J. Coër

Benchmark 3 - springback of an Al-Mg alloy in warm forming conditions

Accurate prediction of springback is a long-standing challenge in the field of warm forming of aluminium sheets. The objective of this benchmark is to predict the effect of temperature on the springback process through the use of the split-ring test [1] with an Al-Mg alloy. This test consists in determining the residual stress state by measuring the opening of a ring cut from the sidewall of a formed cylindrical cup. Cylindrical cups are drawn with a heated die and blank-holder at temperatures of 20, 150 and 240°C. The force-displacement response during the forming process, the thickness and the earing profiles of the cup as well as the ring opening and the temperature of the blank are used to evaluate numerical predictions submitted by the benchmark participants. Problem description, material properties, and simulation reports with experimental data are summarized.

Mechanical Behaviour and Springback Study of an Aluminium Alloy in Warm Forming Conditions

This study deals with the mechanical behaviour and material modelling of an AA5754-O alloy at elevated temperature. Experimental shear tests were performed from room temperature up to 200°C, and the material behaviour has been identified with both shear and tensile tests, as a function of temperature. To analyse the influence of temperature during forming over springback, a split-ring test is used. Experimental results are obtained and compared to numerical simulations performed with the finite element in-house code DD3IMP. The numerical process of ring splitting is performed with the in-house code DD3TRIM. The main observed data are force-displacement curves of the punch during forming, cup thickness at the end of forming, and ring gap after splitting. It is shown that all these parameters are strongly dependent on the forming temperature. A correlation is obtained between experimental data and numerical simulation for the evolution of punch force and opening after springback as a function of temperature. The distribution of the tangential stress in the cup wall is the main factor influencing the springback mechanism in warm forming condition.

Sensitivity Analysis of Process Parameters in the Drawing and Ironing Processes

Deep drawing is one of the most important operations used in sheet metal forming. Within this, forming of cylindrical cup is one of the most widely studied deep drawing processes since it allows analysing the effect of different process parameters in phenomena such as earing, springback and ironing. In fact, during the deep drawing of a cylindrical cup the blank thickness gradually increases as the blank outer diameter is reduced to the die inner diameter, resulting in a thickness increase from a point near the bottom radius until the maximum value at the top of the cup. Therefore, if the gap between the punch and the die is not sufficiently large to allow the blank material to flow, ironing of the cup wall will occur. The ironing process typically imposes high contact forces, normal to the surface of the punch and the die, which can lead to the occurrence of galling, particularly for aluminium alloys. In this work an experimental device, adopted in previous studies, was used to analyse the influence of the lubricant conditions in the deep drawing of a cylindrical cup. The study considers an AA5754-O aluminium alloy blank with a diameter of 60 mm, which is fully deep drawn with a 33 mm diameter punch. Due to the forming conditions, the cup is deep drawn and ironing of the cup wall also occurs. The experimental tests were performed considering different amounts of lubricant in the blank surfaces in the contact with the die and with the blank-holder in order to better understand the influence of these tools on the process. The experimental study was complemented with numerical simulations, exploring the conditions induced by the ironing operation, quite challenging for the numerical simulation of the process using the finite element method. Besides the influence of the contact with friction conditions in the forming process (i.e. punch force evolution, thickness distribution along the cup wall and contact pressure), the influence of the die shoulder and inner radius were also analysed.

Simulations of joule effect heating in a bulge test

This work focuses on the integration of an electrical conduction heating of circular blank in a bulge test device. This device will be used to characterize the thermomechanical behaviour of Usibor®1500 under biaxial deformation at very high temperature (to 930°C). First a thermoelectric model using COMSOL Multiphysics® was developed to study the heating of a rectangular blank. This model is validated by comparing the calculated temperatures with thermocouples measurements. Secondly electrical field optimization is approached to obtain a fast and uniform heating of a circular blank.

Influence of prestrain on the occurrence of PLC effect in an Al-Mg alloy

In the present work, the jerky flow in an Al-Mg alloy during simple shear tests for various strain paths and temperatures is studied. Direct observations of the sample surface using digital image correlation is used to investigate the type and the dynamics of Portevin-Le Châtelier (PLC) bands as a function of shear strain and temperature. The influence of strain path changes on the occurrence of PLC effect is evidenced through cyclic shear tests, composed of a loading up to several values of the shear strain followed by a reloading in the opposite direction. It is shown that the occurrence of PLC effect modifies the transient behavior after strain path changes.