The blanks are anisotropic; their mechanical characteristics are different in the rolling direction unlike other directions which are not parallel to it. Anisotropy favors the appearance of earing in the cup drawing process, which constitutes a fabrication flaw of the piece. This paper presents the optimizing of the initial shape of the blank in order to minimize the earing in the cup drawing process. The experimental results are compared to the results obtained through simulation using the finite element method (FEM). The simulation took place with the help of the program ABAQUS/Explicit, v6.5.
