彎板的沖壓成形工藝與模具設(shè)計【沖孔落料復(fù)合?！俊緩澢！俊?套】【CAD】

彎板的沖壓成形工藝與模具設(shè)計【沖孔落料復(fù)合?！俊緩澢！俊?套】【CAD】,沖孔落料復(fù)合模,彎曲模,2套,CAD,彎板的沖壓成形工藝與模具設(shè)計【沖孔落料復(fù)合模】【彎曲?！俊?套】【CAD】,沖壓,成形,工藝,模具設(shè)計,沖孔,復(fù)合,彎曲,曲折 中期檢查表學(xué)生姓名學(xué) 號指導(dǎo)教師選題情況課題名稱彎板沖壓成形工藝及模具設(shè)計難易程度偏難適中偏易工作量較大合理較小符合規(guī)范化的要求任務(wù)書有無開題報告有無外文翻譯質(zhì)量優(yōu)良中差學(xué)習(xí)態(tài)度、出勤情況好一般差工作進(jìn)度快按計劃進(jìn)行慢中期工作匯報及解答問題情況優(yōu)良中差中期成績評定：所在專業(yè)意見： 負(fù)責(zé)人： 年 月 日 彎板沖壓成型工藝與模具設(shè)計 摘要本設(shè)計題目為彎板沖壓成型工藝與模具設(shè)計，體現(xiàn)了一般中等復(fù)雜性零件的設(shè)計要求、內(nèi)容及方向，有一定的設(shè)計意義。通過對該零件模具的設(shè)計，進(jìn)一步加強(qiáng)了自己沖壓模具設(shè)計的基礎(chǔ)知識，為設(shè)計更復(fù)雜的模具做好了鋪墊和吸取了更深刻的經(jīng)驗。本設(shè)計運(yùn)用沖壓成型工藝及模具設(shè)計的基礎(chǔ)知識，首先分析了沖壓的成型工藝，為工藝方案的選取類型做好了準(zhǔn)備；然后計算了沖壓件的展開尺寸，查取所用材料料厚的沖裁間隙及成型工藝參數(shù)，便于刃口尺寸計算。本沖壓件的形狀大致為帶孔平板尾部折U型彎，所以在排工藝時考慮成型工序與沖孔工序的先后。先沖孔后成型，由于成型時產(chǎn)生拉力會造成孔位置偏移；先成型后沖孔會造成模具復(fù)雜程度增加進(jìn)而增加模具制造成本。根據(jù)產(chǎn)品圖所示相關(guān)公差要求結(jié)合實際生產(chǎn)中彎板的使用過程，分析空位置稍有偏差對產(chǎn)品的質(zhì)量影響，如孔位置對對產(chǎn)品質(zhì)量影響較大時，只能考慮先成型后沖孔工藝，反之則采用先沖孔后成型以降低模具制造成本和生產(chǎn)周期。對工藝方案擬定以后，查詢相關(guān)設(shè)計手冊和資料并在指導(dǎo)老師的悉心指導(dǎo)下對模具總裝及相關(guān)零部件進(jìn)行逐一設(shè)計校核。最后檢查所有設(shè)計步驟，進(jìn)行系統(tǒng)地查漏補(bǔ)缺，完善模具設(shè)計。關(guān)鍵詞：彎板 沖裁 成型 工序 Bending plate stamping forming process and die designAbstractThis design topic for stamping process and die design of bending plate, reflects the design of moderate complexity parts requirements, content and direction, the design of a certain significance. Through the design of the die parts, to further strengthen their basic knowledge of stamping die design, paving the way and draw a more profound experience for die design more complex.This design using the basic knowledge of stamping forming process and die design, firstly analyzed the molding process of stamping, ready for the selected type of process scheme; expand size stamping calculates, check the material blanking clearance and molding process parameters calculation of thick, easy cutting edge size.The stamping shape roughly flat plate with a hole tail fold type U bent, so in the discharge process when considering successively forming and punching process. The first punch forming, the forming force will cause the hole position offset; the first forming die punching will result in increasing the complexity and increase the mold manufacturing costs. According to the products shown relative tolerance requires the use of plate bending process combined with the actual production, analysis of space position a little deviation on the quality of products, such as hole position on the effect on the quality of large, can only consider the first forming punching process, whereas the punching forming to reduce the manufacturing cost and production cycle.The process scheme, query design manual and data and by design to mold assembly and related parts and components under the guidance of the instructor.Finally, check all design steps, the systematic gaps, improve the mold design.Keywords: bending plate blanking molding processII 設(shè)計任務(wù)書系 部： 專 業(yè)： 學(xué)生姓名: 學(xué) 號: 設(shè)計題目： 彎板沖壓成形工藝及模具設(shè)計 起 迄 日 期: 指 導(dǎo) 教 師: 2013年11月2日畢 業(yè) 設(shè) 計任 務(wù) 書1本畢業(yè)設(shè)計課題來源及應(yīng)達(dá)到的目的：本設(shè)計課題來源于實際生產(chǎn)，為冷軋鋼板的沖裁和成型模具設(shè)計。通過設(shè)計，應(yīng)對沖壓工藝生產(chǎn)較為熟悉，熟悉沖壓模設(shè)計的一般流程，能熟練使用相關(guān)設(shè)計手冊，獨立完成一套模具的設(shè)計及模具工作零件加工工藝的編制。并且能夠運(yùn)用模具設(shè)計軟件完成模具裝配圖及零件圖的繪制。2本畢業(yè)設(shè)計課題任務(wù)的內(nèi)容和要求（包括原始數(shù)據(jù)、技術(shù)要求、工作要求等）：（1）了解目前國內(nèi)外沖壓模具的發(fā)展現(xiàn)狀；（2）分析鋼板的成形工藝并確定其工藝案；（3）模具主要設(shè)計計算；（4）繪制模具總裝圖，并繪制零件圖；（5）模具的裝配及調(diào)試；（6）得出設(shè)計結(jié)論。設(shè)計題目：沖孔落料復(fù)合模設(shè)計材料：Q235-A料厚：4mm 產(chǎn)量：批量所在專業(yè)審查意見：負(fù)責(zé)人： 14年4月20日系部意見：系領(lǐng)導(dǎo)： 14年 4月 20日 機(jī) 械 加 工 工 藝 過 程 卡 零件號零 件 名 稱1404-08沖孔凸模工序號工 序 名 稱設(shè) 備夾 具刀 具量 具工 時名 稱型 號名 稱規(guī) 格名 稱規(guī) 格名 稱規(guī) 格5下料鋸床三爪卡盤鋸直尺10熱處理（退火）電熱爐火鉗15鉆中心孔臥式車床三爪卡盤鉆頭百分表20車端面臥式車床三爪卡盤車刀游標(biāo)卡尺25磨基準(zhǔn)面磨床角鐵砂輪百分表30鉗工鉗工臺角鐵劃針直角尺35粗車臥式車床三爪卡盤車刀百分表，千分尺40精車臥式車床三爪卡盤鉆頭百分表，千分尺45熱處理（淬火、回火）電熱爐火鉗硬度計檢驗50檢驗量具千分尺55編制 校對 審核 批準(zhǔn) 機(jī) 械 加 工 工 藝 過 程 卡 零件號零 件 名 稱1404-07凹模板工序號工 序 名 稱設(shè) 備夾 具刀 具量 具工 時名 稱型 號名 稱規(guī) 格名 稱規(guī) 格名 稱規(guī) 格5下料刨床直尺10熱處理（退火）電熱爐15銑基準(zhǔn)面臥式銑床虎鉗銑刀游標(biāo)卡尺20磨基準(zhǔn)面磨床電磁吸盤砂輪百分尺千分表25鉗工角鐵劃針游標(biāo)卡尺30鉆孔中心鉆床專用夾具鉆頭游標(biāo)卡尺35磨落料孔內(nèi)圓磨床卡盤砂輪千分尺40線切割錐度孔快走絲線割機(jī)專用夾具割絲45熱處理電熱爐火鉗50坐標(biāo)磨落料孔坐標(biāo)磨床專用夾具砂輪千分尺55檢驗各種量具編制 校對 審核 批準(zhǔn) 設(shè)計說明書畢業(yè)設(shè)計題目：彎板的沖壓成形工藝與模具設(shè)計系 部 專 業(yè) 班 級 學(xué)生姓名 學(xué) 號 指導(dǎo)教師 2014年 4月 16日目彑1滪論&11.1彎板譏的特點恆&耱1.2壓藝的發(fā)展史5.3史壓工虺的展趨勢&02弮板沖型形成左藝分掐&.1弿嶲壓件的沖壓弢扐巤鉺分析6性32.2嬯松沖厊工詚纄穮厚怦&搦&4渻覉工藝計禗13.1折彎屵異毛坯尪寘犄計犗&63.排樣的議計與計算怦恦.2.昍值瞄硾定怦怦32.2掐樣圖鮾計怦栦怦耳.妢裁力纄計算及壓力機(jī)設(shè)備的刕定怦怮怦9r.4壓力中促的計算怦&3具工俜零邈件凼凡模倃口尲寸的計算&耱4 沖答料模具的栻體設(shè)鮡怦q44.!碼奶繻埋的選擇&14.2定佌斱式的選擇144*3卸旝擊件方懺纄選拠怦&怢44.4導(dǎo)嚇疹式瘄選揩&145主零部件繩構(gòu)鮾計耮&怦51.1落料嗱模的結(jié)構(gòu)讞計怦4.12沖孔出模的設(shè)謡怦&151.3凹権紂構(gòu)覾讃14退價裝設(shè)與標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化24壓力機(jī)縆參數(shù)與校核&24耍7 模具的裝配試怦怦25 模具總裇圖及緥佔叟琎$30杛語&33致謝&怢f3參考斏匱怦&3% Annals of the CIRP Vol. 56/1/2007 -269- doi:10.1016/j.cirp.2007.05.062 Design of Hot Stamping Tools with Cooling System H. Hoffmann 1 (2), H. So 1 , H. Steinbeiss 1 1 Institute of Metal Forming and Casting, Technische Universitt Mnchen, Garching, Germany Abstract Hot stamping with high strength steel is becoming more popular in automotive industry. In hot stamping, blanks are hot formed and press hardened in a water-cooled tool to achieve high strength. Hence, design of the tool with necessary cooling significantly influences the final properties of the blank and the process time. In this paper a new method based on systematic optimization to design cooling ducts in tool is introduced. The optimization procedure was coupled with FE analysis and a specific evolutionary algorithm. Through this procedure each tool component was separately optimized. Subsequently, the hot stamping process was simulated both thermally and thermo-mechanically with the combination of optimized solutions. Keywords: Hot Stamping, Finite element method (FEM), Optimization 1 INTRODUCTION In recent years, weight reduction while maintaining safety standards has been strongly emphasized in the automotive industry for building new models. Hot stamping of high strength steels for automotive inner body panels offers the possibility of fuel saving by weight reduction and enhances passenger safety due to its higher strength. In order to achieve high strength by hot stamping with high strength steels, blanks should be heated above austenitic temperature and then cooled rapidly such that the martensitic transformation will occur. Normally, the tools are heated up to 200C without active cooling systems in serial production 1. However, in hot forming processes, the tool temperature must maintain below 200C to achieve high strength. So far, very few studies have been conducted regarding the design of cooling systems in a hot stamping tool. This paper presents a systematic method to design hot stamping tools with cooling systems in optimal and fast manners, in which the cooling system is optimized with the help of FE analysis and a specific evolutionary algorithm. Subsequently, a series of hot forming processes was simulated thermally as well as thermo-mechanically to observe the heat transfer and the cooling rate through the optimized cooling system. In the hot stamping process the tool motion requires relatively short time compared to the whole process time. Therefore, thermal analysis of a series of hot stamping processes without considering the tool motion could be sufficient with reasonable accuracy and shorter computation time for quick design of the hot stamping tools with cooling system. However, thermo- mechanical analyses that include the motion of the punch and the forming process are necessary to enhance the accuracy of the predictions. In this paper, a crash relevant hot stamped component of a vehicle and its corresponding prototype of hot stamping tool are introduced in chapter 2. And the optimization procedure with FE analysis and evolutionary algorithm is introduced in chapter 3. Subsequently, the results of thermal and thermo-mechanical analyses with the optimized hot stamping tool are presented. 2 COOLING OF HOT STAMPING TOOL 2.1 Motivation To enhance the economical production procedure and good characteristics of the formed parts, hot stamping tools need to be designed optimally. Therefore, the main objective of this study is the optimal designing of an economical cooling system in hot stamping tools to obtain efficient cooling rate in the tool. So far, very few researches have been conducted regarding the design of cooling systems in hot stamping tools. Therefore, an advanced design method is required. Also, an adequate simulation model is required to perform the optimization and investigation of tools and products as fast and accurate as possible. 2.2 Characteristics of 22MnB5 In direct hot forming process, the quenchable boron- manganese alloyed steel 22MnB5 is commonly used. Also, 22MnB5 is one of the representative materials of ultra high strength steels. Therefore, in this study, aluminium pre-coated 22MnB5 sheet (Arcelors USIBOR) was considered as the blank material. The material 22MnB5 has a tensile strength of 600MPa approximately at the delivery state, and the tensile strength can be significantly increased by hot stamping process. Higher tensile strength is achieved in the hot stamping process by a rapid cooling at least at the rate of 27C/s 2. The initial sheet of 22MnB5 consisting of ferritic-perlitic microstructure must be austenitized before forming process in order to achieve a ductility of blank sheet. As the austenite cools very fast during quenching process martensite transformation will occur. This microstructure with martensite provides the hardened final product with a high tensile strength up to 1500 MPa. 2.3 Tool component and test part The components of the prototype hot stamping tool and its kinematics are shown in Figure 1 and the initial blank and the proposed test part in Figure 2. The initial blank has the dimension of 170mm x 430mm x 1.75mm and the draw depth of the proposed test part is 30mm. -270- faceplate counter punch blank holder punch faceplate table table blank distance bolts die barells plunger Figure 1: Schematic of a test hot stamping tool. Initial thickness: 1.75mm 4 3 0 m m1 7 0 m m 4 0 0 m m 1 0 0 m m Draw depth: 30mm Figure 2: Initial blank and drawn part. 2.4 Cooling systems in stamping tools The tool must be designed to cool efficiently in order to achieve maximum cooling rate and homogeneous temperature distribution of the hot stamped part. Hence, a cooling system needs to be integrated into the tools. The cooling system with cooling ducts near to the tool contour is currently well known as an efficient solution. However, the geometry of cooling ducts is restricted due to constraints in drilling and also the ducts should be placed as near as possible for efficient cooling but sufficiently away form the tool contour to avoid any deformation in the tool during the hot forming process. To guarantee good characteristics of the drawn part, the whole active parts of the tool (punch, die, blank holder and counter punch) need to be designed to cool sufficiently. 3 DESIGNING OF COOLING SYSTEMS 3.1 Optimization with Evolutionary Algorithm x s a boring position minimum distance between loaded contour and cooling duct (x) between unloaded contour and cooling duct (a) between cooling ducts (s) loaded contour unloaded contour coolant bore Constraints sealing plug input parameters of cooling system number of cooling channels and coolant bores diameter of cooling duct evaluation criteria cooling intensity and uniform cooling Optimization (Evolutionary Algorithm) 1 solution per given input separate optimization Solution Figure 3: Optimization procedure for each tool. The optimization procedure for design of a cooling system is presented in Figure 3. In this procedure, cooling channels can be optimized in each tool by a specific Evolutionary Algorithm (EA), which was developed at ISF (Institut fr Spannende Fertigung, Universitt Dortmund, Germany) for the optimization of injection molding tools and adapted for design of cooling systems in hot stamping tools 3,4. As constraints for optimization, the available sizes of connectors and plugs, the minimum wall thicknesses as well as the nonintersection of drill holes were considered. The admissible minimal distance between cooling duct and unloaded/loaded tool contour (a/x) and the minimal distance between cooling ducts (s) were determined through FE analyses. Parameters of the cooling system such as the number of channels (a chain of sequential drill holes), drill holes per channel and the diameter of the holes for each tool component were also provided as input parameters to the optimization. These input parameters can be obtained from existing design guidelines or through FE simulations. Based on the input parameters initial solution is generated randomly by EA or manually by the user. From the initial solution, the EA generates new solutions by recombination of current solutions and modifying them randomly. The defined constraints were subsequently used for the correction of the generated solutions and the elimination of inadmissible solutions. All the generated solutions were evaluated by optimum criteria such as efficient cooling rate and uniform cooling. Finally, the best solution was selected as optimized cooling channels for a selected tool component. 3.2 Optimized cooling channels In our research, the selected diameters of ducts were 8mm and 12mm for punch, 8mm, 12mm and 16mm for die, 8mm and 10mm for counter punch and 8mm for blank holder. EA was used to place the cooling channels optimally according to the given input and constraints for each tool component. The optimized profiles of the channels for duct diameter of 8mm are shown in Figure 4. c a b 4 0 0 m m 100mm 145 mm pu n c h cou n ter p un ch die b l an k h o ld er a b a b c a b 5 1 0 m m 260 mm a b c 70mm 510mm ab 260 mm a 110mm cooling medium plug 380mm a 70mm 250 mm b c b direction of cut view Figure 4: Optimized cooling channels with 8mm duct diameter. 4 EVALUATION OF THE OPTIMUM COOLING CHANNEL DESIGNS The design of cooling channels was generated by EA for each tool component with different bore diameters and their cooling performances were evaluated by using FE simulations. 4.1 Thermal analysis In the design and development phase of hot stamping tools, it is important to estimate the hot stamping process qualitatively and quantitatively within a short time for -271- economic manufacturing of tools. For this purpose, two transient thermal simulations were carried out with ABAQUS/standard, which uses an implicit method. In this analysis steel 1.2379 was selected as a tool material. The simulation model comprises 4 tool components: punch, die, blank holder and counter punch. In Table 1, the selected combinations of tool components with optimized cooling channels are presented. The variant V1 is the combination of optimized tools with small cooling duct diameters, whereas variant V2 with large cooling duct diameters. V1 V2 punch counter punch blank holder 8mm 8mm 8mm 8mm 12mm 10mm 16mm 8mm diameter of cooling duct die Table 1: Combinations of designed tools for FE analysis. In order to represent a series of production processes, a number of cycles of the hot stamping processes were simulated as a cycle heat transfer analysis. The Figure 5 shows the FE model including boundary conditions. cooling duct (c) T c = 20C h c = 4700W/m 2 C tool (t) T t,0 = 20C environment (e) T e = 20C h e = 3.6W/m 2 C counter punch blank holder punch blank die blank (b) T b,0 = 850C blank - tool D c = f (d,P) Figure 5: FE model and boundary conditions. This hot forming process for the prototype part was designed such that the cycle time is 30 sec. In a cycle, the punch movement for forming requires 3 sec, the tool is closed for 17 sec for quenching the blank and it takes another 10 sec for opening the tool and locating the next blank on the tool. However, in this thermal analysis, the tool motion and deformation of the blank was not considered to reduce the computation time. Hence, only heat transfer analysis was performed in a closed tool. In thermal analysis, the quenching process takes places 20 sec instead of 17 sec, because the motion of punch was not considered. It was assumed that the blank has an initial homogeneous temperature (T b,0 ) of 850C due to free cooling from 950C during the transfer in environment. The initial tool temperature (T t,0 ) was assumed as 20C at the first cycle and changes from cycle to cycle. The temperature of the cooling medium (T c ) was assumed as room temperature. Beside the boundary conditions, the required material properties of 22MnB5 were obtained from hot tensile test conducted at LFT (Lehrstuhl fr Fertigungstechnologie, Universitt Erlangen-Nrnberg, Germany), with whom a joint research on hot stamping is being conducted 2. In this analysis, convection from blank and tools to the environment (h e ), conduction within each tool, convection from tool into cooling channels (h c ) and heat transfer from hot blank to tool (D c ) were considered. Here, D c , is the contact heat transfer coefficient (CHTC) which describes the amount of heat flux from blank into tools. This coefficient usually depends on the gap d between tool and blank and the contact pressure P. It increases usually as the contact pressure increases. However, in thermal analysis the pressure dependent CHTC was not available, but a gap dependent coefficient was used. CHTC was assumed as 5000W/m 2 C at zero distance between blank and tool (gap) and keeps constant until the gap increases beyond critical value. 4.2 Thermo-mechanical analysis Simulation of hot forming is different from conventional sheet metal forming simulation, in which the distribution of temperatures or stresses in tools is neglected. For fast and easy way to analyze the hot forming process the tool and the blank were modelled with shell elements as in other studies 5,6. In these studies, the temperatures could be distributed along the thickness of the shell element with the user-defined function of temperature, but the temperature within the tool was not considered. Also, in this simulation model the heating of tools in a series of hot stamping processes were not considered. Furthermore, the shell model for thermal contact problems is just adequate for relatively short contact time 6. Therefore, in our studies the tools and the blank were modelled with volume elements to simulate the sequential heat transfer in a series of processes. The thermo- mechanical simulation was conducted with ABAQUS/explicit. In comparison to the thermal analysis, the whole forming and quenching process were modelled and the dynamic temperature and stress responses of tools in contact with hot blank were simulated by using time-temperature dependent flow stress curves. The heat transfer could be more accurately expressed using pressure dependent CHTC at contact places which change during forming process. In addition, temperature dependent thermal conductivity and specific heat were also considered. However, in thermo-mechanical analysis, as the number of elements increases, the complexity of the FE problem significantly increases. In conventional forming simulation an adaptive mesh can be normally used to spare the simulation time and to obtain a more accurate solution in the contact area. However, adaptive mesh refinement causes instability during computation in thermo- mechanical analysis. Therefore, a refined mesh with higher punch velocity was considered to reduce the simulation time. The heat transfer coefficients were scaled accordingly to obtain the same heat flux 7. 5 SIMULATION RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 5.1 Thermal analysis Figure 6 shows the temperature changes in the tool components for 10 cycles at tool combination V1 and V2. T C 400 300 100 0 030100 0 300100 die punch t s t s V1 V2 Figure 6: Temperature changes in heat transfer analysis. The results show that the hottest temperatures of the tools at the end of each cycle do not change almost after some cycles. The obtained cooling rates of the blank at the hottest point from 850C to 170C are 40C/s with V1 and 33C/s with V2 at 10th cycle and these are greater than the required minimum cooling rate of 27C/s. Furthermore, V1 leads to a more efficient cooling performance than V2. Better cooling performance for V1 compared to V2 can be explained with the geometric restrictions and the minimal wall thickness. A cooling duct with small diameter can be placed closer to the tool surface in a convex area and the amount of the cooling channels can be increased additionally. Usually, the heat dissipation in the convex area is slower than in concave area 6. The result shows also that the temperature of convex area in the punch -272- cools down slower than the concave areas in the die. Due to this fact, it can be concluded that the efficient cooling is most desired at convex area. 5.2 Thermo-mechanical analysis The heat transfer with optimized tool components was simulated thermally at first. However, there was a simplification of a hot stamping process in thermal analysis. Therefore, a thermo-mechanical analysis for V1 was performed to observe the differences and the significance of modelling the punch movement. Temperature change curves at the hottest point from the end of the first cycle in the blank, die and punch are shown in Figure 7. The tool cooled further 10 sec after quenching and the temperature changes in the die and punch were presented for 30 sec. A coupled thermo- mechanical analysis was done using gap-pressure dependent CHTC. The results from thermal analysis shows a cooling rate of 92C/s from 850C to 170C in comparison to 75C/s from thermo-mechanical analysis. 400 300 100 0 die punch 05 20 1000 800 400 T C 200 Thermal analysis Thermo-mechanical analysis t s 15 blank 0 0 5 30 0 5 25 30t s10 202510 20t s T C Figure 7: Temperature changes in thermal and thermo- mechanical analysis (1th cycle). To verify the accuracy of a thermal analysis or to predict a serial production process more accurately a series of thermo-mechanical analysis was done. For this analysis the punch velocity was increased 10 times and 10 hot stamping processes were simulated. In Figure 8, the temperature change curves at the hottest point of the die and punch from a thermal and thermo-mechanical analysis are compared for 10 cycles. Finally, the temperature distributions in the blank at the end of the 10th cycle are shown in Figure 9. 400 300 100 0 TC 030ts100 030ts100 die punch thermal thermo-mechanical Figure 8: Temperature changes for 10 cycles. (b) T C (a) 130 60 102 74 88 116 T C 140 70 112 84 98 126 Figure 9: Temperature fields of blanks at the end of 10th cycle: (a) thermal and (b) thermo-mechanical analysis. In Figure 8, the temperature differences at the end of 10th cycle between the thermal and thermo-mechanical analyses were 7C in the die and 3C in the punch. Subsequently, the Figure 9 indicates that the maximum temperature of the blank from the thermal analysis is slightly greater than that of the thermo-mechanical about 10C. Nonetheless, the temperature fields of blanks from both analyses are very similar. As a consequence, the thermal analysis for a series of hot stamping processes is relatively accurate compared to the thermo-mechanical analysis. Furthermore, a thermal heat transfer analysis could be used to design and develop the hot stamping tools in the early phase due to its timesaving computation. 6 CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK A systematic method has been developed for optimizing the geometrical design of the cooling systems of hot stamping tools. This methodology was successfully applied to design of cooling channels in a prototype tool for efficient cooling performance. This indicates that the method can be used for designing cooling systems in other stamping tools as well. This paper presented both thermal and thermo- mechanical simulations to represent a series of hot stamping processes. The thermal analysis could be used for an optimization and investigation of hot stamping processes especially in the developing stage. However, a thermo-mechanical analysis is needed to predict more accurately but it is still time consuming to analyze the processes within adequate time period. To resolve this problem, an alternative simulation model will be further studied. Also, a more accurate contact condition for thermo-mechanical analysis remains to be studied. To validate this proposed method and its corresponding FE model, a prototype tool is currently being built and experiments will be carried out for validation. 7 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We extend our sincere thanks to all joint project researchers of LFT and ISF. 8 REFERENCES 1 Sik