Abstract
By assisting with resistance heating, the material formability can be improved, and more homogeneous material flow can be obtained. In this study, finite element (FE) models for an analysis of microbending process assisted by resistance heating were developed. Coupled thermal-electrical procedure and coupled thermal-displacement dynamic explicit procedure were conducted to analyze the temperature distribution and material deformation, respectively. And static implicit procedure was carried out for the analysis of springback behavior. The simulation results show that the temperature distribution of the blank is caused by the difference in electrical current density, which influences the material deformation as well as springback behavior. And the spingback angle decreases with increasing forming temperature. The temperature distribution and springback angle obtained from the simulation show the same tendency with the experiments, which confirmed the feasibility of the developed FE models. By using the developed FE models, the effects of the temperature distribution on material behavior can be obtained, and the springback angle for microbending process assisted by resistance heating can be predicted precisely. The possibility of reducing springback and improving the accuracy of the products by designing the process efficiently is demonstrated.
