Analysis on the Warm Bending Process of Magnesium Alloy Sheet Using Additively Manufactured Polymer Die-Set

Research on the application of additively manufactured polymer (AMP) to the conventional manufacturing process is underway. In this study, an additively manufactured die-set (AMDS) was used and applied to the warm forming of the magnesium alloy. Heat transfer and coupled temperature-displacement analysis were conducted in the V-Bending and U-Bending processes to study the applicability of the AMDS to the warm-forming process of the magnesium alloy sheet (AZ31B). A heat transfer experiment was conducted to determine the thermal contact conductance between the AZ31B material and two types of die-set, the metal and AMP. V-Bending and U-Bending experiments were conducted at 373 and 423 K; reduction in temperature between metal die-set and the additively manufactured polymer die-set were compared. The springback after the bending process with different initial temperatures and die materials was investigated. The simulation model showed good agreement. The springback of AZ31B was more decreased with the additively manufactured polymer die-set than with the metal die-set. The stress of the additively manufactured polymer die-set in the bending process was very small. It was confirmed that in the AZ31B material, the additively manufactured polymer die set helps increase the formability and decrease springback by keeping the temperature of AZ31B better.