C. E. MacPherson Ltd. of Kingston, manufactures pressure vessel end closures (PVECs) using a variety of forming processes including deep drawing. The design of punch and die sets for the deep drawing of PVECs can be a time consuming and iterative process. A qualified punch and die set is one that forms parts that have the desired shape and are void of any failures such as fracturing and wrinkling.

To aid in qualifying new punch and die sets, an axisymmetric finite element (FE) model has been developed to simulate the deep drawing process. A mesh refinement study was conducted to determine the optimal FE mesh. A sensitivity study was conducted to determine the influence of coulomb friction coefficient and blank holder gap on the FE results.

The FE results were validated by comparison to experimental values of characteristic forming parameters. These parameters can be grouped into two categories, those measured during the forming operation (in-process) and those measured after the PVEC is formed (post-process). A 500 ton hydraulic press has been instrumented to collect in-process parameters which includes punch displacement, punch force and blank holder force. The post-process parameters include:​ surface strains, measured using the circular grid technique;​ thickness strains, measured using ultrasonic methods;​ and part profiles, measured using a coordinate measuring machine.

Good agreement was found between the FE results and both the in-process and post-process validation parameters. Based on these findings, the feasibility of integration of FE modeling into the tooling development process at C. E. MacPherson Ltd. is assessed and recommended areas of further study are presented