Investigation of consecutive two-stage hydrodynamic deep drawing of aluminum cylindrical cups

In the deep drawing process, achieving a higher drawing ratio has always been considered by researchers. In this study, a new concept of hydrodynamic deep drawing with two consecutive stages without additional operations such as annealing is proposed to increase the limit drawing ratio of the cups. The effective parameters were investigated numerically and experimentally in the forming of Al1200 cylindrical cups. At first, the desired value of punch diameter ratio was determined based on finite element simulation results and was utilized to increase the cup formability. Next, the effects of pressure paths on the cup thickness, separation, and rupture were studied in each forming stage. The cup formability was investigated based on a new proposed framework to obtain the maximum possible limiting drawing ratio, and the desired conditions were determined. Finally, a cup was formed with a high drawing ratio of 3.4 which was a good achievement in comparison with the literature.

Theoretical, numerical and experimental investigation of hydro-mechanical deep drawing of steel/polymer/steel sandwich sheets

Fabricating flat sandwich sheets into components with a required shape and dimensions is a challenging job in the metal forming field. In this article, hydro-mechanical deep drawing was used for sandwich sheet forming. The aim of the work is to achieve higher drawing ratio of these sheets. Theoretical, numerical and experimental analysis of the hydro-mechanical deep drawing of sandwich sheets was carried out. Separated layers theory method is used for theoretical analysis of the process. Then, the numerical simulation of the process was developed by finite element method. The effect of core layer thickness on the forming force of the sandwich sheet and effective parameters of the process such as strain and forming force was investigated. Experimental works were conducted on the steel/polymer/steel sandwich sheets by a hydro-mechanical deep drawing die. A good agreement was observed between theoretical, numerical and experimental results. The safe zone of fluid pressure for achieving a part without rupture was obtained. It was shown that the limit drawing ratio is increased by increasing the pressure but after a particular point, the limit drawing ratio is decreased by increasing the chamber pressure. It was also observed that maximum drawing ratio for achieving a part without rupture in the hydro-mechanical deep drawing process is higher than conventional deep drawing process.

Tensile properties and drawability of thin bimetallic aluminum-scandium-zirconium / stainless steel foils and monometallic Al-Sc-Zr fabricated by magnetron sputtering

Al-Sc-Zr alloys are interesting for the production of high strength micro components by micro deep drawing. These alloys show a good hardenability due to the formation of nanometer-scale spheroidal Al3(Sc, Zr) precipitates, which are highly coherent with the aluminum matrix. However, the formation of these precipitates in Al-Sc-Zr foils fabricated by conventional metallurgical methods dramatically reduces their ductility and drawability. In this work, magnetron sputtering was used to produce Al-Sc-Zr foils and Al-Sc-Zr / stainless steel bimetallic foils which are nearly free of these precipitates. Tensile tests were carried out to measure and compare the mechanical properties of monometallic Al-Sc-Zr foils and bimetallic Al-Sc-Zr / stainless steel foils deposited with varying plasma target powers and containing different volume fractions (layer thickness) of Al-Sc-Zr. Micro deep drawing was used to determine the drawability of selected monometallic and bimetallic foils. The results show that the density of monometallic Al-Sc-Zr foils can be improved significantly by increasing the DC target power and by using the high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) technology, resulting in foils with higher ductility. Bimetallic foils achieved higher strength and ductility than monometallic Al-Sc-Zr foils. Their mechanical properties vary with the target power and the volume fraction (thickness) of Al-Sc-Zr. The limit drawing ratio of HiPIMS deposited monometallic foil was 1.7 or 1.8 depending on the side of the foil facing the die, whereas a limit drawing ratio of 1.9 was observed for bimetallic foils.

Comparison of Microstructure and Mechanical Behavior of the Ferritic Stainless Steels ASTM 430 Stabilized with Niobium and ASTM 439 Stabilized with Niobium and Titanium

The use of Ferritic Stainless Steels has become indispensable due its lower cost and the possibility to replace austenitic stainless steels in many applications. In this study, cold rolled sheets of two stabilized ferritic stainless steels with 85% thickness reduction were annealed by applying a heating rate of 24 oC/s and a soaking time of 24 s. The niobium stabilized ferritic stainless steel type ASTM 430 (430Nb) was annealed at 880 oC while the niobium and titanium bi-stabilized steel ASTM 439 was annealed at 925 oC. The annealed samples were tensile tested and due to the smaller grain size, steel 430Nb, showed a higher yield stress and a higher total elongation. Concerning drawability the steel ASTM 439 presented a better performance with higher average R-value, lower planar anisotropy coefficient and a greater value for Limit Drawing Ratio (LDR). These results are explained in terms of the differences in size and volume fraction of precipitates between the two steels.

Deep Drawing of ZK60 Wrought Magnesium Alloys

Evolution of texture and microstructure during deep drawing of ZK60 wrought magnesium alloys were investigated using EBSD (electron backscatter diffraction). ZK60 (Mg-5.5Zn-0.6Zr) alloys were prepared through both direct chill casting (DC) and twin-roll strip casting (TRC). Deep drawing tests were carried out under various working temperature and drawing speeds. The diameters of the sheets and punch were 74 mm and 37 mm, and overall limit drawing ratio was 2. Texture and microstructure evolution was examined with various working condition. The DC samples had larger grains than TRC samples, and thus more twins were observed in the DC samples.