process results in a defective product. The simulation results compared well with experimental results. This suggests that the computer simulations can be used to design future experiments.