Considerations on the interaction between the press structure and the tool in the deep drawing simulation

The mathematical modelling of sheet metal forming operation is extended to include information about the particular tool and the particular machine that will be used in the ''real'' process. Particular attention is paid to the structure and to the operation of a mechanical press. For this type of process some control factors (parameters that the engineer can set during the fine tuning of the forming process on the machine) and some noise factors (parameters that are not under the control of the engineer) are individuated and a procedure to obtain a ''robust'' design of the process itself (i.e. a process optimized from the point of view of its low sensibility to the noise factors that are responsible of the loss of quality of the product) is outlined. The procedure is applied to the case of the deep drawing of an automotive rear fender, by the use of the OPTRIS finite element code, in order to demonstrate its capability. (orig.)