5. Simulation of an axisymmetric sheet metal cutting operation

5.1 Problem studied

The following example involves cutting a CC60 steel sheet. The geometrical data are those shown in figure 26 .

In the particular case of modeling sheet metal cutting using the finite element method, the choice of mesh is of the utmost importance. It must be adapted to account for the phenomena of crack initiation and propagation, which means having an element size of the order of the grain size of the material under consideration (10 to 60 μm) in the punch-die gap, as it is in this zone that fracture will occur.