Forming Laws and Processing Designing Methods for Multi-DOF Envelope Forming Process of Brake Pad Baseboard

Abstract To improve braking performance and achieve lightweight in transport equipment, it is necessary to implement overall plastic forming manufacturing of the brake pad baseboard (BPB), which is the core safety component of the brake system. This study presents an innovative multi-DOF envelope forming (MDFEF) process to realize the plastic forming of BPB with thin skin and high reinforcing ribs. The MDFEF principle for BPB, and the design methods for the envelope mold are first presented. Through FE simulations, the behavior of metal flow, uneven growth pattern of reinforcing ribs, evolution of equivalent strain and evolution of forming force in MDFEF of BPB are investigated. To realize MDFEF, an innovative MDFEF equipment driven by parallel linkages is exploited. The force states of linkages in MDFEF are calculated, and the reasonable mold position is determined to reduce the maximum force on the linkages and improve the service performance of MDFEF equipment. The MDFEF experiments of BPB are conducted and qualified BPB is obtained, which demonstrates that the presented MDFEF process and equipment are applicable to manufacture BPB with thin skin and high reinforcing ribs.