The demand for deep rectangular parts such as battery cases for electric and hybrid vehicles has been increasing.
Recently, studies have been conducted on technologies for manufacturing deep, narrow, and large battery cases for electric and hybrid vehicles using an aluminum material, which has excellent tensile strength.
[1] One method for mass-producing this product is the multi-stage deep drawing method, in which flat board materials are used, and numerous steps are carried out in the drawing process.
The final shape of the products created using the multi-stage deep drawing process is determined by the drawing coefficients of the numerous steps, where the drawing coefficient is changed at each step.
The parameters considered in this process are ironing, bending, and tension, which are found to be complex factors.
On the basis of these parameters, a mold has been developed.
[2] However, while these design parameters are selected on the basis of experience with these complex processes, there are many difficulties associated with manufacturing accurate products, which is a costintensive and time-consuming process.
Recently, studies have been conducted on process analysis using simulation methods.
In particular, an analysis on the forming of the small battery cases used for Mobile phones is underway.
Kim [3–4] analyzed a deep drawing process for oval cups using a finite element inverse analysis and elasticity finite element method, and proposed a finite element inverse analysis technique for a multi-stage deep drawing process.