Computer aided design of sheet metal die assembly utilising Pro/ENGINEER and Mechanica

In recent years the development of more and more products has become a remarkable trend in the automotive industry.The consumer demand for great variety and increasing environmental concerns are forcing manufacturers to improve product development efficiency encouraging the new designs in sheet metal die casting.The Pro Engineering and Pro Engineering Mechanica is a widely applied tools for designing models and for solving structural problems respectively.The punch,die and blankholder are three main parts in this sheet metal die casting and these can be represented by finite element models,the die structure deflections and stress induced by loading condition can be predicted and can be designed according to requirements.The role of the blank holder in the generation of the restraining forces acting on the metal sheet is considered on top most point.The known fact is the choice of restraining force distribution is a key point in designing the sheet metal die.The factors that affect the actual restraining force distribution are briefly analyzed,identifying control factors.This capability allows achieving some actual advantages, considering that the technological development will supplies the engineers with hardware and software instruments able to analyze in short time large problems.The Finite element analysis allows to foresee possible inconveniences which could occur during the construction by using only virtual models,before physical model being made.