Abstract: A new method, named warm forming of lightweight sheet materials heated by matrix dot power is proposed after a validation that formability improvement can be achieved during sheet forming heating with matrix dot power compared with normar power. Using 0Cr18Ni9 sheet this new method is validated and preliminarily studied with assistance of FE software Marc. The result shows that the new process of sheet warm drawing process using dot matrix power is feasible, and through controlling the distribution of dot power a higher limiting drawing ratio compared with warm deep drawing using normal power can be obtained. There are two key points where the wall thickness is quite small, and the first lying near punch corner caused by the peak values of the punch force, the second being located in the wall of formed cups caused by carrying capacity decreasing of this point because of temperature rising.

Key words: Dot matrix power, Finite element method, Sheet forming, Warm deep drawing