Research On The Hot Stamping Process Of A Drive Axle Housing

The role of the axle housing in the structure of the car determines that the axle housing must have sufficient strength and stiffness.Therefore,the use of high-strength steel sheets as materials for manufacturing axle housings has been increasingly recognized.The characteristics of high strength steel plate determine that the forming process of axle housing must be completed by hot stamping.Therefore,the research and optimization of hot stamping process for axle housing have been the focus in its manufacturing.Moreover,with the application of finite element analysis method more and more widely,it has been a necessary method to research the hot stamping process of axle housing based on finite element analysis during its molding process.The hot stamping technology has been applied to the process of axle molding as a matured technology for years in an anonymous company.However,several common defects have appeared during the practical molding process once the steel sheets with higher strength is adopted.The defects lead to a reduction of production efficiency and an increase of manufacture cost.By taking the molding process of axle housing as the research object in this paper,a finite element analysis model is built based on the hot stamping theory,and DEFORM software is used to simulate and analyze the existing process parameters and processes to find out the reasons of these defects.Then on the basis of simulation results,a targeted and refined optimization design of process parameters and mold surface is conducted.In order to eliminate the defect,the simulation analysis is carried out first and then put into practical application.The main contents of this paper are as follows:(1)The industry background and research status of hot stamping at home and abroad is studied and analyzed;(2)The characteristics and key process parameters of the hot stamping forming process of the half axle housing with the punching-welded process was analyzed,and the DEFORM software is used to simulate its forming process;(3)The digital model of the hot stamping forming process of the half axle housing with the punching-welded process is established.The numerical simulation software was used to study the hot stamping forming process of the product,and the changes of temperature and stress during the forming process are analyzed;(4)According to the numerical simulation results,the mold surface precise design is carried out on the profile of the mold,and the mold surface is optimized.The optimization result is verified by actual production.