The numerical simulation of sheet metal forming processes has become an indispensable tool for the design of components and their forming processes. This role was attained due to the huge impact in reducing time to market and the cost of developing new components in industries ranging from automotive to packing, as well as enabling an improved understanding of the deformation mechanisms and their interaction with process parameters. Despite being a consolidated tool, its potential for application continues to be discovered with the continuous need to simulate more complex processes, including the integration of the various processes involved in the production of a sheet metal component and the analysis of in-service behavior. The quest for more robust and sustainable processes has also changed its deterministic character into stochastic to be able to consider the scatter in mechanical properties induced by previous manufacturing processes. Faced with these challenges, this Special Issue presents scientific advances in the development of numerical tools that improve the prediction results for conventional forming process, enable the development of new forming processes, or contribute to the integration of several manufacturing processes, highlighting the growing multidisciplinary characteristic of this field.

The numerical simulation of sheet metal forming processes has become an indispensable tool for the design of components and their forming processes. This role was attained due to the huge impact in reducing time to market and the cost of developing new components in industries ranging from automotive to packing, as well as enabling an improved understanding of the deformation mechanisms and their interaction with process parameters. Despite being a consolidated tool, its potential for application continues to be discovered with the continuous need to simulate more complex processes, including the integration of the various processes involved in the production of a sheet metal component and the analysis of in-service behavior. The quest for more robust and sustainable processes has also changed its deterministic character into stochastic to be able to consider the scatter in mechanical properties induced by previous manufacturing processes. Faced with these challenges, this Special Issue presents scientific advances in the development of numerical tools that improve the prediction results for conventional forming process, enable the development of new forming processes, or contribute to the integration of several manufacturing processes, highlighting the growing multidisciplinary characteristic of this field.

The concept of virtual manufacturing has been developed in order to increase the industrial performances, being one of the most ef cient ways of reducing the m- ufacturing times and improving the quality of the products. Numerical simulation of metal forming processes, as a component of the virtual manufacturing process, has a very important contribution to the reduction of the lead time. The nite element method is currently the most widely used numerical procedure for s- ulating sheet metal forming processes. The accuracy of the simulation programs used in industry is in uenced by the constitutive models and the forming limit curves models incorporated in their structure. From the above discussion, we can distinguish a very strong connection between virtual manufacturing as a general concept, ?nite element method as a numerical analysis instrument and constitutive laws,aswellas forming limit curves as a speci city of the sheet metal forming processes. Consequently, the material modeling is strategic when models of reality have to be built. The book gives a synthetic presentation of the research performed in the eld of sheet metal forming simulation during more than 20 years by the members of three international teams: the Research Centre on Sheet Metal Forming—CERTETA (Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania); AutoForm Company from Zürich, Switzerland and VOLVO automotive company from Sweden. The rst chapter presents an overview of different Finite Element (FE) formu- tions used for sheet metal forming simulation, now and in the past.

Functioning as an introduction to modern mechanics principles and various applications that deal with the science, mathematics and technical aspects of sheet metal forming, Mechanics Modeling of Sheet Metal Forming details theoretically sound formulations based on principles of continuum mechanics for finite or large deformation, which can then be implemented into simulation codes. The forming processes of complex panels by computer codes, in addition to extensive practical examples, are recreated throughout the many chapters of this book in order to benefit practicing engineers by helping them better understand the output of simulation software.

This book deals with metal processing and its numerical modelling and simulation. In total, 21 papers from different distinguished authors have been compiled in this area. Various processes are addressed, including solidification, TIG welding, additive manufacturing, hot and cold rolling, deep drawing, pipe deformation, and galvanizing. Material models are developed at different length scales from atomistic simulation to finite element analysis in order to describe the evolution and behavior of materials during thermal and thermomechanical treatment. Materials under consideration are carbon, Q&T, DP, and stainless steels; ductile iron; and aluminum, nickel-based, and titanium alloys. The developed models and simulations shall help to predict structure evolution, damage, and service behavior of advanced materials.

The physical modelling of metal forming processes has been widely used both in University and in Industry for many years. Relatively simple numerical models, such as the Slab Method and the Upper Bound Method, were first used and many such models are implemented in the industry for practical design or regulation of forming processes. These are also under investigation in the University, mainly for treat models ments which require low cost calculations or very fast answers for on-line integration. More recently, sophisticated numerical methods have been used for the simulation of metal flow during forming operations. Since the early works in 1973 and 1974, mainly in U. K. and U. S. A. , the applications of the finite element method to metal processing have been developed in many laboratories all over the world. Now the numerical approach seems to be widely re cognized as a powerful tool for comprehension oriented studies, for predic ting the main technological parameters, and for the design and the optlmi zation of new forming sequences. There is also a very recent trend for the introduction of physical laws in the thermo-mechanical models, in order to predict the local evolution of internal variable representing the micro structure of the metal. To day more and more practicians of the Industry are asking for compu ter models for design of their forming processes.

Functioning as an introduction to modern mechanics principles and various applications that deal with the science, mathematics and technical aspects of sheet metal forming, Mechanics Modeling of Sheet Metal Forming details theoretically sound formulations based on principles of continuum mechanics for finite or large deformation, which can then be implemented into simulation codes. The forming processes of complex panels by computer codes, in addition to extensive practical examples, are recreated throughout the many chapters of this book in order to benefit practicing engineers by helping them better understand the output of simulation software.