Influence of auxiliary mold stretch-bend forming on the forming quality for L-section aluminum alloy profile

To improve the stretch-bend forming precision of aluminum alloy profiles with complex open sections, the relationship stress–strain distribution and the spring-back radius variation were analyzed under different stretch-bend stages. Numerical simulation was performed on the auxiliary mold stretch-bend and spring-back process for the L-section aluminum alloy profile with variable curvature. The effects of cover plate pressure and baffle gap on residual stress, section deformation and spring-back value after forming were investigated. The results show that the stretch-bend warpage can be avoided by setting the cover plate on the straight section of the profile web plate. With the increase of the cover plate pressure, the section distortion of the vertical plate increases by 82%, and the maximum spring-back increases by 71%. A baffle plate was added to the outside of the vertical plate, and the baffle gap is proportional to the amount of section distortion and inversely proportional to the spring-back value. The critical cover force (1 kN) and the critical baffle gap (1 mm) obtained by numerical analysis are used in the stretch-bend forming experiment, and the maximum error between the two results is 2.39%. The numerical simulation has a certain reference value for the rational design of the auxiliary mold stretch-bend process parameters.