Abstract: In order to investigate the applicability of finite element program based on the conventional constitutive model and the solving methods simulating the micro forming process, orthogonal experiments of the micro deep drawing and the corresponding conventional deep drawing zoomed in ten times are designed. A FEM-based program for sheet forming, ARVIP-3D, developed by our study team, is used to simulate these forming processes. TAGUCHI method and the concept of the signal-to-noise ratio are used to analyze the change ratio of the critical section thick influenced by the fluctuation or the deflection of the material performance parameters and the technology condition parameters. The results indicate that size effects on micro forming are principally induced by the different forming mechanism from macro forming, so the finite element program based on the conventional constitutive model and the solving methods can’t accurately simulate the micro deep drawing process, but can simulate the micro size effects induced by friction; The error of the simulating results of these two similar deep drawing process principally root in the floating-point operation, but the fluctuations of the geometric and the mechanical conditions also affect the this kind of simulating error too. Accordingly, when the new-style finite elements program for micro forming is developed, not only the special constitutive models need to be established, but the processing algorithms of the geometric, contact and the mechanical conditions should also be improved.

Key words: Error analysis, Micro deep drawing, Signal-to-noise ratio, TAGUCHI method, Force ellipsoid , Mould, Processing system, Stiffness field, Complex curved surface