This paper introduces a new technique for deep drawing of elliptic cups through a conical die
without blank holder or draw beads. In this technique an elliptical-cup is produced by pushing a
circular blank using a flat-headed elliptic punch through a conical die with an elliptic aperture in a
single stroke. A 3D parametric finite element (FE) model was built using the commercial FE package ANSYS/APDL. Effects of die and punch geometry including, half-cone angle, die fillet
radius, die aperture length and punch fillet radius on limiting drawing ratio (LDR), drawing load
and thickness strain of the cup have been investigated. A die with half cone angle of 18° has shown
the best drawability for the new technique. Finite element model results showed good agreement
with experimental results. A die with an aspect ratio of 2 has been used with punches having aspect
ratios ranging from 2 to 2.25. Tensile tests were carried out to obtain the stress-strain behavior for
the used material. A total of seven punches were used for forming sheet metal of brass (CuZn33)
with initial thicknesses of 1.5, 1.9, 2.4 and 3.2 mm at different clearance ratios (c/t). The effects of
blank thickness and clearance ratio on limiting drawing ratio, drawing load and thickness strain
were experimentally investigated. An elliptic cup with a limiting drawing ratio (LDR) of 2.26 has
been successfully achieved.