Numerical design of load response in magneto-rheological actuators for sheet metal stamping

Auxiliary systems for sheet forming processes are widely used to improve products accuracy and increase tools life. As example, in blanking hydraulic dampers are widely used to reduce shocks and vibrations; nitrogen springs are often integrated in deep drawing tools to correct the ram tilt or to locally increase the blank-holder force, obtaining geometrical features on the stamped blank with one press pass. In this paper, a Magneto-Rheological (MR) semi-active actuator is developed for sheet forming operations and the interaction between MR fluid and electromagnetic field is investigated by Finite Element (FE) analysis. To overcome the limitations of gas springs and hydraulic actuator, the static electromagnetic circuits is reconfigured with respect of conventional MR actuators known in the state-of-the-art. The novel MR actuator has an inner bore where the electric windings are placed, while the narrow gap, in which the active MR fluid flows, is obtained between the inner bore and the cylinder internal surface. The resulting magnetic fields H and induction fields B, as well as the selection of components materials, are studied through the magneto-static FE model. The results from FE simulations show a longer activation length along the gap resulting in higher controllable forces values, without increasing the overall dimensions of the proposed prototype.