Abstract
An inverse finite element approach is employed to efficiently design the optimum blank shape and intermediate shapes from the desired final shape in multi-stage elliptic cup drawing processes. The multi-stage deep-drawing process is difficult to design with the conventional finite element analysis since the process is very complicate with the conventional finite element analysis since the process is very complicated with intermediate shapes and the numerical analysis undergoes the convergence problem even with tremendous computing time. The elliptic cup drawing process needs much effort to design sine it requires full three-dimensional analysis. The inverse analysis is able to omit all complicated and tedious analysis procedures for the optimum process design. In this paper, the finite element inverse analysis provides the thickness strain distribution of each intermediate shape through the multi-stage analysis. The multi-stage analysis deals with the convergence among intermediate shapes and the corresponding sliding constraint surfaces that are described by the analytic function of merged-arc type surfaces.
