Die improvement for reducing energy during radiator cover engine motorcycle Forming process

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to improve the single die design to reduce energy usage during forming process of motorcycle engines’ radiator covers using Aluminum Alloy AA 6061 material. The manufacturing process can be divided into two parts, which are sheet metal manufacturing by using blanking die and forming with a drawing die. The design improvement, a computer program was employed for the analysis and processing. Then, the die processing was tested to search for errors and improve the positions that caused damage, by adjusting the cutting angle on the punch of blanking die for radiator cover production at 0 degree, 1 degree, and 2 degree, the tests were performed before and after each improvement. Regarding the experiment, the result was close to the result from Finite Element Analysis, for the forming die, installed finger stop and profile blank before and after improvement. In operation die processing demonstrated it was effective and number of units that could be produced by using blanking die was 15,508/day pieces, both in pre and post experiments. Nonetheless, it was able to reduce the cutting force for cutting angle by 30%. For the work pieces produced by die processing after the improvement, the goods free of damage were 99:1%. The electrical energy used by the press in the forming process by a blanking die after the improvement the specific energy consumption was reduced by 1.51% and the specific energy consumption of die processing after improvement was reduced by 62.59%. As a result, the manufacturing company can reduce energy and increase energy capacity of the pressing machine for product forming efficiently.