Mechanical sidewall joints in forming of deep containers using developed blank of aluminum sheet

The deep drawing process using developed blanks is one method by which the fabrication of a deep container can be done in one process. However, deep containers processed by the method tend to have lower strength than the hoop stress and less air tightness, because it has some joints on the sidewalls. In the forming process with developed blanks, in cases where the blank shape is not proper, gaps and overlaps occur between adjoining flanges. In this study, a deep drawing process was conducted with the use of a developed blank with grooves on the flange. Under the deep drawing process, the flanges are mechanically joined using the grooves on the flanges. The experimental results show that the deep container processed by the developed blank with grooves on the flange has higher strength than the hoop stress. The mechanical joining method applied to the sidewall leads to the optimum groove shape on the flange.