Mathematical models for a fast semi-analytical simulation of the air bending process of thin as well as of thick sheets have been developed, implemented, and successfully been tested. In contrast to a large number of available approaches in this field that -for reasons of assuming the neutral fibre to coincide with the central fibre and the sheet thickness to remain constant -are limited to thin sheets, in the present work special attention has been paid to the mathematical description of the shift of individual fibres and the changes of thickness. The adequate modelling of these two effects is essential to ensure that the resulting simulation procedure is applicable in the same way to the bending of thin and, in particular, of thick sheets.The realistic mathematical modelling of the forming process, the accuracy of the results, and the very short computation times permit the simulation system to be used in productionrelated applications, such as CAPP systems, virtual prototyping environments, and machine control systems, in which commercial finite element analysis software can be utilized either not at all or only in a limited way. the focus of this paper, the solutions resulting from JSA113
The air bending process is one of the most widely used process for the manufacturing of sheet metal bending parts made of thin as well as of thick sheet metal. Although the air bending process offers a very high production potential due to its great flexibility, it is associated with certain problems which can negatively influence the shape and dimensional accuracy of the bending parts. Examples for such negative influences are the springback of the material, the batch variations,
or the deflections of the bending machine and tools. These differences have to be considered either in the determination of the process parameters or they have to be compensated later on in the manufacturing process itself. A well established approach to calculate process data for forming processes is the use of a process simulation. At the Institute of Forming Technology and Lightweight Construction (IUL) a simulation software called Sheet Metal Bending Simulation (SMBS) has been developed and successfully been tested for the field of sheet metal bending, based on semi-analytical approaches. Although it already provides very satisfactory results in general, disturbances such as material and batch variations as well as the deflections of C-frame, machine table, and press brake ram can still negatively affect the prediction of the punch displacement necessary to achieve a certain bend angle. While material and batch variations cannot properly be considered in a process simulation at present, the afore mentioned influences offer a promising potential for improvements. Therefore, in order to further improve the accuracy of predicted
quantities such as punch displacement and bending angle, a new module describing the elastic machine behaviour of press brakes has been developed and successfully been integrated in the process simulation SMBS. Experimental investigations have been carried out on a conventional CNC press brake to verify the efficiency of the newly implemented approach.
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