Structural design of stamping die components using bi-directional evolutionary structural optimization method

Nowadays, the casting structure of stamping dies is designed according to die design standards. These standards are usually not based on a structural optimization algorithm and often rely on high safety factors which cause the weight of die components to be more than required. This in turn calls for higher prices of dies and production energy required per part. Therefore, alternative methods to reduce the weight of these components are required. In this paper, a software package is presented which can design an improved structure of stamping dies with a substantial reduction in weight. This package implements Abaqus software and uses the bi-directional evolutionary structural optimization (BESO) method to create a new lighter structure which resembles the shape of the sheet metal part and applied forces in the operation. It obtains the desired optimum design by removing from and adding material to the die component structure. This method involves adding material to that part of the component where the structure is overstressed and simultaneously removing material where the structure is understressed. This procedure is carried out again and again until the objective function is minimized. Finally, the proposed structure can also be reconstructed by the designer to accommodate for a simpler casting method. The operation of the software is demonstrated by an example where the dies for a sheet metal part are studied. The die components are initially designed, analyzed, and compared with the standard die (the die which is in general use today). The final results show a reduction of 31 % of volume while the maximum displacement and stress of the die do not change approximately. This software package is developed in a Microsoft Visual C# programming environment with a link to Abaqus software to analyze finite element simulation processes.