5th International & 26th All India Manufacturing Technology, Design and Research Conference (AIMTDR 2014) December

12th–14th, 2014, IIT

Guwahati, Assam, India

REVIEW OF RUBBER BASED SHEET HYDRO-FORMING PROCESSES

Abhishek Kumar1, Santosh Kumar2, D. R. Yadav3

1
DRDL, Hyderabad, 500058,[email protected]
2
Professor, IIT(BHU), Varanasi, 221005, [email protected]
3
DRDL, Hyderabad, 500058,[email protected]

Abstract
Rubber based forming process is a versatile metal fabrication process used in commercial aerospace, automotive and
defence applications. It is well suited for prototyping and production of small quantities of sheet metal parts. Rubber
based forming employs a rubber pad contained in the rigid chamber or flexible diaphragm as one tool half, requiring
only one solid half to form a part to final shape. The solid tool half is similar to the punch as in conventional
process. The rubber exerts nearly equal pressure on all workpiece surfaces due to its incompressibility. The multi-
directional nature of the force from the rubber pad produces variable radius during forming and thus enhances
uniform elongation of the workpiece. The process exploits the benefits of flexible rubber punch and produces the
complex shaped sheet metal components with minimal spring back and profile deviation. Parts with excellent
surface finish can be formed with no tool marks and severe variations in the metal thickness, as occurs in
conventional forming processes, is reduced considerably. Some of the very popular processes under Rubber-pad
forming are Guerin process, Marform deep drawing process, Verson Hydroforming process, SAAB rubber
diaphragm process and Maslennikov’s process. The paper discusses in brief about these processes and presents
literature review of various developments occurred in this field.

Keywords: Rubber-pad, Forming, Hydroforming, Sheet metal

1. Introduction
Rubber forming adopts a rubber pad contained in a rigid 2. Chronological Development of Rubber
box acting as a die and requires the use of a single pad Forming Processes and their
metallic punch. The elastomer incompressibility is
exploited deforming at constant volume it exerts a Classification
hydrostatic pressure on the sheet metal [1]. As the punch The origin of Rubber Pad forming can be traced back to
advances, and the rubber acts somewhat like a hydraulic 19th century when Adolph Delkescamp in 1872
fluid in exerting nearly equal pressure on all workpiece employed rubber pad for cutting and shearing of thin
surfaces as it is pressed around the form block or punch sheet. In 1912, Leonard Beauroth used a rubber bulging
[2]. Such a technology possesses several advantages: it technique to form metal barrels. However, it was three
requires a single punch, and a rubber pad replaces many patents of Henry Guerin in 1938, 1939 and 1940 that led
dies of different shapes. The punch, more conveniently to wide introduction of rubber forming techniques [3].
loaded, can be realised with cheaper materials. The Later on Guerin process was modified and improved to
bending radii change progressively during forming develop Marform deep drawing process. Hybrid
process. Material thinning is reduced. The same tool set- processes such as Verson-Wheeler, Verson Hydroform
up can be used to stamp different materials and different and SAAB Rubber Diaphragm techniques were
thicknesses [1]. Due to low hardness of the rubber pad, developed to exploit the benefits of pressurized fluid
the sheet metal does not suffer from wear when and hyper-elastic nature of rubber diaphragm. The
compared to deep drawing. However, since the amount various processes are being discussed in brief in
of pressure exerted by rubber is limited by the strength following section.
of rubber itself, forming of sheet metal parts with small
forming radius may not be possible and the wear of the 2.1 Guerin process [4]
rubber is an issue in larger quantity manufacturing [3]. The Guerin process is oldest and simplest rubber pad
E. Battikha and D.J. Browne (1992) also suggested forming process. Aluminum alloys, Austenitic Stainless
using this process for prototype development or for low- Steels and titanium alloys can be shallow drawn using
volume production. The other disadvantages are lower this process. The schematic diagram of Guerin process
forming pressure and consequently large amount of is shown in figure 1. As the ram descends, the rubber
wrinkles and low production rate. presses the blank around the form block, thus forming
the workpiece. The rubber-pad retainer fits closely
REVIEW OF RUBBER BASED SHEET HYDRO-FORMING PROCESSES

around the platen, forming an enclosure that traps the the metal to be held tightly against the sides as well as
rubber as pressure is applied. The pressure produced in against the top of the punch.
the Guerin process is ordinarily between 6.9 and 48
MPa.

Fig 3: Verson-Hydroform process

2.4 Maslennikov’s process [6]

Fig1: Set up for rubber forming by Guerin Process

This process is however limited to forming moderately

shallow, recessed parts, having simple flanges and
having simple configuration due to lower strength of
rubber.

2.2 Marform Process [1]

Fig 4 : Maslennikov’s process

In 1957, Masennikov introduced a punch less drawing

technique using annular technique. Maslennikov’s
process is a deep drawing technique that uses annular
rubber pad to draw very deep cups. As can be seen in
the figure, the punch squeezes the rubber ring and
Fig 2: Marform Process [1] makes it deform radially inward. It develops a radial
frictional force between the rubber ring and the blank
In Marform process, deep-recessed parts with either and causes the blank to draw inside the die cavity. [6]
vertical or sloped walls can be formed [5]. The set up Other important rubber forming techniques are
details are shown in figure 2. Compared with Guerin SAAB rubber diaphragm, Verson-Wheelon and bulging
process, tooling includes a steel blankholder supported technique.
by a hydraulic actuator equipped with a valve
controlling pressure. 3. Literature Review
Most of the research work is limited to the Guerin
2.3 Verson Hydroform Process [4] process, its numerical simulation, friction coefficient
In this process, hydraulic pressure under control would studies and computer aided modeling probably because
act on rubber membrane covering the blank. Verson of its simplicity and greater utility. Thiruvarudchelvan
Hydroform process is different than other processes in S., [7-8] in his review paper stated that rubber use as
the sense that it contains the die cavity which is partially flexible tool started at the beginning of the 20th century
filled with hydraulic fluid. The forming pressure is in bulging processes but only in the sixties with the
balanced by fluid pressure. Figure 3 shows the introduction of the polyurethanes such elastic means
schematic details of this process. More severe draws can began to be largely used due to their much higher
be made by this method than in conventional draw dies hardness and resistance to wear and to chemical attacks
because the oil pressure against the diaphragm causes by lubricants. After polyurethanes became available
combined elastic and solid die forming developed fast

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5th International & 26th All India Manufacturing Technology, Design and Research Conference (AIMTDR 2014) December 12th–14th, 2014, IIT
Guwahati, Assam, India

and was the subject of research in many countries. Press at the maximum available pressure of 140 MPa
Process investigated using this technique included; (1400 bar). He concluded that the springback can be
blanking, bending, extrusion, deep drawing and tube eliminated with r/t < 2. The increase of pressure and
forming [9]. Al-Qureshi developed a theoretical analysis time in rubber forming has little effect on the
for predicting the total ram movement for a piercing springback when the blank is coinciding with the die. In
operation using rubber pad and found a remarkably another study, Kwon et al.[18] have investigated the
good agreement between theory and experiment [10]. flexible bending of a structural aluminium frame using
The significance of polyurethane as flexible tool has rubber. From the experimentally bent profiles, a
been reiterated by many academic researchers. parametric study for process design was performed.
N.Alberti , A. Forcellesez, L. Fratini and F. Gabrielliz Yamashita et al [19] carried out numerical simulation of
(1998) have described Urethane as a polymer which a cup drawing process using dynamic explicit finite
shows non linear elastic stress-strain behavior [11]. element code DYNA3D and studied the effect of the
Such elastomers are often referred to as rubber-like forming parameters, such as dimension and hardness of
materials even though no natural rubber exists showing the rubber ring, frictional coefficient of the interface
a pure elastic behavior. Moreover, it should be noticed between the sheet and the rubber ring and mechanical
that the elastomers show an initially random orientation properties of the sheet, on the sheet deformation is
of the long-chain molecules and as a consequence the investigated and concluded that the numerical
materials can be assumed isotropic; as the deformation simulation may be helpful in determining the forming
increases the molecules orient themselves following the conditions for the sheet metal drawing by
stretching direction: nevertheless the elastomers can be Maslennikov’s technique
considered fully isotropic all along the deformation Literature survey indicates that friction has
path. The poly- urethane rubber is a hyperelastic remained one of the important process parameters to be
material, and generally it is assumed as nearly studied during numerical simulation. PENG Lin-fa
incompressible during deformation [12]. Xiao Wang (2009) highlighted the influence of friction on material
[13] proposed that rubber is similar to the liquid which formability and product quality. In similar study Maziar
has good flow property. If compressed in one direction, [20] and Dirikolu [16] concluded that the friction
it will expand in the other direction, and delivering condition cannot change the forming limit strain of the
pressure. Geiger and Sprenger (1998) has conducted a sheet metal but can change the distribution of stress and
study on the characterization of polyurethane pads and strain, which can affect the defects in the metal forming.
experimental bending using elastomer pads [14]. PENG et al (2009) carried out finite element simulation
This unique property of poly-urethane using the Coulomb friction model and Maziar et al
generated lot of academic and industrial interest in (2009) presented the theoretical friction model to
rubber-based forming processes. Several numerical investigate the effects of various friction coefficients on
investigations using Finite Element Method and the blank thinning and stress distribution in the rubber
corresponding experimental investigations have been forming. Dirikolu and Akdemir (2004) investigated the
carried out in last 3 decades. The notable among them is parameters associated with rubber pad forming such as
Sala(2000) who proposed a numerical and experimental the rubber hardness, blank material type, contact friction
approach to optimize aluminium alloys rubber forming. and so on, through simulation by using the commercial
He used Guerin rubber-forming process to fabricate an software ANSYS. They also analysed the use of
aluminium alloy fuselage frame belonging to different types of lubricants at the blank and its
AerMacchi MB-339 trainer aircraft. David and Emil interfaces. Wax (Vestoplast 703) was found to be the
[15] presented an experimental study of the rubber best lubricant for the process. Maziar Ramezani (2009)
forming process in order to produce sheet metal made an exhaustive study in friction models and
components. They investigated the capability of the proposed to use static friction and kinetic friction
process and optimized the process parameters to ensure models instead of coulomb’s friction model.
defect-free products by using a 100 t double-acting In recent years, Rubber pad forming has been
hydraulic press. Husnu and Akdemir [16] studied the used to form micro and meso features. Peng Lin-fa [21]
significant parameters associated with FFP (flexible established a finite element analysis (FEA) model to
forming process) by numerical simulation with a study sheet forming process using soft punch at
commercially available finite element package. Their micro/meso scale. The forming parameters (material
investigations showed the effectiveness of finite element grain size, friction and hardness of soft punch) related
in process design. Sala G [1] also optimized the process with the forming process are detailedly investigated. It
with numerical simulation and experiments. Lei Chen is found that sheet metal with small grain size is prone
(2014) studied straight flanging and springback of to obtain high formability. Lager friction coefficient
aluminum materials in rubber forming process [17]. The between the sheet and the rigid die may make the sheet
experiments were carried out in a Quintus Fluid Cell thinning quickly that decreases the formability, while

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REVIEW OF RUBBER BASED SHEET HYDRO-FORMING PROCESSES

the friction between the sheet metal and the soft punch 6. References
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Figure 5: Von Mises stress plot after forming

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Guwahati, Assam, India

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