Simulation of Hollow Embossing Rolling for Bipolar Plate Forming using LS-DYNA©

Hollow embossing rolling constitutes a promising forming technology for metallic bipolar plates due to the high achievable production rates. The simulation-based process optimization is impeded by the incremental forming character and modeling of fine channel structures, which leads to large model sizes and computation times. This paper presents a shell-based finite element modeling approach using LS-DYNA© for bipolar plate forming simulation. Essential boundary conditions of the modeling are discussed, and recommended setting parameters are derived.