Deep Drawing of AISI 304 Blanks with Polymer Punches Produced by Additive Manufacturing: Effects of Process Scalability

Rapid tooling is a methodology which aims to integrate additive manufacturing into the production of tools to be used in casting, forming or machining processes. In forming, rapid tooling is applied in the production of metallic or plastic tools that guarantee good performance in small- and medium-sized batch production. However, most punches tested to date have dimensions measured in millimeters and are therefore unsuitable for typical real-world industrial processes. In this study, the performance of plastic punches with geometries designed for industrial application was investigated. A deep drawing process involving AISI 304 blanks was created for the manufacturing of cups. Experimental and numerical analyses were conducted to measure the quality of the cups produced and the behaviour of the punches involved. The results indicate that when punch dimensions increase, a more precise cup geometry is produced (99% of drawing depth, 98% of cup precision on the fillet radius, and roundness error equal to 0.53%).