Effects of the movable die on sheet hydroforming

In order to study the effect of the movable die on sheet hydroforming, experiments are carried out on a movable die and a fixed die. In the case of the movable die, two different loading modes are treated in the experiments. These are here denoted loading mode 1 and 2. Based on the experimental results, the conclusion is that compared with the deformation with the movable die and without the movable die, it is much easier to get a good forming of the workpiece when using the movable die, especially when forming shape-complicated workpieces. The thickness distribution is more uniform and the forming limit of the sheet metal is increased in the sheet hydroforming using a movable die. Furthermore, the thickness distribution gets more uniform when using the movable die and adopting loading mode 2 compared to that of adopting loading mode 1.