International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 164 (2019) 105143

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International Journal of Mechanical Sciences

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijmecsci

Investigations on hole-flanging by paddle forming and a comparison with

single point incremental forming
Lemopi Isidore Besong∗, Johannes Buhl, Markus Bambach
Chair of Mechanical Design and Manufacturing, Brandenburg University of Technology, Cottbus - Senftenberg, Konrad - Wachsmann - Allee 17, Cottbus D-03046,
Germany

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Keywords: The use of dedicated dies to carry out hole-flanging operations is costly for small batch production. As a result,
Paddle forming hole-flanging by single point incremental forming (SPIF) was put forward because it offers advantages such as low
Hole-flanging equipment cost, high formability, and flexibility compared to conventional hole-flanging. However, drawbacks
Incremental sheet forming
of hole-flanging by SPIF such as poor geometrical accuracy and long process times are obstacles to its industrial
Deformation analysis
take-up. This paper presents a novel incremental hole-flanging method which uses paddle-shaped tools rotating
at high speeds while being fed axially into the sheets to form flanges, with the aim of preserving the advantages of
incremental forming while reducing the drawbacks related to process time. The results of the experiments show
higher formability for the paddle forming process compared to hole-flanging by multi-stage SPIF and conventional
hole-flanging. The high formability in paddle forming is attributed to the presence of shear which delays fracture.
Furthermore, heat generated due to friction between the paddle and metal blanks leads to a rise in the blank
temperature which enhances formability. Optical strain measurements of the formed flanges reveal that the
paddle speed and feed have major influences on the forming mechanism of the process and the process borders.
A maximum hole expansion ratio (HER) of 3.3 was obtained from the experiments in a process time of ∼2 s,
showing that the process combines high formability and low process times.

1. Introduction flanging produces flanges with good geometrical accuracy in a short

Many industrial applications of sheet metal components require
flanges as bearing seats, for tapping threads or to serve as position-
ing aids. Hole-flanging is a metal forming process used to expand the
diameter of holes in metal sheets with the aim of creating hollow cylin-
drical or cone-shaped flanges. The holes are usually created by shearing
or drilling [1]. The metal sheet is clamped firmly between a die and a
blank holder. The flange is formed by a rigid punch which results in cir-
cumferential stretching at the hole edge and bending at the die radius.
Extensive research has been carried out on the process. Johnson et al.
[2] used experiments to investigate the mechanics of hole-flanging of
circular cups. They found that excessive circumferential strains lead to
fracture at the edges of the flanges. Similarly, Hyun et al. [3] studied
the hole-flange ability of high strength steel sheets and proved that frac-
ture was a result of localized necking due to circumferential stretching.
Kacem et al. [4] examined failure prediction in hole-flanging and stated
that amongst other parameters, ironing influences failure.
Flanges are usually made by conventional press forming operations
which make use of dedicated dies and punches. Conventional hole-
process time and is hence suitable for mass production. The flanges are
formed in one press stroke or by multi-stage hole-flanging. In multi-
stage hole-flanging, several forming operations are carried out to ob-
tain the flange. The blanks are progressively deformed and fed for-
ward from one tool set to another until the desired flange geometry
is achieved [5]. This requires the use of many expensive die sets which
makes the process economically feasible only for high volume manu-
facturing, such as in the automobile industry. As recently reviewed by
Yang et al. [6], there is a trend towards the production of variants and
smaller lot sizes, which require more flexible production processes. This
paper introduces hole-flanging by paddle forming as a new process that
offers the advantages of flexible incremental forming such as low tooling
costs and high formability while keeping process times low compared to
conventional incremental forming operations such as hole-flanging by
SPIF.
The rest of this chapter is divided as follows: Section 1.1 reviews
hole-flanging by SPIF and its limitations. Hole-flanging by paddle form-
ing is introduced as an alternative to SPIF in Section 1.2. The paddle
shape used in the study is presented in Section 1.3.

∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: besonlem@b-tu.de (L.I. Besong).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmecsci.2019.105143
Received 3 April 2019; Received in revised form 7 August 2019; Accepted 7 September 2019
Available online 9 September 2019
0020-7403/© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
L.I. Besong, J. Buhl and M. Bambach
Fig. 1. Setup of hole-flanging by paddle forming. (a) Start of the process. (b) Hole expansion. (c) Start of the hole-flanging process. (d) Flange forming. (e) End of
the process.
1.1. Single point incremental forming
Today’s markets are highly competitive and manufacturing enter-
prises have to scale down the size of production batches to meet a wide
variety of customer demands while remaining profitable. This requires
the implementation of mass customization. Customization refers to the
capacity to provide individually designed products without compromis-
ing cost efficiency [7]. High costs are associated with the design, man-
ufacture, usage, and disposal of dies and punches in conventional hole-
flanging. Jeswiet et al. [8] state that the use of dedicated forming equip-
ment is expensive for small batch production because of the few parts
manufactured. Consequently, there has been growing interest in the use
of incremental sheet forming (ISF) processes by manufacturing enter-
prises in the last decades, which reduce or eliminate the need for ded-
icated tools and draw-upon low-cost equipment [9]. In addition, these
processes have higher formability and flexibility compared to conven-
tional forming processes [10]. A recent review by Duflou et al. [11] gives
a current overview of the development of ISF.
Hole-flanging by multi-stage SPIF was introduced by Cui and Gao
[5] to replace conventional hole-flanging in small batch production.
The process uses tools with hemispherical tips which follow specific tool
paths and deform clamped sheet metals with pre-existing holes. Three
tool path strategies were employed in [5] to study the effects of the
forming strategies on the length and thickness distribution of the formed
flanges. The first tool path strategy involved increasing the flange diam-
eter, the second was based on increasing the forming angle and the third
strategy was a combination of the first two strategies. The first tool path
strategy yielded the flanges with the highest formability and uniform
wall thickness.
The HER is often used as a measure of formability in hole-flanging
processes. The HER is the ratio of the maximum inside flange diameter
of the finished flange to the minimum hole diameter required to form a
flange without blank failure (cracks). It is calculated using Eq. (1).
𝐷𝑓
HER =
𝐷𝑖
Where Df is the inner diameter of the flange and Di is the initial diameter
of the hole.
International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 164 (2019) 105143
Using the strategy with an increasing flange diameter proposed by
Cui and Gao [5], Bambach et al. [12] obtained an HER of 5.5 on a 1 mm
thick mild steel (DC04) which is significantly greater than the HER of ∼2
achieved by conventional hole-flanging. Similarly, Silva et al. [13] used
optical deformation analysis to prove that formability is higher in hole-
flanging by SPIF compared to conventional hole-flanging. Cristino et al.
[14] studied the forming limits of square-shaped flanges and showed
that the deformation mechanism is different at various portions of the
flange. Petek et al. [15] proposed a variant of hole-flanging by SPIF
which uses a multi-stage backward tool path approach. The tool size,
vertical and horizontal step sizes were found to have major effects on
the flange height and average flange thickness.
Despite the advantages offered by hole-flanging using SPIF, the pro-
cess is not widely used in industry because of the long process time [16],
geometrical inaccuracies such as bulges at the clamped end [17] and
conicity at the flange edge [12]. The flanges are usually produced us-
ing several deformation stages which require the use of long tool paths
and consequently a long process time. Hence, accelerated incremental
hole-flanging processes are needed. Laugwitz et al. [18] showed that
incremental hole-flanging can be carried out at high speeds. The set-up
used in the research draws upon a lathe where the blank rotates at high
speeds, i.e. the set-up is designed for basic research rather than for in-
dustrial application. Borrego et al. [19] investigated the production of
flanges using single stage SPIF to reduce process time. An HER of 1.66
was obtained using a 1.6 mm thick 7075-O aluminum sheet formed by
a tool of 10 mm radius rotating at 1000 rpm. Presently, no solution is
available that combines the advantages of incremental forming (forma-
bility, flexibility) and conventional hole-flanging (short process time,
good geometrical accuracy).
1.2. Paddle forming
The literature presented above establishes the need to reduce the
process time and improve the geometrical accuracy of flanges made by
(1) SPIF. Allwood and Shouler [20] recognized that sheet metal parts could
be formed using paddle shaped tools, which have a line contact com-
pared to a single point contact. The main advantages of paddle forming
are a short process time and increased formability. For forming of three
L.I. Besong, J. Buhl and M. Bambach
dimensional parts, paddle forming received much attention. It does,
however, seems to be highly suitable for hole flanging, where it could
combine flexibility, high formability and a short process time.
This research investigates the application of the paddle forming
process to axisymmetric hole-flanging. The axisymmetric shape of the
flange permits high-speed paddle rotation with little kinematic effects
acting on the paddle since rotational motion is self-stabilizing. The
length of the tool path and process time are significantly reduced in the
hole-flanging process because the flange is formed by the axial displace-
ment of the paddle compared to long tool paths required in hole-flanging
by SPIF. The setup of axisymmetric hole-flanging by paddle forming is
shown in Fig. 1.
As in hole-flanging by SPIF and conventional hole-flanging, the blank
is clamped by a blank holder and a die. The paddle rotating at high speed
moves axially and expands a hole at the center of the blank to form a
flange. Multi-stage forming, which is used in hole-flanging by SPIF, can
be mimicked in hole-flanging by paddle forming using a paddle which
has multiple sections (edges). In this case, the paddle makes contact
with the milled hole at edge 1 or 2 (see Fig. 2c), depending on the hole
diameter Di . This causes expansion of the hole diameter and bending at
the clamped end of the sheet as shown in Fig. 1b. As the paddle moves
further into the die, edges 3 and 4 make contact with the sheet and
increase the diameter of the hole as can be seen in Fig. 1c. The paddle
moves into the die, stretches the blank and increases the flange length,
see Fig. 1d. At the end of the process, the full flange length is obtained as
shown in Fig. 1e. The paddle then returns to its original position at the
top of the set-up, as shown in Fig. 1a. The forming time is determined
by the feed of the paddle and the flange length.
1.3. Paddle shape
Candidate paddle designs in the original work of Allwood and
Shouler [20] include an axi-symmetric male paddle shown in Fig. 2a
and a possible paddle geometry, see Fig. 2b. The effects of paddle shape
on flange geometrical accuracy and crack occurrence along the length
of the flanges formed by paddle forming was recently investigated using
finite element (FE) analyses by the present authors [21]. Concave pad-
dles, such as the one proposed by Allwood and Shouler [20] in Fig. 2b,
form flanges in which material points in the middle of the flange length
are subject to biaxial stretching. This indicates a high tendency for fail-
ure. However, there was no bulging at the clamped end of the flange,
which led to a good geometric accuracy. A convex-shaped paddle caused
bulge formation at the clamped end of the sheet. The elements along the
flange length were in the safe zone of the forming limit diagram (FLD).
The paddle shape in this study was designed so that the blank is
deformed with 4 forming angles to mimic multi-stage hole-flanging by
SPIF with 4 stages, see Fig. 2c. Each angle on the edge of the paddle
represents a forming stage in hole-flanging by multi-stage single point
ISF. The first and third forming edges have an angle of 31.5° to the axis
of symmetry of the paddle, while the second and fourth forming edges
have an angle of 56°. This paddle shape was obtained by modifying the
concave paddle used in a prior work [21] to prevent crack occurrence
along the flange length (see Appendix 1). The paddle was designed to
make a sliding contact with the blank along a line as shown in Fig. 2d.
International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 164 (2019) 105143
Fig. 2. (a), (b) Sample paddle shapes from
[20]. (c) Side view of the paddle used in
the present study. (d) Bottom view of the
paddle used in the present study.
1.4. Present research
Based on the limitations of the existing hole-flanging processes to
produce flanges in small batch production using a cost-effective method
while maintaining short process time, good geometrical accuracy and
high formability, experiments were conducted on axisymmetric paddle
forming with the following aims:
• to obtain the maximum formability (HER) using hole-flanging by
paddle forming.
• to find the process limits (range of paddle speeds and feeds needed
to form flanges with no cracks).
• to investigate the effect of paddle feed and speed on the hole-flanging
process.
• to determine the evolution of forces and temperature during the pro-
cess.
• to compare paddle forming to conventional hole-flanging and hole-
flanging by SPIF for maximum HER and process time.
• to determine the deformation mechanisms in the hole-flanging pro-
cesses in order to explain the differences in process formability. This
is done by the use of finite element analyses.
This paper is organized as follows: Section 2 presents the materials
and methods used for the experiments. In Section 3, the results obtained
from the paddle forming experiments are presented. Section 4 com-
pares paddle forming to conventional hole-flanging and hole-flanging
by SPIF. The dominant deformation mechanisms in the processes are in-
vestigated in Section 5 using a combined numerical-analytical approach.
In Section 6, a discussion on formability is presented and used to ex-
plain the results of the experiments. This is followed by conclusions in
Section 7.
2. Experiments
The flanges studied in this work were made using 3 forming pro-
cesses, conventional forming, SPIF and paddle forming, with the aim of
obtaining the minimum hole size needed to form flanges with no cracks.
The blanks used in the experiments were cut from the same stock of
aluminum sheets (EN AW-6181-T1) purchased from Novelis to prevent
variation in the mechanical properties of the blanks. This aluminum al-
loy is used in the construction of automobile body frames due to its high
strength-to-weight ratio, good formability, and corrosion resistance. The
mechanical properties of the sheets were obtained by conducting ten-
sile tests following DIN EN 10,002-1 tensile test standards on a Zwick
Z250 tensile testing machine. The material obeyed the following hard-
ening law: 𝜎 = 506.2 𝜀0.23 . Other mechanical properties were found to
be as follows: Young’s modulus = 65 GPa, yield strength = 165 MPa, ul-
timate tensile strength = 353.8 MPa and percentage elongation at frac-
ture: 24%.
To carry out optical strain measurements on the outer surfaces of the
flanges after forming, grid points were etched on the blanks by electro-
chemical etching using aluminum electrolyte 8090 produced by Östling
GmbH, Solingen, Germany. The grids had a point distance of 2 mm and
the points were 1 mm in diameter.
L.I. Besong, J. Buhl and M. Bambach
Table 1
Test plan of conventional hole-flanging.
Forming strategy Tool diameter [mm] Vertical speed [mm/min]
Single stage 40 500
Multi Stage 25 500
30 500
35 500
40 500
Holes of different diameters (Di ) were milled at the center of the
sheets used in the hole-flanging experiments. A blank holder and a die
having internal diameters of 42 mm were used to hold the blanks as
shown in Fig. 3a. The blanks had a size of 80 mm × 80 mm with a thick-
ness of 0.8 mm. The same blank holder and die were used for all the
tests. The setup was mounted on a dynamometer to measure the form-
ing forces. A thermocouple was glued on the bottom (non-contact) sur-
face of the blanks to measure the blank temperature during the pro-
cesses. The forces and temperatures were recorded using a measuring
system purchased from Hottinger Baldwin Messtechnik GmbH, Darm-
stadt, Germany. The experiments were conducted on an Arrow 1000
vertical milling center manufactured by Cincinnati Milacron. Cold form-
ing oil Raziol CLF 100 was used as lubricant in all the tests. The punch
used in conventional hole-flanging is shown in Fig. 3b. Fig. 3c shows
the SPIF tool and the paddle is presented in Fig. 3d.
2.1. Conventional hole-flanging
The single stage conventional hole-flanging experiments were con-
ducted using a 40 mm diameter punch, see Fig. 3b. Multi-stage conven-
tional hole-flanging was carried out in 4 forming steps using punches
of different diameters (25 mm, 30 mm, 35 mm, and 40 mm). The punch
feed was 500 mm/min in all experiments. An overview of the experi-
ments is presented in Table 1.
International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 164 (2019) 105143
Fig. 3. (a) Clamping set up for the hole-flanging exper-
iments. (b) Punch used for conventional hole-flanging.
(b) Single point incremental forming tool. (c) Paddle
shaped tool.
Fig. 4. Tool path strategies for hole-
flanging by SPIF. (a) Increasing flange di-
ameter (strategy 1). (b) Increasing flange
angle (strategy 2).
2.2. Hole-flanging by SPIF
The flanges were made using an increasing flange diameter tool path
strategy (strategy 1) with 4 forming stages, see Fig. 4a. The flange di-
ameters were increased in the following steps: 28 mm, 32 mm, 36 mm
and 40 mm. Tools of 10 mm and 20 mm diameter were used to investi-
gate the effect of tool size on the maximum HER. The tools were rotated
at a speed of 2000 rev/min in one set of experiments to study the ef-
fect of tool rotation on the maximum HER. In the other experiments,
the tools were not rotated but they could rotate freely on the bearings
of the machine tool holder during the forming processes. The HER of
flanges obtained by the 2 tool path strategies were compared: increas-
ing flange diameter (strategy 1) and increasing flange angle (strategy
2). For strategy 2, only the 20 mm diameter tool with no rotation was
used. The forming angles of the flanges were 30°, 50°, 70°, and 90°, see
Fig. 4b. The 2 tool paths had a step size of 0.5 mm. A tool travel speed
of 4000 mm/min was used to perform the experiments. The tool paths
were derived by modeling the forming steps using the software Creo
3.0 workbench. The tool paths of the 10 mm diameter tool are shown in
Fig. 4. The numbers in Fig. 4 indicate the forming stages. The schedule
of the hole-flanging by SPIF experiments is presented in Table 2 with
the variables for each sequence of experiments.
2.3. Paddle forming experiments
The paddle-shaped tool with a diameter of 40 mm was clamped by a
tool holder, see Fig. 5a. The paddle rotating at high speeds was fed along
its axis of symmetry (z-axis) into the die and used to deform the blanks
until the flanges were formed. The paddle feed and speed were varied
over a range of values to determine their influence on the deformation
of the flanges. A clearance of 1 mm was left between the paddle and die.
The tests were conducted on blanks with a hole diameter Di of 12.1 mm.
The Di was increased for subsequent tests with the aim of determining
the range of paddle feeds and speeds needed to form flanges and hence
to identify the process limits. The hole diameters were: 12.1 mm, 13 mm,
15 mm, 16 mm, 20 mm, 26.7 mm and 30 mm, corresponding to HERs of
3.3, 3, 2.7, 2.5, 2, 1.5 and 1.3 respectively. Two repetitions were car-
ried out for conventional hole-flanging and hole-flanging by SPIF while
L.I. Besong, J. Buhl and M. Bambach International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 164 (2019) 105143

Table 2
Plan of experiments of hole-flanging by SPIF.

Tool path sequence Forming strategy Tool diameter [mm] Forming angle [0] Part diameter [mm] Rotational speed [rev/min]

1 Strategy 10 90 28 0
1 10 90 32 0
10 90 36 0
10 90 40 0
2 Strategy 10 90 28 2000
1 10 90 32 2000
10 90 36 2000
10 90 40 2000
3 Strategy 20 90 28 0
1 20 90 32 0
20 90 36 0
20 90 40 0
4 Strategy 20 90 28 2000
1 20 90 32 2000
20 90 36 2000
20 90 40 2000
5 Strategy 20 30 40 0
2 20 50 40 0
20 70 40 0
20 90 40 0

Fig. 6. Variation of forces during paddle forming.

Fig. 5. (a) Set up of paddle forming experiment. (b) Paddle tool.

3 repetitions were carried out for paddle forming to make the results
statistically significant.
3. Results of paddle forming experiments
3.1. Forming forces
The forces acting on the paddle during the paddle forming process
of a flange with a HER = 3.3 formed at a speed of 6000 rev/min and a
feed of 1000 mm/min are shown in Fig. 6. The results show negligible
forces acting in the x- and y-directions (Fx and Fy ) since the rotation of
the paddle along the z-axis has a self-stabilizing effect in these directions
and the displacement of the paddle is along the z-axis. In the z-direction,
the force increased until the low peak in Fig. 6 which corresponds to
the end of contact with the second edge of the paddle. The increase
in Fz is due to bending of the blank at the clamped edge. There was a
slight drop in Fz which stayed constant for about 0.2 s before starting
to increase again. As the paddle moved further into the die there was
a sharp increase in Fz . A maximum force of 1050 N was measured at a
paddle position corresponding to Fig. 1c. The increase in Fz is because
paddle edge 4 has a large angle (same as edge 2) and higher forces
are required to continue bending and stretching the sheet. From the
high point (Fig. 1c), there was a progressive drop in Fz to zero as the
flange length increased since the blank length being stretched to form
the flange progressively reduces.
3.2. Temperature development during paddle forming
Friction due to the relative motion of the paddle and the metal blanks
caused heat to be generated at the contact points of the paddle and
metal blanks. Additional heat was generated by plastic deformation of
the blanks since paddle forming is characterized by high strain rates
and short process times. Both heat sources led to a rise in blank tem-
perature. Thermocouples glued at about a quarter of the flange length
from the edge of the flange were used to measure the blank temper-
ature during the forming processes. Fig. 7a shows the location of the
thermocouple on the outer surface of the blanks before the hole-flanging
processes and Fig. 7b shows its location after the processes. The temper-
atures were recorded as close as experimentally possible to the flange
edge. The temperatures were highest at the flange edge (since the pad-
dle makes a higher number of contacts with the blank edge) and reduced
towards the clamped end. The number of rotations of the paddle in con-
tact with the blanks during the hole-flanging process were calculated.
A high number of paddle rotations at the same paddle feed implies that
more heat is generated at the contact points of the blank and paddle.
A maximum blank temperature of 370 °C was measured for a flange
with an HER of 3.3 formed at a paddle speed of 6000 rev/min and
an axial feed rate of 500 mm/min, see Fig. 7c. The paddle was in con-
tact with the blank for approximately 420 rotations during the forming
of this flange. The blank temperature reduced to 330 °C for the flange
formed at a reduced speed of 5000 rev/min at the same feed. The paddle
L.I. Besong, J. Buhl and M. Bambach
made contact with the blank for about 350 rotations in this case. Simi-
larly, there was a drop in maximum blank temperature to 320 °C for a
flange formed using a higher paddle feed of 1000 mm/min and speed of
6000 rev/min. The paddle made contact with the blank for about 210
rotations. The trend indicates a drop in blank temperature as the paddle
speed reduces and the paddle feed increases since the paddle is in con-
tact with the blanks for a fewer number of rotations. The heat loss due
to conduction and radiation was considered negligible given the short
process time.
For the flanges with an HER of 3, a maximum blank temperature
of 320 °C was measured. Maximum blank temperatures of 290 °C and
250 °C were measured for the flanges with HERs of 2.7 and 2.5. The
blank temperature increased in all experiments, however, lower tem-
peratures were recorded for larger Di . This is because for larger Di , the
blank area in contact with the paddle reduced and the paddle made con-
tact with the blanks for a fewer number of rotations, thus generating less
heat.
3.3. Flange thickness distribution
The optical strain analysis measurement system argus® was used
to determine the thickness reduction and deformation mode (principal
strains) of the flanges. The system uses grids on the non-contact sur-
faces of the blanks to measure the surfaces stretches after forming, see
Fig. 8a, from which deformation measurements and the sheet thickness
are computed. A representation of the percentage thickness reduction of
a flange with an HER of 3.3 obtained at a paddle feed of 1000 mm/min
and speed of 6000 rev/min is shown in Fig. 8b. The results show thick-
ening of the blank at the bent area of the flange of about 35%. Thinning
occurs along the flange length with a minimum percentage thickness
reduction of 64 at the flange edge.
International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 164 (2019) 105143
Fig. 7. (a) Blank before the hole-flanging process.
(b) Blank after the hole-flanging process. (c) Varia-
tion of temperature during the paddle forming pro-
cess.
Fig. 8. (a) Flange obtained from experiments. (b)
Variation of sheet thickness along flange length.
3.4. Distribution of principal strains
Principal strain measurements of the non-contact surfaces of the
blanks were used to study the material flow and mode of deforma-
tion of the flanges. This strain analysis method is based on the assump-
tion that the volume of the blank remains constant and no shear defor-
mation occurs during the forming process. The designation ‘principal
strains’ in this research actually refers to ‘logarithmic principal surface
stretches’ since deformation in paddle forming is characterized by sig-
nificant shear and nonlinear strain paths [22]. The existence of these
deformation mechanisms makes the 2D state plane stress assumptions
based on Marciniak–Kuczyński (M-K) analysis [23] invalid. The strain
measurements were carried out at the start and end of the flanging pro-
cess. The strains of the flanges were determined based on the strains of
the original blanks at the start of the process. These strain measurements
cannot be used to describe the sequential evolution of the strains dur-
ing the forming process but rather show the deformation of the flange
with respect to the original blank. The evolution of principal strains dur-
ing the paddle forming process has been investigated for various paddle
shapes by the use of FE analyses [21]. The major principal strain of the
flange in Fig. 8a is shown in Fig. 9a while the minor principal strain is
presented in Fig. 9b.
The distribution of the principal strains (surface stretches) in the FLD
of the flange in Fig. 8a is shown in Fig. 10. The principal strains are pre-
sented based on the legend (color shading) of the major strains in Fig. 9a.
The strains were considered along a line section shown in Fig. 10. Point
A represents the clamped part of the sheet. The sheet is not deformed
in this area during the process. Point B indicates the bent edge of the
flange, see Fig. 9b. This point corresponds to the wrinkling region (point
B) in the FLD in Fig. 10. Bulging and wrinkling can occur at B if the sheet
is not properly clamped. At point C (about a third of the flange length),
L.I. Besong, J. Buhl and M. Bambach
Fig. 9. (a) Major strain distribution. (b) Minor strain distribution.
Fig. 10. FLD of the flange formed at a speed of 6000 rev/min and feed of
1000 mm/min.
the minor principal strain is at its maximum value, 0.14, see Fig. 9b. The
flange undergoes biaxial stretching in this zone as shown in Fig. 10. Bi-
axial stretching is influenced by paddle shape, as shown in [21]. Paddle
speed and feed also controls biaxial stretching as will be demonstrated
in Section 3.5. Point D shows a point at about half the flange length. The
flange is deformed in-plane strain mode in this region. At the edge of the
flange (point E) the strains tend towards uniaxial tension as observed in
Fig. 10.
The accuracy of the strain measurement reduces towards the edge
of the flanges due to the large distance between the points on the
grid which is caused by severe deformation at the flange edges. The
widespread of the points on the FLDs towards the edge of the flange
demonstrates severe deformation.
3.5. Effects of paddle speed and feed on principal strains
Flanges with the maximum formability (HER = 3.3) were chosen
for the experimental strain analyses because the strain measurements of
these flanges are very sensitive to changes in paddle speed and feed since
high formability requires the best forming conditions. The principal
strains of the flanges were compared to understand the effect of paddle
speed and feed on process mechanics, crack occurrence and wrinkling.
The paddle feed was increased from 500 mm/min to 2000 mm/min
while the speed was kept constant at 6000 rev/min in one set of ex-
periments (experiments 1–4 in Fig. 11). Experiment 5 was conducted to
determine the minimum paddle feed required to form the flanges at the
same paddle speed. In the other experiments, the paddle feed was kept
constant at 500 mm/min while the rotational speed was reduced from
6000 rev/min to 4000 rev/min (experiments 1-4′ in Fig. 11). The com-
bination of paddle speed and feed that produced flanges with no cracks
are represented by the green squares in Fig. 11, while the experimental
trials which formed flanges with cracks at the edges of the flanges are
shown by the red circles in Fig. 11.
International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 164 (2019) 105143
Fig. 11. Effect of paddle speed and feed on the process limits of the flanges with
HER = 3.3.
3.5.1. Influence of paddle feed on the principal strains of the flanges
The effects of change in paddle feed on the principal strains are
shown in Fig. 12. For a flange formed at a feed of 500 mm/min and speed
of 6000 rev/min (experiment 1 in Fig. 11), the paddle made contact
with the blank for about 420 rotations during the forming process and
the maximum temperature of the flange was 370 °C. The flange length
was 15.05 mm. The principal strains in Fig. 12a show biaxial stretching
at point C and near plane strain at points D and E. The flange showed
no cracks at its edges. The paddle feed was increased to 1000 mm/min
(experiment 2 in Fig. 11), the paddle made contact with the blank for
about 210 rotations. A maximum blank temperature of 320 °C was mea-
sured. The flange length was 16.10 mm which is more than the flange
length in experiment 1 and indicates a higher tendency for the paddle
to draw the blank into the die at high feeds. Biaxial stretching increased
at point C. Points D and E moved slightly away from plane strain, see
Fig. 12b. This flange was at the process limit. Very small cracks with
lengths under 0.1 mm could be seen at the edge of the flange. For the
flanges formed at a higher paddle feed of 1500 mm/min (experiment
3), the maximum blank temperature reduced to 130 °C in 140 rotations
of the paddle. This flange had cracks with lengths greater than 1 mm
at the edge; see Fig. 12c for the principal strains. At the highest pad-
dle feed, 2000 mm/min (experiment 4), the paddle made approximately
100 rotations in contact with the blank and the maximum blank temper-
ature was 100 °C. Similarly, the flange had cracks, the FLD is shown in
Fig. 12d. The pictures of the flanges and principal strain measurements
are provided in Appendix 1.
As can be seen from the FLDs in Fig. 12, the strains along the flange
length (points C and D) move to the right and slightly upwards as the
paddle feed increases. This variation in the surface stretches is due
to a higher rate of deformation of the material per unit time as the
paddle feed increases. This leads to increased biaxial stretching of the
flanges at points C and D. As a result, flanges formed at high paddle
feeds (1500 mm/min and 2000 mm/min) had cracks at their edges. The
L.I. Besong, J. Buhl and M. Bambach
Fig. 12. Change in principal strains of the flanges due to variation of paddle feed. (a) 500 mm/min feed (no crack). (b) 1000 mm/min feed (no crack). (c)
1500 mm/min feed (cracks). (d) 2000 mm/min feed (cracks).
Fig. 13. Influence of paddle feed on the principal strains of flanges formed at a
speed of 6000 rev/min.
presence of the cracks at the edges leads to the spread of strain points at
the edges of the flanges, see Fig. 12c for a paddle feed of 1500 mm/min
and Fig. 12d for a paddle feed of 2000 mm/min. There was a change in
the distribution of the strain points between D and E from plane strain
towards uniaxial tension as the paddle feed increased.
The highest temperature (410 °C) was measured at the lowest pad-
dle feed, 250 mm/min (see experiment 5 in Fig. 11). The paddle made
about 840 rotations in this case and the flanges had cracks at the edges,
probably due to the high blank temperature, which led to softening and
necking. In addition, repeated sliding contact between the paddle and
blank could lead to wear of the blank surface and hence promote failure.
A representation of the surface stretches shows the displacement of
points C and D towards the right and upwards as the paddle feed in-
creases, see Fig. 13. The full lines indicate experimental trials of the
flanges formed without cracks while the dotted lines indicate the flanges
formed with cracks.
International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 164 (2019) 105143
3.5.2. Influence of paddle speed on the principal strains of the flanges
The influence of the paddle speed on the principal strains and process
border is presented in Fig. 14. The flanges formed at a paddle speed of
6000 rev/min and feed of 500 mm/min (experiment 1) had no cracks,
see the FLD in Fig. 14a. The result is the same as in Fig. 12a. The pad-
dle speed was reduced to 5000 rev/min (experiment 2′ in Fig. 11). A
maximum blank temperature of 330 °C was measured and the paddle
made about 350 rotations in contact with the blank. A flange length
of 13.95 mm was measured which is the shortest for the flanges. This
flange had no cracks and marked the process limit. There was a shift in
the strain points at C, D, and E towards the left in the FLD, as shown
in Fig. 14b. Flanges formed at a lower paddle speed of 4500 rev/min
had cracks (experiment 3′ in Fig. 11), see Fig. 14c for the principal
strains. The maximum blank temperature reduced to 300 °C and the pad-
dle made 320 rotations in contact with the blank. Similarly, the flanges
formed at a paddle speed of 4000 rev/min had cracks. The principal
strains are shown in Fig. 14d. The paddle made approximately 280 ro-
tations in contact with the blank and the maximum blank temperature
was 270 °C (see experiment 4′ in Fig. 11). The pictures of the flanges
and strain measurements are provided in Appendix 1.
The shift of the strain points in the FLD to the left as the paddle speed
reduced from 6000 rev/min to 5000 rev/min is probably due to lower
forming temperatures and less stretching of the material at a lower pad-
dle speeds. However, the principal strains moved to the right and up-
wards at points C and D for the speeds below 5000 rev/min, see Fig. 14c
and Fig. 14d. This indicates biaxial stretching at point C for lower pad-
dle speeds which leads to crack occurrence at the edges of the flanges
formed at speeds of 4500 rev/min and 4000 rev/min. The minor strains
at the bend (point B) moved slightly towards zero from negative values.
This shows less wrinkling at the bend of the flanges formed at speeds of
4000 rev/min and 4500 rev/min, which is due to a higher tendency for
the paddle to draw the blank into the die at low paddle speeds. A paddle
feed of 500 mm/min could be high for paddle speeds of 4500 rev/min
and 4000 rev/min, since the paddle makes contact with the blanks for
L.I. Besong, J. Buhl and M. Bambach
Fig. 14. Change in principal strains due to variation of paddle speed. (a) 6000 rev/min speed (no cracks). (b) 5000 rev/min speed (no cracks). (c) 4500 rev/min
speed (cracks). (d) 4000 rev/min speed (cracks).
Fig. 15. Influence of paddle speed on the principal strains of flanges formed at
a feed of 500 rev/min.
lower number of rotations (320 and 280). The paddle feed was reduced
to 250 mm/min to increase the number of rotations the paddle makes
contact with the blank. The number of paddle rotations in contact with
the blanks increased to approximately 640 and 560 rotations at paddle
speeds of 4500 rev/min and 4000 rev/min. Similarly, the paddle feed
was reduced to 250 mm/min for 5000 rev/min paddle speed. However,
all the flanges formed at paddle feeds of 250 mm/min had cracks. This
could be due to higher wear of the blank surface at low paddle feeds
which may lead to failure.
A representation of how the surface stretches vary with the paddle
speed is shown in Fig. 15. The principal strains move to the left of the
FLD as the paddle speed reduces from 6000 rev/min to 5000 rev/min.
The flange formed at a paddle speed of 5000 rev/min was the short-
est. The paddle deforms more material per rotation of the paddle at the
speed of 5000 rev/min (since equal volumes of the blank material are
International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 164 (2019) 105143
formed in the same time). The temperature was high enough to per-
mit forming flanges without cracks. However, there is a displacement of
the principal strains to the right on the FLD for the flanges with cracks
formed at lower speeds (4500 rev/min and 4000 rev/min). The strains
moved to the right on the FLD at lower paddle speeds because there
is more stretching of the blank in the direction of paddle feed per ro-
tation of the paddle. This is accompanied by a reduction in shear and
blank temperature during forming which causes a drop in formability
and leads to biaxial stretching in the middle portion of the flange and
hence crack formation. The full lines indicate the flanges with no cracks
while the dotted lines indicate the flanges with cracks.
3.6. Influence of the ratio paddle speed/feed on flange formability
The ratio 𝛽 = speed/feed (units = rev/mm) is varied in machining op-
erations to accomplish roughing and finishing cuts. The paddle speed
and feed can be equated to the speed and feed of cutting tools in hole
drilling operations. 𝛽 was calculated for the paddle speeds and feeds
used in the hole-flanging experiments with an HER of 3.3 to find out if
𝛽 can be used as a guideline in determining the feasibility of conducting
hole-flanging by paddle forming. The green squares show the flanges
with no cracks and the red circles represent the flanges with cracks in
Fig. 16.
As the paddle speed was varied from 6000 rev/min to 4000 rev/min
at a feed of 500 mm/min (experiments 1-4′ in Fig. 11), the maximum
temperature and 𝛽 reduced as shown in Fig. 16a. The 𝛽 values were 12,
10, 9 and 8 for the paddle speeds 6000 rev/min, 5000 rev/min, 4500
rev/min and 4000 rev/min, respectively. The paddle formed an equal
volume of blank material in the same time interval during these tests
since the axial feed of the paddle was the same. However, for 𝛽 below
10, fewer rotations of the paddle per unit time led to more stretching of
the material in each rotation of the paddle which led to the development
of cracks. This is indicated by movement of the principal strains to the
L.I. Besong, J. Buhl and M. Bambach International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 164 (2019) 105143

Fig. 16. (a) Change in temperature and the ratio of speed/feed with paddle speed. (b) Change in temperature and the ratio of speed/feed with paddle feed.

right and slightly up in the FLDs, see Fig. 15. This shows that there is a
minimum 𝛽 needed to form flanges without cracks as the paddle speed
varies.
The paddle feed was increased from 250 mm/min to 2000 mm/min
at a constant speed of 6000 rev/min (experiments 5 and 1–4 in Fig. 11).
This causes a reduction of 𝛽 and temperature, see Fig. 16b. The flanges
with no cracks lie in the middle of the distribution of 𝛽. At the lowest
paddle feed, 250 mm/min (experiment 5 which corresponds to 𝛽 = 24
rev/mm), the cracks were probably due to thermal softening of the blank
and wear caused by repeated contact of the blank and paddle. Crack
occurrence at the higher paddle feeds (experiments 3 and 4 which cor-
respond to 𝛽 = 4 rev/mm and 𝛽 = 3 rev/mm) was due to the low number
of rotations of the paddle which stretched the material within a short
time period leading to cracks. This was accompanied by a drop in the
maximum temperature of the sheets. Thus, there is an optimum range Fig. 17. Variation of process formability with process temperature.
of 𝛽 needed to produce flanges with no cracks. The values of 𝛽 were
considered with respect to change in speed and feed independently. No
interaction was found for the combined effect of the change in paddle cracks. At paddle speeds of 1200 rev/min and feeds of 100 mm/min
feed and speed on 𝛽. only the flange with a 1.3 HER had no cracks. The blank temperatures
were 165 °C for 3.3 HER and 130 °C for 1.3 HER. All the flanges formed
3.7. Influence of varying the paddle speed and feed at a constant 𝛽 on at paddle speeds of 120 rev/min and 36 rev/min had cracks. The re-
formability sults of the experiments show that high temperatures are required to
form flanges and the required temperature increases with an increase
The ratio 𝛽 was kept constant at 12 rev/mm (experiment 1 in Fig. 11), in HER. Similarly, there is an increase in shear as 𝛽 increases from low
while the paddle speed and feed were increased from low paddle speeds paddle speeds and feeds to high paddle speeds and feeds.
and feeds ([36 rev/min]/[3 mm/min]) to high paddle speed and feed
([6000 rev/min]/[500 mm/min]). The paddle speeds and feeds used in
the experiments are shown in Eq. (2).
3.8. Variation of process limits with the HER
𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 36 rev∕ min 120 rev∕ min 1200 rev∕ min
𝛽 = = = = From analysis of the flanges with an HER of 3.3, the flanges formed
𝑓 𝑒𝑒𝑑 3 mm∕ min 10 mm∕ min 100 mm∕ min
3000 rev∕ min 6000 rev∕ min at a speed of 6000 rev/min and feed of 500 mm/min (experiment 1
= = (2) in Fig. 11) yielded the best results. A reduction in paddle speed below
250 mm∕ min 500 mm∕ min
5000 rev/min and an increase in paddle feed above 1000 mm/min led to
The experiments were conducted on blanks having different HERs. biaxial stretching and crack occurrence at the edges of the flanges. The
The maximum temperatures measured from the experiments are pre- process limits were found to be between paddle speeds of 5000–6000
sented in Fig. 17. rev/min and feeds of 500–1000 mm/min as shown in Fig. 18a. The best
There was a drop in blank temperature as 𝛽 reduces from high pad- forming conditions are needed to form the flanges at the maximum HER,
dle speeds and feeds to low paddle speeds and feeds and as the HER hence only a small range of paddle feeds and speeds can successfully
value reduces for the same paddle speed and feed. All the blanks formed form the flanges. The variations of the maximum process temperature
using paddle speeds of 6000 rev/min and feed 500 mm/min had no with change in paddle speed and feed for flanges with a HER of 3.3
cracks. The blank temperature reduced with reduction in the HER from are shown in Fig. 18a. To examine the robustness of the process, flanges
370 °C at 3.3 HER to 170 °C at 1.3 HER. The blanks formed at a paddle were made with smaller HERs, down to 1.5. The paddle feeds and speeds
speed of 3000 rev/min and feed of 250 rev/min had lower temper- corresponding to the process borders of the different HERs are shown
atures compared blanks formed at a paddle speed 6000 rev/min and in Fig. 18. Flanges with no cracks are represented in green while those
feed 500 mm/min. The blank temperatures reduced from 210 °C at 3.3 with cracks are represented in red. The lines represent the borders of the
HER to 155 °C at 1.3 HER. Only flanges with an HER below 2 had no paddle feeds and speeds required to form flanges for the various HERs.
L.I. Besong, J. Buhl and M. Bambach
Fig. 18. Experimental results for hole-flanging by the paddle forming process. (a) HER 3.3 including temperature variation. (b) HER 3. (c) HER 2.7 and 2.5 including
the wrinkling zone. (d) HER 2 and HER 1.5.
For holes of 13.3 mm diameter (HER = 3), paddle speeds in the range
5000–6000 rev/min yielded successful flanges. A maximum paddle feed
of 1500 mm/min was attained as the process border, see Fig. 18b. Hole
diameters of 15 mm (HER = 2.7) required paddle speeds in the range of
4500–6000 rev/min and paddle feeds between 500 and 1500 mm/min
to produce flanges without cracks as seen in Fig. 18c. Wrinkling occurred
for the flanges formed at paddle feeds of 500 mm/min and 750 mm/min.
For a larger diameter of 16 mm (HER = 2.5), paddle speeds in the range
4000–6000 rev/min and feeds of 500–1750 mm/min yielded flanges
with no cracks, see Fig. 18c. Similarly, wrinkling was observed for the
flanges formed in the low feed range (500 mm/min-750 mm/min). The
samples with wrinkles are indicated by the shaded area in Fig. 18c. A
picture of a flange with wrinkles is shown in Appendix 1. The wrinkles
may be due to less friction between the paddle and blank as a result of
a smaller contact area of the blank in these experiments which reduces
the tendency of the paddle to draw the blank into the die. In addition,
at low paddle feeds, friction between the paddle and blank reduces and
the paddle draws the blank slowly into the die thereby allowing wrinkle
formation.
The hole diameter was increased to 20 mm (HER = 2). Paddle
speeds in the range 4500–6000 rev/min and feeds in the range 500–
2000 mm/min produced flanges without cracks, see Fig. 18d. For
sheets with an initial hole diameter of 26.7 mm (HER = 1.5), paddle
speeds in the range 2000–6000 rev/min and feeds in the range 250–
2500 mm/min were found to yield successful flanges, as shown in
Fig. 18d. The flanges formed at high paddle feeds (2500 mm/min) had
rough surfaces. Edge cracks were present for all the flanges formed at a
paddle speed of 6000 rev/min and feed of 250 mm/min, except for the
HER of 1.5.
International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 164 (2019) 105143
The results of the experiments demonstrate that as Di increases, the
paddle speed needed to successfully form the flange reduces while the
paddle feed increases. That is the range of paddle speeds and feeds (the
area on the graph) used to form the flanges increases as Di increases
(HER reduces). There is a drop in the maximum temperature as the Di
increases, see Section 3.2.
Assuming a paddle axial feed of 1000 mm/min is used to calculate
the forming time (this feed works for all HER values), a process time of
approximately 2 s is obtained. This is appropriate for short process cycle
times even in the automobile industry.
4. Comparison of hole-flanging by paddle forming, SPIF, and
conventional hole-flanging using experimental investigations
Hole-flanging by paddle forming was compared to conventional
hole-flanging and hole-flanging by SPIF to find out the forming limits,
process time and differences in forming conditions.
4.1. Forming forces
The force in the z-direction (Fz ) during paddle forming (see Fig. 6)
has a similar shape to Fz (punch load) measured in conventional hole-
flanging, as reported in [24]. The forces in the x and y directions were
negligible. The forces during the hole-flanging operation by SPIF strat-
egy 1 with the 20 mm diameter tool rotating 2000 rev/min are shown
in Fig. 19. The forces oscillate between positive and negative values in
the x and y directions. However, the force in the z-direction is unidirec-
tional as shown in Fig. 19c. The magnitudes of all the forces increase
with an increase in the number of forming steps.
L.I. Besong, J. Buhl and M. Bambach
Fig. 19. Force variation in SPIF. (a) X direction. (b) Y direction. (c) Z direction.
Fig. 20. Temperature variation in SPIF for a flange formed using a 20 mm tool
rotating at 2000 rev/min.
4.2. Temperature
The temperature change during the conventional flanging experi-
ments was insignificant. This is the same for the SPIF tests with no rota-
tion of the tool. Tool rotation in SPIF led to a rise in the temperature of
the blanks due to friction at the contact with the tool. A maximum tem-
perature of 76 °C was measured on the blanks formed by hole-flanging
using SPIF strategy 1 with the 20 mm tool rotating at 2000 rev/min.
The temperature development is shown in Fig. 20. Temperatures above
300 °C were recorded for paddle forming as shown in Fig. 7c.
The effect of the blank size was not considered in the comparison of
the forces and temperature during the forming operations.
International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 164 (2019) 105143
4.3. Process time
The durations of the three forming processes were compared to de-
termine which processes have forming times relevant to industrial appli-
cations. A high tool travel speed of 4000 mm/min was used in the SPIF
experiments to reduce the process time. The hole-flanging experiments
by SPIF needed significantly longer forming time than paddle forming
and conventional hole-flanging. For tool path strategy 1, (see Fig. 4a),
the 10 mm diameter tool required 105 s to form the flange while the
20 mm diameter tool needed 84 s. The 20 mm diameter tool required
87 s for strategy 2.
Hole-flanging by conventional forming and paddle forming needed
a forming time of ∼2 s, this makes them significantly advantageous in
terms of saving time. The process time for hole-flanging by paddle form-
ing and conventional stamping are the same since the same axial feed
was considered for both tools and they were displaced by the same dis-
tance. In addition to the forming time, conventional hole-flanging and
axisymmetric paddle forming require no tool path generation in the
product development phase, which significantly reduces process setup
time.
4.4. Hole expansion ratio
The Di was varied until the limits of the flanges with no cracks at
its edge were identified. The three processes were compared to find out
which process has the highest HER.
4.4.1. Conventional hole-flanging
The results of the conventional hole-flanging experiments are pre-
sented in Table 3. The crosses (x) show the flanges formed with cracks
at the edges while the zeros (0) indicate flanges with no cracks. Con-
ventional hole-flanging (by stamping) yielded flanges with a minimum
Di = 27 mm. Multi-stage (MS) stamping had no influence on the Di . The
25 mm punch could not be used in the multi-stage stamping experiments
because the value for Di (27 mm) was greater than 25 mm. Hence, multi-
stage conventional hole-flanging was carried out in 3 forming steps.
4.4.2. Hole-flanging by SPIF
Table 4 presents the process limits of the hole-flanging operations by
SPIF. The flanges formed with the 10 mm diameter tool using strategy
1 and no rotation required a minimum Di of 26 mm. The same tool ro-
tating at 2000 rev/min formed flanges with a minimum Di of 25 mm.
The blanks formed by the 20 mm diameter tool with no rotation needed
minimum Di of 23 mm. The 20 mm tool with a rotational speed of 2000
rev/min formed flanges with a minimum Di of 20 mm. The results reveal
that the minimum Di needed to form flanges reduces with increase in
tool diameter and rotation of the tool. Similar conclusions were drawn
in [19] using single stage hole-flanging by SPIF. The lower effect of tool
rotation on formability reported in that study is probably because the
flanges were formed in a single stage and the tools were rotated at a
lower speed. In addition, the larger hole sizes used in that study re-
quired longer tool paths which led to less temperature gain between the
forming steps. Hence, there was a reduction in the gain in formability
due to less blank temperature rise.
In the other experiments, the 20 mm tool with no rotation was used
to form flanges using strategy 2 to determine the effect of the tool path
strategy on the minimum Di . A minimum Di of 25 mm was obtained from
strategy 2 which is greater than 23 mm obtained by strategy 1. This
result is in agreement with previous research. Cui and Gao [5] stated
that the HER is larger for strategy 1 than strategy 2 because strategy 1
promotes bending of the blank which prevents thinning while strategy
2 stretches the blank leading to thinning and crack formation.
4.5. Summary of results
Paddle forming yields flanges with the highest formability
(HER = 3.3) as shown in Table 5. Flanges formed by SPIF had a
L.I. Besong, J. Buhl and M. Bambach International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 164 (2019) 105143

Table 3
Results of hole-flanging by conventional hole-flanging.

Process Tool diameter (mm) Diameter of pre-cut, Di (mm)

18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Stamping 40 x x x 0 0 0
MS stamping 30, 35, 40 x x 0 0

Table 4
Results of hole-flanging by SPIF.

Tool path strategy Tool size (mm) Spindle (rev/min) Diameter of pre-cut, Di (mm)
18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Strategy1 10 0 x x x x 0 0 0 0
Strategy1 10 2000 x 0
Strategy1 20 0 x 0 0 0 0
Strategy1 20 2000 x x 0 0 0
Strategy2 20 0 x x 0 0

Table 5
Results of hole-flanging experiments.

Tool path strategy Tool D (mm) Spindle (rev/min) Di min (mm) HERmax Max flange height (mm) Process time in seconds (s)

Stamping 40 0 27 1.48 8.30 2

Multi-stage stamping 30,35,40 0 27 1.48 8.50 25
Strategy1 10 0 26 1.54 7.80 105
Strategy1 10 2000 25 1.6 8.35 105
Strategy 1 20 0 23 1.74 8.80 84
Strategy1 20 2000 20 2 9.95 84
Strategy2 20 0 25 1.6 8.20 87
Paddle forming 40 variable 12.1 3.3 16.10 2

Fig. 21. Flanges obtained by paddle forming, sin-

gle point incremental forming (SPIF), and conven-
tional hole-flanging.

maximum HER of 2. An HER of 1.48 was obtained in conventional flang- approach from [25] is employed here to determine the quantitative con-
ing. The longest flanges made by paddle forming and SPIF had lengths of tribution of each deformation mode for the investigated processes. The
16.10 mm and 9.95 mm. The flange lengths were 8.30 mm and 8.50 mm deformation mechanisms in hole-flanging by stamping, SPIF and paddle
for the flanges made by single stage conventional hole-flanging and forming are considered to be a combination of membrane stretching,
multi-stage conventional hole-flanging. The multi-stage strategy leads to bending and shear deformation. The plastic energy dissipated during
a slight gain in flange length. The process times are included in Table 5. the process can then be written as the sum of the energies dissipated in
The flanges with the longest flange lengths formed by the 3 processes these three deformation modes, expressed as:
are shown in Fig. 21.
𝐸𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐 = 𝐸𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑒 + 𝐸𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟 + 𝐸𝑏𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 (4)
5. FE analyses of the hole-flanging processes
The forces and moment resultants along with the total internal en-
FE simulations provide a convenient and cost effective method to ergy are output from the numerical simulations and are converted into
study the deformation mechanisms in forming processes. The plastic the energy terms using a Matlab script [25]. The forces and moment
energy density from FE simulations can be split to determine the quan- resultants can be mathematically expressed as:
titative contribution of the various deformation mechanisms present in 𝑡
forming processes. The mathematical formulation for obtaining the plas-
𝑆𝐹 = 𝜎𝑑𝑧 (5)
tic energy density is: ∫
0
𝑡

𝐸𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐 = 𝜎 ∶ 𝜀̇ 𝑝𝑙 𝑑𝑡 (3) where the membrane forces SF = (SFxx ,SFyy , SFxy ), the membrane
∫ stresses 𝜎 = (𝜎 xx ,𝜎 yy , 𝜎 xy ), dz is the change in blank thickness and t is
0
the process time.
In this regard, Maqbool and Bambach [25] developed a combined
analytical and numerical approach to split the plastic energy dissipa- 𝑡
tion during SPIF as a contribution of energies from membrane stretch- 𝑄= 𝜎𝑑𝑧 (6)
ing, bending and shear deformation mode. The analytical and numerical ∫
0
L.I. Besong, J. Buhl and M. Bambach
where Q = (Qxz ,Qyz ) are the shear forces and 𝜎 = (𝜎 xz ,𝜎 yz ) are the shear
stresses.
𝑡 sipated energy is due to shear. In hole-flanging by SPIF, the dissipated
𝑀= 𝜎𝑧𝑑𝑧 (7)
∫0
where M = (Mxx ,Myy ,Mxy ) are the moments and 𝜎 = (𝜎 xx ,𝜎 yy , 𝜎 xy ) are
membrane stresses
The membrane energy is calculated by evaluating values of
𝜎 obtained in Eq. (5) with the corresponding strain increments
d𝜀 = (d𝜀xx ,d𝜀yy ,d𝜀xy ) into Eq. (3). Similarly, the shear and bending ener-
gies are derived by substituting the stress from Eq. (6) and Eq. (7) and
the corresponding strains in Eq. (3). The energy due to blank thinning
is added to the shear energy because the effects of normal compressive
stresses on localization of deformation are similar to shear stresses [26].
5.1. Set up of FE analysis
The aluminum blanks were modeled as deformable isotropic shells
obeying a power law hardening rule as obtained from the tensile tests.
The shells were defined as thick shell elements based on the Belytschko–
Tsay element formulation with 5 integration points in the through thick-
ness direction. This element type captures the through-thickness shear
and the stress-strain gradient. The blanks had a hole diameter of 27 mm
which correspond to the minimum hole size in conventional hole flang-
ing, see Fig. 21c. Clamping of the blanks was simplified by the use of
fixed boundary conditions. The same blank, die and clamping conditions
are used in all the simulations. The paddle, punch, SPIF tool and die were
defined as non-deformable rigid bodies. The paddle forming simulation
was conducted using the paddle speed and feed in experiment 1, see
Fig. 11. Conventional hole-flanging was performed at a punch feed of
500 mm/min. The flange formed by SPIF was simulated using the 10 mm
diameter tool with no tool rotation and tool path strategy 1. The tool
path was established using a Matlab script based on the tool path of the
experiments. A coefficient of friction of 0.1 was assigned at the contacts
between the parts. The processes were simulated using the implicit dy-
namic FE code of LSDyna solver. Temperature changes during forming
were not included in the simulations.
5.2. Results of the simulations
Energy densities for an element close to the flange edge (where the
maximum blank stretch occurs and cracks are likely to develop) are used
for the analyses, see Fig. 22a. For conventional hole-flanging, the dissi-
pated energy of the element is mainly due to membrane stretching as
International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 164 (2019) 105143
Fig. 22. (a) Element chosen for energy density
analyses. (b) Energy density for conventional
hole-flanging. (c) Energy density for SPIF. (d)
Energy density for paddle forming.
shown in Fig. 22b. The energy dissipated due to bending constitutes less
than 10% of the total internal energy. Only about 2% of the total dis-
energy due to bending has the most significant effect on the process me-
chanics followed by membrane stretching. The shear energy makes up a
minimal portion (about 4%) of the total dissipated energy, see Fig. 22c.
A high internal energy is dissipated in hole-flanging by SPIF compared
to the other processes. The reason for this difference is that SPIF is a
multi-stage forming process. In each step, the energy increases predom-
inantly by local bending and unbending of the sheet and accumulates
to a larger value than in the other process variants. Hence it can be
assumed that the energy densities in Fig. 22c adequately represent the
process mechanics in hole-flanging by SPIF. For paddle forming, most of
the deformation energy is dissipated as bending energy. This is followed
by membrane stretching. The energy dissipated due to shear is higher in
paddle forming (about 15% of the total energy at its maximum value)
than in conventional hole-flanging and hole-flanging by SPIF, as can be
seen in Fig. 22d.
6. Discussion
The results of experiments in Section 3 and Section 4 reveal a
difference in formability of hole-flanging by paddle forming and the
other process variants. The energy densities from the FE simulations in
Section 5 may be used to explain the differences in process formability.
In the following sections, firstly, the deformation mode in conventional
hole-flanging is reviewed and compared with the energy density ob-
tained from the process simulation. Secondly, the energy density from
the simulation of hole-flanging by SPIF is used to explain the process
mechanism in hole-flanging by SPIF. Relevant literature is used to sup-
port the results. Thirdly, the role of through thickness shear stresses in
enhancing formability is discussed. It is then used to justify the higher
formability in paddle forming. Fourthly, the influence of temperature
on formability is discussed. The section ends with a discussion on trans-
ferability of the high formability and deformation mechanism of paddle
forming to other forming processes.
6.1. Deformation mechanism in conventional hole-flanging
Formability in conventional forming processes is usually represented
using necking limit curves derived from formability tests. The stresses in
the plane of the sheet are considered to be far greater than the stresses
perpendicular to the plane of the sheet. Deformation occurs mainly due
L.I. Besong, J. Buhl and M. Bambach
Fig. 23. A 3D representation of the global and local coordinate sets used to
interpret the forming strains in the hole-flanging processes.
to in-plane stresses 𝜎 11 and 𝜎 22 (no in-plane rotation) and the out-of-
plane (through-thickness) stress, 𝜎 33 are assumed to vanish. In addition,
the strain paths are assumed to be linear during the forming process.
The feed of the punch in conventional hole-flanging is in the global
z-direction, see Fig. 23. Contact of the punch and sheet causes in-plane
(membrane) stresses. These stresses lead to deformation of the blank
which leads to local stretching mostly in direction 2, thus the major
strain 𝜀22 . The minor strain 𝜀11 is in direction 1. The membrane shear
stress 𝜎 12 is ignored since the punch does not rotate. The strains in the
thickness direction (𝜀33 ) can be considered zero given that there is a mi-
nor change in (𝜀33 ) during the forming process and little shear is present.
These assumptions largely agree with the energy densities obtained from
the FE simulations in Fig. 22b. The dissipated energy is mainly due
to membrane stretching of the sheet which represents the membrane
stresses 𝜎 11 , 𝜎 22 and 𝜎 12 . The dissipated energies due to bending and
through thickness shear have little effect on the deformation mecha-
nism. Hyun et al. [3] also state that deformation in conventional hole-
flanging occurs by bending and stretching. Stretching promotes failure
because voids in the material easily coalesce to form cracks.
6.2. The dominant deformation mechanisms in hole-flanging by SPIF
The dissipated energy in hole-flanging by SPIF reveals that the bend-
ing energy is more significant than the membrane stretching in the pro-
cess, see Fig. 22c. Through thickness shear has a very little role on the
process. Silva et al. [13] stated that the higher formability of SPIF com-
pared to conventional hole-flanging is because the tool locally deforms
the sheet and induces stretching and bending which agrees with the re-
sults in Fig. 22c. Similarly, Emmens and van den Boogaard [26] propose
bending under tension as a reason for increased formability in SPIF. Cen-
teno et al. [27] showed that bending leads to through-thickness stress
variation and enhances formability in ISF processes. A through-thickness
stress strain gradient enhances formability by delaying fracture in the
inner surface of the bend due to the effect of the contact stress (stress
triaxility) [26]. A small tool bends the blank more than the larger tool.
This, in theory, should lead to higher formability of the flanges made
using the smaller tool. However, too much bending by smaller tools
blocks material flow around the tool, which reduces formability in SPIF
[28]. As a result, the 20 mm tool forms flanges with higher formability
compared to the 10 mm tool. Furthermore, tool rotation increases the
formability of the flanges made by the 2 tool sizes. This is probably due
to an increase in shear strains 𝜎 12 and 𝜎 23 .
6.3. The significance of through-thickness shear on formability in
hole-flanging by paddle forming
Research on ISF has highlighted the existence of in-plane and out-of-
plane normal and shear stresses/strains in these processes due to friction
at the contact area of the blank and tool. Bambach et al. [29] observed
in-plane and out-of-plane normal and shear stresses in ISF by using FE
investigations. The stresses were found to be dependent on the tool di-
ameter and step size. Similarly, Jackson and Allwood [30] showed the
International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 164 (2019) 105143
existence of in-plane and out-of-plane normal and shear strains in SPIF
experiments by measuring the stretch at the edges of brazed aluminum
blanks of 3.1–3.3 mm thickness. Shear was maximum at the contact sur-
face of the tool and sheet. Thus, the plane stress assumptions used to
obtain the M-K forming limits cannot be used to describe the forming
mechanism of ISF due to bending, nonlinear strain paths, and significant
in-plane and through-thickness shear [26].
Shouler and Allwood [31] used specially designed tensile tests to
show that high membrane shear (𝜎 12 ) leads to increased formability.
Fatemi and Daraini [32] used numerical analyses to investigate the ef-
fect of normal and through thickness shear stresses on formability us-
ing a modified M-K model. The presence of normal and through thick-
ness shear stresses enhanced formability by movement of the forming
limit curves upwards. Experimental investigations on annealed Al 1050
showed that the presence of out-of-plane shear stresses (𝜎 13 and 𝜎 23 )
lead to an increase in formability [33]. Similar conclusions were ob-
tained by Eyckens et al. [34] using an analytical procedure. A physical
explanation for increased formability is that the presence of through-
thickness stresses within the calculation of the yield stress ensures that
at the beginning of plastic deformation the principal stresses in the
plane of the sheet are lower than when no through-thickness stresses
are present. This permits increased plastic deformation of the necking
zone before failure occurs [35]. Out-of-plane normal and shear stresses
improve formability since they may act in planes which prevent void
nucleation, crack growth and coalescence [33].
Paddle rotation induces membrane shear strain, 𝜀12 and out-of-plane
shear strains 𝜀13 and 𝜀23 . The axial feed of the paddle stretches of the
blanks and causes strains 𝜀11 , 𝜀22 and 𝜀33 . Paddle forming processes
were specifically designed to induce high shear on the blanks at the slid-
ing contact between the blank and paddle. The paddle makes a larger
contact area with the blanks compared to SPIF tools which permit more
deformation of the blank by shearing. These assumptions agree with
the shear energy from the simulations, Fig. 22d. Deformation in paddle
forming is achieved by shearing, bending and stretching compared to
the deformation in SPIF, where bending and stretching prevail. Thus,
the higher formability of paddle forming compared to hole-flanging by
SPIF is explained by the higher amount of shear present in hole-flanging
by paddle forming. Hence, the assumptions of the total strain membrane
theory of rigid-plasticity used in conventional hole-flanging [36] can-
not be used for paddle forming given that the deformation energy due
to membrane stretching is less than 40% of the internal energy, see
Fig. 22d.
The bending energy (as a proportion) is highest in hole-flanging by
paddle forming where the radius at the paddle edge is 2 mm. The bend-
ing energy remains the same for hole-flanging by SPIF with a 5 mm tool
radius due to the accumulation of local bending and unbending. The
lowest bending energy was observed in conventional hole-flanging with
the 20 mm punch radius. Thus, the bending energy reduces with an in-
crease in tool radius. Similarly, Morales-Palma et al. [37] showed that
bending reduces with an increase in tool radius.
The element used to analyze the deformation mechanism in the sim-
ulations corresponds to a point close to the edge of the flange with a
HER of 1.48 (conventional hole-flanging in Fig. 21c). However, as the
HER increases, the amount of shear energy in the paddle forming op-
erations increases, which explains the high formability in hole-flanging
by paddle forming.
6.4. Influence of temperature
No temperature change was detected for the flanges formed by con-
ventional hole-flanging and SPIF with no tool rotation. A maximum
blank temperature of 76 °C was measured for the flanges made by
the 20 mm diameter tool using SPIF strategy 1 and rotating at 2000
rev/min. This is far less than a blank temperature of 370 °C obtained
in paddle forming. The generated heat caused thermal softening of the
sheets. Thermal softening is beneficial because it leads to a drop in the
L.I. Besong, J. Buhl and M. Bambach
yield strength of the formed material and consequently the forming pro-
cess requires lower forming forces. Thermal softening also leads to an
increase in formability. Naka et al. [38] showed that there is an increase
in the forming limit strain due to increase of the blank temperature in
sheet metal forming. The high paddle speeds required to form the flanges
demonstrate the effect of the gain in temperature due to friction at the
contact of the blank and paddle. However, high paddle speeds and low
feeds may also lead to easy failure of the sheet due to loss of strength
of the sheet as it softens. This may be the reason for the occurrence of
cracks in the flanges formed at a low paddle feed of 250 mm/min in
Fig. 18.
6.5. Transferability of knowledge on paddle forming to other processes
The aim of this section is to propose how the gain in formability due
to the process mechanics in paddle forming can be transferred to other
forming processes to improve their formability.
• The high formability obtained in paddle forming is due to the in-
fluence of significant shear in the process mechanics compared to
the other flanging processes (SPIF, punch-based). This suggests that
shear should be intentionally induced to forming processes when
possible to improve formability. Similar suggestions have been made
in [31] and [33]. Tool rotation is an easy method to apply shear in
axisymmetric parts. High-speed tool rotation may be used to improve
the formability especially for hard to form materials.
• Shear and temperature were proposed as the reasons for increased
formability in paddle forming. Emmens and van den Boogaard
[26] cited cyclic loading, bending under tension, contact stress
amongst other mechanisms, as reasons for the increased formability
in ISF processes. The contribution of the individual process mech-
anisms to increased formability in ISF processes remains complex.
The results presented in this paper indicate that under certain con-
ditions, shear and temperature account for increased formability.
7. Conclusions
The present research was carried out to investigate axisymmetric
hole-flanging by using paddle-shaped tools. The axisymmetric nature
of the process was utilized to attain high-speed rotation of the paddle.
Optical strain measurements were carried out on the flanges formed by
paddle forming. Flanges made by paddle forming, conventional hole-
flanging, and SPIF were compared for maximum HER and process time.
From the results of the investigations, the following conclusions can be
made:
• The success of hole-flanging by paddle forming is highly dependent
on paddle speed and feed. For large HER values, high paddle speeds
and low feeds are required to form flanges. The range of paddle speed
and feed needed to form flanges increases with a decrease in HER
(increase Di ).
• An increase in paddle feed leads to displacement of the principal
strains (principal surface stretches) of the flanges to the right and
upwards in the FLD. This indicates an increase in biaxial stretching
as paddle feed increases which leads to cracks on the flanges formed
at high feeds. Biaxial stretching increases at low paddle speeds for
the same paddle feed which leads to crack formation.
• Friction at the contact points between the paddle and blank leads
to a rise in blank temperature. A maximum process temperature of
370 °C was obtained for a flange with an HER of 3.3 formed at a
feed of 500 mm/min and speed of 6000 rev/min. High forming tem-
peratures correlate with good formability. The maximum blank tem-
perature decrease with increase in paddle feed, reduction in paddle
speed and increase Di .
• A decrease in paddle speed leads to a reduction in wrinkling at the
bend of the flange due to an increased tendency for the paddle to
draw the sheet into the die at low speeds.
International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 164 (2019) 105143
• A maximum HER of 3.3 was achieved for the flanges formed by
paddle forming. The flanges made by SPIF and conventional hole-
flanging had HERs of 2 and 1.48. This shows higher formability for
paddle forming compared to the other processes. Shear and heat gen-
erated during forming account for the increased formability.
• Hole flanging by paddle forming and convention hole-flanging re-
quire a process time of ∼2 s compared to a minimum of 84 s needed
in hole-flanging by SPIF.
• FE simulations of the hole-flanging processes reveal a high shear en-
ergy density in paddle forming compared to the other hole-flanging
methods. This is used to explain the high formability in hole-flanging
by paddle forming.
Future research will seek to experimentally investigate the effect of
paddle shape on the principal strain distribution of the flanges with the
aim of obtaining the paddle shape with a maximum HER. The range
of paddle speed and feed required to form flanges using the paddle
shape with the maximum HER will be investigated. Flange geometries
obtained by paddle forming will be compared to ideal CAD geometries
to investigate the geometrical accuracy of flanges obtained by the pro-
cess. Furthermore, formability tests will be conducted on the blank ma-
terial at high strain rates and temperatures to observe their effects on the
forming limits and to develop a model for formability. Finally, thermo-
mechanical FE simulations will be conducted to study the influence of
temperature on the process mechanics.
Acknowledgements
The depicted results were achieved to a great extent in the project
“Roboterbasiertes Kragenziehen” (Ref.-No. AiF 20457BG), which is fi-
nanced and supervised by the European Research Association for Sheet
Metal Working (EFB). In the scope of the program to promote Industrial
Collective Research they were funded by the German Federation of In-
dustrial Research Associations (AiF) with means of the Federal Ministry
of Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) on the basis of a decision by
the German Bundestag.
This funding is gratefully acknowledged.
Supplementary materials
Supplementary material associated with this article can be found, in
the online version, at doi:10.1016/j.ijmecsci.2019.105143.
Appendix
Supplementary data
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