Springback behavior and a new chord modulus model of copper alloy during severe plastic compressive deformation

Abstract

Abstract The copper alloy in the unloading process after severe plastic compressive deformation (SPCD) exhibits obvious nonlinear stress-strain relationship and hysteresis behavior, and generates severe springback deformation. The severe strain hardening and softening effects occurring in the SPCD and the anisotropy of the material will affect the springback behavior of the material. In this paper, the samples obtained along the different directions (rolling direction, short-thickness direction, transverse direction, and 45° direction) of copper alloy hot-rolled plates were used to perform the quasi-static single pass compression tests with different deformation ratios (0.25 %–90 %). The springback behavior of the copper alloy under the SPCD was investigated. The effects of the strain hardening, strain softening and anisotropy on the springback behavior of the material were revealed. The variation relationships of the instantaneous tangent modulus and the chord modulus in unloading with stress and strain at different deformation stages (elastic stage, yield stage, strain hardening stage, and strain softening stage) were analyzed. A new chord modulus in a power exponential form was proposed. According to the unloading characteristic of the SPCD, the Yoshida-Uemori chord modulus model and the QPE model were modified. The applicability and accuracy of the unloading chord modulus models for the SPCD were evaluated and compared by using the power exponential chord modulus model, the modified QPE chord modulus model, the modified Yoshida-Uemori chord modulus model, and the Yoshida-Uemori chord modulus model, respectively. Besides, based on the proposed chord modulus model in a power exponential form, a 1-D E T model in a power exponential form was also proposed to describe the nonlinear unloading process and the variation of the slope of the unloading curves after the SPCD. The results indicated that the springback behavior of SPCD is obviously different from those of small plastic compressive deformation and elastic compressive deformation. The proposed chord modulus model in a power exponential form can accurately predict the chord modulus and springback strain in the unloading after the SPCD.