Press apparatus and method of manufacturing press-formed product

A method of manufacturing a press-formed product using a press apparatus, comprising:

• placing an object to be pressed between a first die part supported by a first support member of the press apparatus and a second die part supported by a second support member;
• and
• performing press-forming by effecting such relative movement in a press direction between the first support member and the second support member that the support members are closer to each other so that a first working surface of the first die part contacts one side of the object to be pressed and a second working surface of the second die part contacts another side of the object to be pressed, wherein the press apparatus comprises a frame and slide drive units, the first support member is a bolster fixed to the frame and the second support member is a slide or ram mounted such that the slide drive units cause the relative movement in the press direction,
• wherein at least one of the first and second die parts provides a clearance present in at least a portion of an overlap region, the overlap region being overlapped by the first and second working surfaces as viewed in the press direction, a dimension of the clearance in the press direction in a no-load condition being non-uniform along two orthogonal directions as viewed in the press direction,
• a minimum dimension of the clearance in the press direction within an inner region in the no-load condition is smaller than a minimum dimension of the clearance in the press direction within an outer region in the no-load condition, the inner region defined by, and located inward of, a middle line formed by a set of middle points of line segments such connecting a centroid of the overlap region with a given position on an edge of the overlap region, the outer region defined by, and located outward of, the middle line, and
• during the press-forming, at least one of the first support and second support deflects and at the bottom-dead center the dimension of the clearance in the press direction in at least a portion of the overlap region is closer to uniform than in the no-load condition,
• wherein an amount of deformation of the clearance in the press direction when the die parts are at the bottom-dead center relative to the clearance in the overlap region in the no-load condition is larger than an amount of deformation of the first and second working surfaces in the press direction when the die parts are at the bottom-dead center relative to the first and second working surfaces in the no-load condition.