An Investigation of the Effects of a Sheet Material Type and Thickness Selection on Formability in the Production of the Engine Oil Pan with the Deep Drawing Method

Abstract

In internal combustion engines, in a way integrated under the engine block, the oil pan is used to store the engine oil, to separate foreign substances in the oil coming from the engine block, to lubricate the moving parts, to help the engine cooling system. In this study, by using different materials such as DC06 (IF), AISI 304, Al6082, and DC01 and selecting different thicknesses such as 1.5 mm and 2 mm, the deep drawing method was applied to them, and their formability behaviors with deep drawing were investigated. The effects of the sheet material type and thickness parameters on the tensile force and wall thickness variation on a sample engine oil pan formed by deep drawing were determined. Different parameters were determined for the sample engine oil pan. According to the analysis results, it was detected that the wall thicknesses of the sensitive points were determined to decrease by 0.86 mm, 0.62 mm, and 0.37 mm, respectively, for deep drawn samples with a 1.5 mm thickness (AISI 304, DC06, DC01), but tearing occurred in the Al6082 material. On the other hand, when the sheet material thickness was increased to 2 mm, it was observed that the thickness change rates decreased by 13% in DC06, 0.7% in AISI 304, 33% in Al 6082, and 4% in the DC01 material type in comparison with the initial sheet thickness of 1.5 mm. The results of the analysis obtained in this study demonstrated that these four materials had superiorities over each other, that the thickness of the material was an essential criterion in deep drawing, and that the use of a 2 mm thick AISI 304 material among the selected materials in the production of the engine oil pan was more suitable.