Forming of a cylindrical cup in 7075-T6 under warm temperature conditions

Abstract The high mechanical properties of aluminum alloys are very interesting for reducing the weight of parts in the automotive sector. However, a formability issue prevents the use of these alloys at room temperature especially for complex shapes where part failure occurs before full drawing. The use of a warm forming process, which consists of heating the part between 150°C and 250°C for aluminium alloys, allows to increase formability and therefore to perform complex shapes. In this study, the forming of a cylindrical cup in 7075-T6 is carried out at 200° C in two steps by two successive reductions in the diameter of the blank. Numerical simulations of these two forming steps are performed with Abaqus. The influence of friction coefficient is analysed in these two forming steps by comparing the evolutions of punch force.