Thermo-Elastic-Plastic Analysis of Plate Forming Process by Flame Bending Method

Flame bending process is one of the forming processes of steel plates. During this process, plate is formed with heating by gas torch flame followed by controlled cooling along specified paths. Considering simple tools used in the process, it is a popular and economical forming method. At present, this process is manually done on the basis of skilled technician’s experience. Experimental and non-automated procedures decrease productivity of the process. In this paper, a method is proposed for simulation of material deformation. Regarding the physics of the process, large deformation thermoelastic-plastic analysis has been applied. In the simulations, a new analytical solution is used for thermal analysis of plate. The analytical solution along with finite element analysis of the deformation in ANSYS program is able to interpret experimental observations. The simulations show reasonable results, compared with the analytical results by other researchers and with experimental data. The method and simulation results can be used to study the process automation