Insight into the Influence of Punch Velocity and Thickness on Forming Limit Diagrams of AA 6061 Sheets—Numerical and Experimental Analyses

In this article, the forming limit diagram (FLD) for aluminum 6061 sheets of thicknesses of 1 mm and 3 mm was determined numerically and experimentally, considering different punch velocities. The punch velocity was adjusted in the range of 20 mm/min to 200 mm/min during the Nakazima test. A finite element (FE) simulation was carried out by applying the Johnson–Cook material model into the ABAQUSTM FE software. In addition, a comparison between the simulation and the experimental results was made. It was observed that by increasing the punch velocity, the FLD also increased for both thicknesses, but the degree of the improvement was different. Based on these results, we found a good agreement between numerical and experimental analyses (about 10% error). Moreover, by increasing the punch velocity from 20 mm/min to 100 mm/min in 1 mm-thick specimens, the corresponding FLD increased by 3.8%, while for 3 mm-thick specimens, this increase was 5.2%; by increasing the punch velocity from 20 mm/min to 200 mm/min in the 3 mm-thick sheets, the corresponding FLD increased by 9.3%.

Prediction of load requirement and instabilities during end forming of friction stir processed AA 6063-T6 thin-walled tubes

PurposeThe current work aims to propose a finite element (FE) simulation methodology to predict the formability of friction stir processed (FSPed) tubes by end forming. Moreover, a strain mapping method is also presented to predict the end forming instabilities.Design/methodology/approachIn this work, FE simulation of end forming of raw tubes and FSPed AA6063-T6 tubes are done using Abaqus (explicit) incorporating anisotropic properties of the raw tube and FSPed zone. Actual thickness of the FSPed zone is also implemented. Expansion, reduction and beading are the end forming operations considered. Load requirement and instabilities are predicted. A new method “strain mapping method” is followed to predict the failure instabilities in expansion and beading, while during reduction, wrinkling is predicted by FE simulations. Lab scale experiments on FSP and end forming are done for validation at various rotational speeds.FindingsResults reveal that in the case of expansion and reduction of FSPed tubes, forming load predictions are accurate, while in beading, after initiation of bead, predictions are not accurate. Experimental observation on the type of instability is consistently predicted during numerical simulations. Prediction of displacement at failure by strain mapping method is encouraging in most of the cases including those that are FSPed. Hence, it is suggested that the method can be utilized to evaluate the onset of failure during tube expansion and beading.Originality/valueFE simulation methodology including anisotropic properties of raw tube and FSPed tubes is proposed, which is not attempted until now even for normal tubes. Strain mapping method is easy to implement for instability predictions, which is done usually by failure theories and forming limit diagram.

Prediction of fracture limits of IN625 alloy by coupling ductile damage models and anisotropic yielding functions with the classical Marciniak and Kuczyński model

The fracture forming limit diagram (FFLD) is gaining special attention in high strength materials where the necking tendency rarely occurs during sheet metal forming processes. In the present work, the classical Marciniak and Kuczyński (MK) model has been modified by coupling it with different ductile damage models (Cockcroft and Latham, Brozzo, Oyane, Ko, Oh, Rice and Tracey, McClintock and Clift) and anisotropic yielding functions (Hill 1948 and Barlat 1989) to predict the fracture limits of Inconel 625 (IN625) alloy at different temperatures. Firstly, uniaxial tensile testing has been conducted for the determination of important mechanical properties. Consequently, stretch forming experiments have been performed to analyze the forming limits of a material. It has been found that the safe and fracture forming limits of the material increased by approximately 17.26% and 22.22%, respectively, on increasing the temperature from 300 to 673 K. From the comparative analysis of different combinations of ductile damage models and yielding functions, the Cockcroft and Latham (C-L) damage model in combination with the Barlat 1989 yielding function helped in best predicting the theoretical FFLD as it displayed the least average root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.033. The other ductile damage models used for predicting the theoretical fracture limits displayed large error; hence, they should not be considered while designing a critical component in the manufacturing industry using IN625 alloy.

Formability study of bake hardening steel and its correlation with microstructure

In the present study, the bake hardening (BH 240) steel sheet’s formability behavior is studied experimentally based on the Nakajima test method. A forming limit diagram is successfully constructed using universal sheet metal forming machine by offline measuring the strains of deformed specimens. In-process strain measurement based on a digital image correlation technique is also performed for a few selected samples to compare the results with manual strain measurement techniques. All the deformed specimens are also characterized to correlate the sample geometries with hardness values and microstructure. It is observed that the hardness value gradually decreases with an increase in sample width for all the deformed specimens up to the width of 150 mm, except for full-width sample of 200 mm. Microstructural analysis reveals that the morphology of ferrite grains changes with the sample geometry in all the deformed specimens. Microstructural characterization at the top surface of the specimen demonstrates that the aspect ratio of grains is maximum for a 25 mm width sample due to uni-axial stretching. It is also noted that grain’s aspect ratio is close to one (minimum) for a 200 mm width sample due to almost equi-biaxial elongation in grains. It is also observed that the aspect ratio of grains obtained from specimen cross-section indicates that the ratio increases gradually from 25 to 200 mm width samples.

Characterization of the Formability of High-Purity Polycrystalline Niobium Sheets for SRF Applications

The forming limit diagram of high-purity niobium sheets used for the manufacturing of superconducting radiofrequency (SRF) cavities is presented. The Marciniak (in-plane) test was used with niobium blanks with a thickness of 1 mm and blank carriers of annealed oxygen-free electronic copper. A high formability was measured, with an approximate true major strain at necking for plane-strain of 0.441. The high formability of high-purity niobium is likely caused by its high strain rate sensitivity of 0.112. Plastic strain anisotropies (r-values) of 1.66, 1.00, and 2.30 were measured in the 0°, 45°, and 90° directions. However, stress–strain curves at a nominal strain rate of ~10−3 s−1 showed similar mechanical properties in the three directions. Theoretical calculations of the forming limit curves (FLCs) were conducted using an analytical two-zone model. The obtained results indicate that the anisotropy and strain rate sensitivity of niobium affect its formability. The model was used to investigate the influence of strain rate on strains at necking. The obtained results suggest that the use of high-speed sheet forming should further increase the formability of niobium.

Viscous Backpressure Forming And Feasibility Study of Hemispherical Aluminum Alloy Parts

Hemispherical aluminum alloy parts are extensively used in modern aerospace and other manufacturing fields. However, wrinkling and cracking easily occur due to the large deformation of the parts, which leads to a complicated forming process. This research proposes a viscous backpressure forming method for hemispherical aluminum alloy parts. The forming limit diagram of LF2 sheet is established through the forming limit experiments. By the combination of finite element analysis and experimental verification, the forming process of the parts under different viscous backpressure and loading path conditions as well as the distribution law of stress-strain and wall thickness of the parts, are obtained. By comparing with the forming limit diagrams, technical feasibility of this forming process is discussed. The research results show that qualified parts can be formed using the viscous backpressure forming method under the conditions of viscous backpressure loading throughout the process with the backpressure at or above 12MPa. This provides a reference for the backpressure forming of hemispherical aluminum alloy parts.

An innovation in finite element simulation via crystal plasticity assessment of grain morphology effect on sheet metal formability

Experimental and numerical study regarding the uniaxial tensile test and the forming limit diagram are addressed in this paper for AL2024 with the face-centered cube structure. First, representation of a grain structure can be obtained directly by mapping metallographic observations via scanning electron microscopy approach. Artificial grain microstructures produced by Voronoi Tessellation method are employed in the model using VGRAIN software. By resorting to the finite element software (ABAQUS) capabilities, the constitutive equations of the crystal plasticity were utilized and implemented as a user subroutine material UMAT code. The hardening parameters were calibrated by a trial and error approach in order to fit experimental tensile results with the simulation. Then the effect of the changing grain size, the heterogeneity factor, and the grain aspect ratio were studied for a uniaxial tensile test to emphasize the importance of the microstudy behavior of grains in material behavior. Furthermore, the polycrystal plasticity grain distribution was employed in the Nakazima test in order to obtain the forming limit diagram. The crystal plasticity-driven forming limit diagram reveals more accurate strains, taking into account the involving the micromechanical features of the grains. An innovative approach is pursued in this study to discover the necking angle, both in tensile test or Nakazima samples, showing a good agreement with the experiment results.

Comparative Investigation of the Experimental Determination of AA5086 FLCs under Different Necking Criteria

The construction of a forming limit diagram (FLD) is a conventional approach to obtain limit strains and to evaluate the formability of sheet metal. Appropriate necking criteria should be applied to determine the forming limit curve (FLC) accurately. In recent years, deep research on the determination of the FLC has been carried out; meanwhile, several necking criteria have been proposed. However, the application of inappropriate necking criteria would cause deviations when determining FLCs. In this study, both Marciniak and Nakajima tests were carried out on the AA5086 aluminum sheet to make a comparative investigation of different necking criteria in the determination of FLCs. In the Marciniak test, four existing necking criteria were chosen to construct FLCs, and analyzed in detail. The well-performed time dependent and position dependent methods were selected for the Nakajima test. Meanwhile, the modified Wang method based on the height change of the adjacent points was proposed. The comparative results showed that the time and position dependent methods were relatively conservative in both experiments, while the modified Wang method could identify the onset of localized necking more accurately.