Analyzing a sheet metal stamping for nearness to failure is one of the Key parts of the formability system. The measured strain (Major and Minor), and the amount of thickness reduction tells us how robust our stamping Process is. Plotting the measured strain against the Forming Limit Curve and determining the distance to failure allows us to quantify the amount of variation the process can handle. The use of the Argus system to measure surface strain, calculate thickness reduction, visually display a 3D stain models, re-calculate the strain measured from the surface and project it to the center of the sheet, and create forming limit diagrams are just a few of the outputs the system can produce.
When displaying the information outputs from the Argus system, many analysts put the information neatly into the report and send it off in an email or place it on a storage system for all to review. Formability analyst often feel frustration with this being the major usage for the system. When a report is written, a 2D image is copied and pasted onto a page, with the focus of the point or area of concern, and the measurement results populated into rows and cells. How often would they like to be able to show the folks, working the tool or making the decision on how corrections should be made, more information. Most would love to pull up the model on a computer screen, rotate the model around, turn on flow arrows, cut sections, or even have historical models’ side by side or overlaid for comparison.
The formability system and Argus are capable for more than just a report. These are all tools to be used to better understand and predict potential failures. The system can be adjusted to display many different views of the data.
Surface and thickness strain data provide more than a postmortem analysis of how the stamping system preformed making the currently reviewed part. Proper use of the information, a trained Formability Analyst can provide, will assist in better quality improvement decision making, and long term problem resolution actions.
