Modeling elastic behavior of forming machine components to reduce tool manufacturing time

In the domain of sheet metal forming for car bodywork the deep drawing process is one of the essential operations and finishes with the calibration of the final contour in the bottom dead center. At this point the demand for great accuracy is opposed to the highest press force inducing large deformations of the tool and the machine itself. The tool deformation is known from CAD and FEM, whereas the compensation of the machine elasticity is currently carried out only in a global and general way. This paper describes a workflow for the measurement and analysis of the individual elastic behavior of a forming machine's most relevant components and their conversion into a FE model which is capable to be used in a simulation together with the tool geometry for determining the individual compensational camber of the tool. This workflow targets the enhancement of the current general empirical values with an individual deterministic approach for each machine and tool combination to reduce the overall time for tool manufacturing.