In drawing sheet metal, the blank holding force is applied to prevent wrinkling of the product and to add a tensile stress to the material for the plastic deformation. Applying an inappropriate blank holding force can cause wrinkling or fracture. Therefore, it is important to determine the appropriate blank holding force. Recent developments of the servo cushion open up the possibility to reduce the possibility of fracture and wrinkling by controlling the blank holding force along the stroke. In this study, a method is presented to find the optimal variable blank holding force curve, which uses statistical analysis with consideration of the nonlinear deformation path. The optimal blank holding force curve was numerically and experimentally applied to door inner parts. Consequently, it was shown that the application of the variable blank holding force curve to door inner parts could effectively reduce the possibility of fracture and wrinkling.
