The development of forming simulation methodology of a plate type heat exchanger

In this study, the production process of plate type heat exchangers was developed as a simulation methodology. Within the scope of the study, first, the parameters in the production process were determined. Then, mechanical characterization studies were planned with the AISI 316L stainless steel material used during production and the alternative AISI 304 stainless steel material, and the tests were completed with the support of the relevant stakeholders. The tests were determined according to the requirements of the simulation methodology. In this context, uniaxial tensile test, biaxial hydraulic bulge test and Split Hopkinson tensile tests were performed to obtain the necessary inputs for the mechanical characterization of the material and creating the material model. The material models established with the information obtained from the tests were validated with the modeling of the test setups in the numerical environment. The simulation methodology was developed in the LS-DYNA environment in the light of the process parameters obtained from the production and the data obtained from the mechanical characterization tests. The simulation model created with the developed methodology was verified because of comparison with the sample produced from AISI 316L stainless steel material taken from production. After the verified model was obtained, a simulation model was created with AISI 304 stainless steel. In addition, for the model formed with AISI 316L stainless steel, process parameters optimization study was carried out, and preliminary work activities related to reducing production times were carried out in numerical environment. After these modeling activities, the knowledge of the license plate was increased. In addition, effective plastic stress during the process, springback effect, residual stress values after springback, effective plastic strain, thickness distribution and thickness reduction values were obtained for the plate. By using the forming limit diagram of AISI 316L stainless steel, information about the final formability behavior was obtained.