Mineo Asano

Effect of copper content on the bendability of Al-Mg-Si alloy sheet

The effects of the copper content on the bendability of Al-Mg-Si alloy T4 sheets were investigated. The Al-Mg-Si alloys with less than 0.01mass%Cu, 0.4mass%Cu and 0.8mass%Cu were prepared, and the time of solution heat treatment was changed to obtain different dispersion conditions of the second phase particles and to obtain different shear band formation conditions by bending. For the samples with less than 0.01mass%Cu and 0.4mass%Cu, no cracks were observed during the bending. For the sample with 0.8mass%Cu, the maximum depth of the crack by bending increased with the time of solution heat treatment up to 75 seconds, and then decreased over 75 seconds. The second phase particles decreased by increasing the solution heat treatment time, while the formation of shear bands by bending increased by increasing the solution heat treatment time and the copper content. The cause of the occurrence and the propagation of cracks by bending are considered to be the combined effect of the shear band formation across some grains and the micro-voids formed around the second phase particles. Improving of the bendability requires a decrease in the size and number of the second phase particles and/or reduced shear band formation during the bending.

Influence of Iron Content on the Mechanical Properties of AA6016 Alloy Sheet

The influence of the iron content from 0.1 to 1.0 mass% on the mechanical properties of AA6016-T4 sheets was investigated. The amount of the Al-Fe-Si second phase particles increased with the iron content, thus the solute silicon atoms decreased. Increasing of the Al-Fe-Si particles lowers the bendability, while decreasing of the solute silicon atoms lowers the paint bake response (PBR) and improves the bendability. The bendability of the samples then became the worst at the 0.5 mass% iron content, while it at 0.8 and 1.0 mass% became better or the same as that at 0.5 mass%. The increasing of the silicon content in the 1.0 mass% iron content alloy improved the PBR and lowered the bendability.

High strain rate superplastic forming of a new Al-Mg alloy

A new Al-Mg alloy, SX01 designated by Sumitomo Light Metal, for high strain rate superplastic forming (SPF) has been developed. The elongation of this alloy indicates more than 300 % at a strain rate of 10 to 10 -2 s -1 The strain rate is the 10 to 100 times of the conventional one for SPF. A SPF using the new alloy can be completed within a few minutes. Cavitation is one of problems on the conventional alloys. Cavity volume fraction after SPF of the new alloy is marvelously lower than that of the conventional alloys. The products using the new alloy would be made in less time and with lower cavity volume fraction compared with conventional alloys.

Effect of Micro-Voids on Crack Initiation and Propagation in Bending Deformation of Al-Mg-Si Alloy Sheet

The crack initiation and propagation during bending have been considered to be affected by second phase particles, micro-voids and shear-bands. However, the effects of the second phase particles and the micro-voids on the crack initiation and propagation during bending have not been fully investigation. In this study, the effect of the second phase particle distribution on the formation of micro-voids, and the effect of the micro-voids on the crack initiation and propagation during bending were investigated using the largest synchrotron radiation facility “SPring-8” and FE-SEM/EBSD. With the bending ratio increasing, the micro-voids increased around the coarse particles near the outer surface. In particular, coarse micro-voids were formed around coarse particles with a high aspect ratio on the shear-bands. At a large cracked part, coarse micro-void was observed at the outmost layer section as a crack initiation site, and coarse micro-voids and asheared fracture surface were observed at the crack propagation site. At the small cracked part with no propagation, cube orientation grains were located under the small crack. It was considered that these cube orientation grains inhibited the formation of shear-bands, therefore, propagation of the cracks did not occur at the small cracked area.

Biaxial Work Hardening Characteristics of 6000 Series Aluminum Alloy Sheet for Large Strain Range

Deformation behavior of 0.9-mm-thick 6016-T4 aluminum alloy sheet with a high intensity of the cube orientation under biaxial tension was investigated. First, many linear stress paths in the first quadrant of stress space were applied to cruciform specimens to precisely measure the deformation behavior of the test material up to an equivalent strain of 0.04. True stress-true plastic strain curves, contours of plastic work in stress space and the directions of plastic strain rates were measured and compared with those calculated using selected yield functions. Second, in an effort to observe the plastic deformation behavior of the sample up to much larger strains over 0.1, the sample was bent and YAG-laser welded to fabricate tubular specimens with an inner diameter of 44.6mm. Using a servo-controlled tension-internal pressure testing machine, plane strain tension tests were performed. Hydraulic bulge test was also performed. The material exhibits significant differential work hardening; the Yld2000-2d yield functions with exponents of 6, 12 and 32 had the best agreement with the experimental work contours for the equivalent plastic strains of 0.002, 0.04 and 0.14, respectively.Copyright

Material Modeling of 6000 Series Aluminum Alloy Sheets with Different Density Cube Textures and Effect on the Accuracy of Finite Element Simulation

Biaxial tensile tests of 6000 series aluminum alloy sheet with different density cube textures were carried out using cruciform specimens similar to that developed by one of the authors [Kuwabara, T. et al., J. Material Process. Technol., 80/81(1998), 517–523.]. The specimens are loaded under linear stress paths in a servo‐controlled biaxial tensile testing machine. Plastic orthotropy remained coaxial with the principal stresses throughout every experiment. Successive contours of plastic work in stress space and the directions of plastic strain rates were precisely measured and compared with those calculated using selected yield functions. The Yld2000‐2d yield functions with exponents of 12 and 6 [Barlat, F. et al., Int. J. Plasticity 19 (2003), 1297–1319] are capable of reproducing the general trends of the work contours and the directions of plastic strain rates observed for test materials with high and low cube textures, respectively. Hydraulic bulge tests were also conducted and the variation of thick...

Effect of Heat Treatment Conditions on the Elongation of AA1200 Alloy Sheets

It has been reported that the elongation of the AA1050-H26 sheet annealed at 200°C is lower than that of the AA1050-H18 sheet. In this study, the effect of the annealing time at 250°C on the elongation of AA1200 alloy sheets was investigated, and the cause of the low elongation was discussed by observing the change in the microstructures before and after tensile deformation. The elongation of the samples annealed at 250°C for less than 50 min was below 1%, and this elongation was lower than the elongation of the as-rolled and annealed ones at 250°C for more than 150 min. In the samples annealed for a short time, the subgrains with diameters of 0.5~2μm formed, and Fe and Si, which were a solid solution, became segregated at the sub-boundaries. These samples were locally deformed in a stress concentrated area during the tensile deformation, and there was no significant increase in the dislocation density near the fracture part after the deformation. The cause of the low elongation was considered to be due to the dynamic recovery that locally occurred in a stress concentrated area during the tensile deformation, because dislocations introduced into the subgrains by the deformation easily moved to the sub-boundaries due to the low solute levels within the subgrains.

Effect of Aging Precipitates on the Bendability of an Al-Mg-Si Alloy

Al-Mg-Si alloys are usually applied a T4 temper as the plate material for automobile bodies due to the necessity of a high bake hardening property. Many reports about the improvement in the bendability of Al-Mg-Si alloys applied a T4 temper have been published, because they easily crack during the hemming process. On the other hand, Al-Mg-Si alloys applied T6 and T7 tempers are used as the material of wiring plates and heat radiation devices. A high electrical conductivity and good bendability are necessary for these devices. In this study, the effect of the aging conditions on the bendability was investigated. As a result, the bendability at the T6 temper significantly decreased. The bendability under the aging temper, and over the aging temper was better than that at the T6 temper. Samples treated by natural-aging at high temperature before the T6 temper easily cracked during the bending test. It was postulated that the formation of shear bands was significant and the bendability decreased during the bending test under the high density and fine β phase precipitate conditions.

Characteristics of the aluminum alloy sheets for forming and application examples

In this paper, the characteristics and application examples of aluminum alloy sheets developed for automotive parts by Sumitomo Light Metal are described. For the automotive closure panels (ex., hood, back-door), an Al-Mg-Si alloy sheet having an excellent hemming performance was developed. The cause of the occurrence and the propagation of cracks by bending were considered to be the combined effect of the shear bands formed across several crystal grains and the micro-voids formed around the second phase particles. By reducing the shear band formation during bending by controlling the crystallographic texture, the Al-Mg-Si alloy sheets showed an excellent hemming performance. For the automotive outer panels (ex., roof, fender, trunk-lid), an Al-Mg alloy sheet, which has both a good hot blow formability and excellent surface appearance after hot blow forming was developed, and hot blow forming technology was put to practical use using this developed Al-Mg alloy sheet. For automotive heat insulators, a high...