CAE-Based Case of Improving Material Utilization of Body Sheet Metal Parts

Improving the material utilization rate of body sheet metal parts can significantly reduce the cost of parts and improve the competitiveness of products. This paper introduces a method to improve material utilization rate of body sheet metal parts, through which cost control can be achieved. The method is based on the CAE of sheet metal forming at the early stage of design, using the techniques of part boundary adjustment, process residual meat surface optimization and automatic sample arrangement that come with mature softwares, and combining with the experience accumulated in the actual production process, the optimal part state and process scheme are finally obtained to achieve the maximum material utilization rate. Taking the rear wheel arc lower trim part of vehicle A as a case, the material utilization rate increased from 40.2% at the beginning to 49.8% after adopting the method, saving 0.11 kg of material per vehicle and $0.7 in material cost, which proved that the method is effective and feasible.