For the improvement of productivity, the reduction of cost and time for manufacturing is mandatory, especially in the field of electronic industry. Despite the increasing demand for improved product design, up to date no effective method of formability estimation has been yet proposed from the view point of assembly automation.
The study is concerned with a practical means of systematic assistance to formability estimation and selection of reliable design specification for electronic sheet metal parts. The objective of this research work is to develop a simulation system which helps to analyze the target processes with the finite element method and to acquire available design data quickly and exactly. The simulation system developed in the study consists of design verification, selection of optimal combination of parameters, knowledge acquisition and graphical user interface(GUI). Design verification is automatically carried out by using the finite element method. Introducing the Taguchi method an optimal and robust combination of parameters is found and a data base management system and nomograms are utilized for knowledge acquisition. For the sake of efficiency and convenience of usage, X-Window System, OSF/MOTIF, UIL and ANSI C are employed for establishing GUI on the basis of UNIX environment.
The developed system has been applied to some major sheet metal forming operations such as flanging, embossing, deep drawing, bending and blanking. According to the simulated results, the validation of the target processes has been confirmed. Analysis data, estimation rules of formability and graphical representation of the analysis have been employed for the designer's understanding and evaluation, thus providing a practical means of robust design and evaluation of formability for producing electronic sheet metal parts.
