Simulation of windscreen bending using viscoplastic formulation

• Published in: Journal of materials processing technology 2005-12, Vol.170 (1), p.298-303
• Main Authors: Parsa, M.H., Rad, M., Shahhosseini, M.R., Shahhosseini, M.H.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Creep forming; Soda-lime glass; Viscoplasticity; Windscreen
• ISSN: 0924-0136
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2005.05.015

Soda-lime glass material has been widely used for automobile windscreens. Two commercial finite element programs have been evaluated for simulation of the creep forming process using isotropic viscoplastic behavior assumption for soda-lime glass. This was done by selecting one of the programs and using it in connection with an optimization program for controlling the glass surface temperature, to examine the effect of considering thermal stresses and temperature variations along the surface of glass sheet for obtaining desired geometrical shape. The results show that the thermal stress effect must be considered for achieving more accurate simulation of glass creep forming process. Also simulation results show that not only the varied temperature procedure can be used in creep forming process but also it becomes possible to reduce the amount of variation by increasing the temperature. Utilizing the higher creep forming temperatures could lead to lower production time. The accuracy of simulation results have been evaluated by comparisons of the measured slope and thickness of creep formed glass sheets in the constant temperature procedure with similar simulation results.