NPTEL - Mechanical Engineering - Forming

1.Formability

1.1 Introduction:
Formability is a term applicable to sheet metal forming. Sheet metal operations such as deep
drawing, cup drawing, bending etc involve extensive tensile deformation. Therefore, the
problems of localized deformation called necking and fracture due to thinning down are
common in many sheet forming operations. Anisotropy also is a major concern in sheet metal
operations. Formability is the ease with which a sheet metal could be formed into the required
shape without undergoing localized necking or thinning or fracture. When a sheet metal is
subjected to plane strain deformation, the critical strain, namely, the strain at which localized
necking or plastic instability occurs can be proved to be equal to 2n, where n is the strain
hardening exponent. For uniaxial tensile loading of a circular rod, the critical or necking strain is
given to be equal to n. Therefore, if the values of n are larger, the necking strain is larger,
indicating that necking is delayed. In some materials diffuse necking could also happen. Simple
uniaxial tensile test is of limited use when we deal with formability of sheet metals. This is due
to the biaxial or triaxial nature of stress acting on the sheet metal during forming operations.
Therefore, specific formability tests have been developed, appropriate for sheet metals.
Loading paths could also change during sheet metal forming. This may be due to tool geometry
or metallographic texture.

1.2 Forming limit diagram(FLD):

Forming limit diagram is a very effective way of optimizing sheet metal forming. A grid of circles
is etched on the surface of a sheet metal. Then the sheet metal is subjected to deformation.
Usually the sheet is deformed by stretching it over a dome shaped die. Strips of different widths
can be taken for the test, in order to induce uniaxial or biaxial stress state. The circles deform
into elliptic shapes. The strain along two principal directions could be expressed as the
percentage change in length of the major and minor axes. The strains as measured near necks
or fracture are the strains for failure. A plot of the major strain versus minor strain is then
made. This plot is called Keeler-Goodwin forming limit diagram. This plot gives the limiting
strains corresponding to safe deformations. The FLD is generally a plot of the combinations of
major and minor strains which lead to fracture. Combination of strains represented above the
limiting curves in the Keeler-Goodwin diagram represent failure, while those below the curves
represent safe deformations.

A typical Keeler-Goodwin diagram is shown below. The safe zone in which no failure is expected
is shown as shaded region. Outside this zone there are different modes of failure represented
at different combinations of strains. The upper part of the safe zone represents necking and
fracture.

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NPTEL - Mechanical Engineering - Forming

Major engineering strain

Local necking

Safe zone

Compressive Tensile
Minor engineering strain

Strains above the curves result in failure.

Major strain

Necking & fracture

Shear

Safe area
Wrinkling

Minor strain

Fig. 1.2.1: Keeler-Goodwin diagram

The slope of the right hand side curve (necking curve) is found to decrease with increasing
values of the strain hardening exponent, n. Similarly, variations in sheet thickness, composition,

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 SHRI GURU GOBIND SINGHJI INSTITUTE OF ENGG & TECHNOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF PRODUCTION ENGINEERING
SUBJECT: MECHANICAL WORKING OF METALS EXPERIMENT NO: 8

AIM: STUDY THE METHODS TO GET FORMING LIMIT DIAGRAM FROM

EXPERIMENTAL DATA.
AIM:Study The Methods To Get Forming Limit Diagram From Experimental Data.
OBJECTIVES:
A forming limit diagram, also known as a forming limit curve, is used in sheet metal forming for
predictingforming behavior of sheet metal.After performing this experiment, the students will be able to:
 Understand the Forming limit Diagram (FLD) and Forming limit curve (FLC).
 Understand the different methods to get Forming limit diagram (FLD).

THEORY:
1) FORMING LIMIT DIAGRAM:
Forming limit diagrams (FLD’s) offer a convenient and useful tool in sheet products manufacturing
analysis. They show the critical combinations of major strain and minor strain in the sheet surface at the onset of
necking failure.Formability in the context of multiple phase operations strongly depends of the deformation
history and thereforedemands an investigation of every particular case. Thismakes the experimental determination
of FLD’s unappreciativeexpensive and causes the necessity to develop an accurateand efficient theoretical method
for formability prediction.
The basic concept of the FLD was first introduced by Keeler and Backofen, who developed the right
hand side of the FLD. Goodwin extended this diagram to the left hand side. Fig. 1 illustrates the FLD which is
divided into two regions separated by a curve, the forming limit curve (FLC). The region below the FLC
corresponds to safe strain states whereas that above the FLC represents failure strain states. Even though the
strain states of the sheet metal forming processes are complex, FLDs are often constructed using tensile and
biaxial stretch tests.
The diagram attempts to provide a graphical description of material failure tests, such as a punched
dome test.In order to determine whether a given region has failed, a mechanical test is performed. The mechanical
test is performed by placing a circular mark on the workpiece prior to deformation, and then measuring the post-
deformation ellipse that is generated from the action on this circle. By repeating the mechanical test to generate a
range of stress states, the formability limit diagram can be generated as a line at which failure is onset.
 FIG.1. FORMING LIMIT DIAGRAM

2) METHODS TO GET FORMING LIMIT DIAGRAM:

As the use of the FLD is widely developed in the sheet metal forming industry, different experimental
methods have been proposed. The various methods to get Forming Limit Diagram (FLD) are:
1. ASTM standard test method.
2. Hydraulicbulgetest method.
3. Mahmudi test method.
4. Marciniak test method.
5. DIC-Grid method.
Among this, the ASTM standard test, has received the greatest attention. In this method, a hemispherical
punch is used to deform a sheet while a lock bead prevents material flowing from outside to inside the die. After
fracture occurs, the length changes of a grid that was printed on the sheet surface are measured. The major and
minor strains located nearest to the fractured line define the FLD at localized necking. By changing the width of
the sheet specimens while maintaining the lengthdifferent strainpathsdefinedby r ¼ de2=de1, canbe investigated.
Thus, mostregionsofinterestintheFLDcanbeobtainedusingone
hemisphericalpunchandonesetoftools.Thistesthasbecome thestandardmethodASTME2218-2 for
determiningFLDs.However, whileASTME2218-2appliestosheetthicknessesranging
from0.5to3.3mm,nostandardmethodshavebeendeveloped forsheetmaterialswiththicknessbelow0.5mm.Inspite
ofthislackofstandards,severalattemptsweremadetodetermine theFLDofsheetmaterialsthinnerthan0.5mm.
Using the hydraulicbulgetest,Diehlet al. obtained theFLDsoffine grained Se–Cu58and 99.5%
purealuminumsheetswith thicknesses aslowas 25mm. Inthismethod,thinsheetsorfoilswere subjected
tobiaxialstretchingusingonecircularand two elliptical shapeddieopenings.Thedifferentaspectratiosofthedie
openings permittedtoobtaindifferentbiaxialstrainstates.
Mahmudi used the same approach for AA8014 aluminum alloy sheetsasthinas 45mm.
FLDsweredeterminedwiththistechnique byothers,evenforsheetmaterialsthickerthan0.5mm.
However,thistestmethodisunabletodeterminethelefthand
sideoftheFLD,includingplanestrain,whichisamajordeficiency.

FIG.2. TOOL GEOMETRY USED IN MARCINAIK TEST

FIG.3. MECHANICS OF THE MARCINIAK TEST

 The Marciniaktestisschematicallyillustrated in Fig 2. When aspecimenblankformeddirectlyovera punch
circumferential fractureoccursalongthepunchshoulder.Thiscanbe eliminated
withtheuseofawasher.Inaddition,theholeinthe center ofthewasherassuresfreeexpansionofthespecimen blank.
Thisconditioninducesfractureofthespecimenblankinits central area.Thiscanbeclearlyunderstoodbyanalyzingthe
material flowdepicted in Fig 3. Asthepunchmovesup,thetwo sheet materialswillflowin
theoutwarddirections.Inthistest, lubricant isappliedonlybetweenthepunchandthewasher,but not
betweenthewasherandthespecimenblank.Therefore,the outward
flowofthewasherproducesanadditionalfrictionforce to thespecimenblank.Thisleadstostrainconcentrationand
ultimate fractureinthecenterregionofthespecimenblanknotin contact
withthewasher.Therecessedareainthecentralportion of thepunchassiststheminimizationoffrictionbetweenthe punch
andthewasher.Inthistest,inordertoconductsuccessful tests, thewashermustexhibithigherformabilitythanthe
specimen blank,andthediameteroftheholemustbeselected properly. When
thistestwasconductedforthefirsttimebyMarciniak and Kuczyn´ ski, thewasherdidnothaveahole.Thistestwas
markedly improvedwiththeintroductionofacircularholeinthe washer
toallowfreeexpansionofthespecimenblankandtheuse of twoellipticalpuncheswithdifferentaspectratiostoenable
different strain paths. Insubsequentdecades,several researchers usedtheMarciniaktestwithsignificant
modifications.
Tadrosand Mellor conducted themodifiedMarciniak tests todeterminetherighthandsideoftheFLDforsteel,
aluminum alloyandbrass,andalsotoinvestigatetheinfluence of
thesurfaceroughnessdevelopmentontheFLC.KleemolaandKumpulainendeterminedtheentirerangeoftheFLD using
sheetstripshavingdifferentwidthstoobtaindifferent strain pathsasintheASTMstandardtest.Therewereother proposals
forfurthermodifications,albeitofminor nature. TheMarciniaktestwasalsousedtodetermine the
FLDofamagnesiumalloyathigh temperature. Thisstudy showed thattheflatsurfaceintheMarciniaktestleadstoa
uniform temperaturedistributioninthespecimen.
A new method for determining the forming limit diagram(FLD) of thin sheet metals, called DIC-Grid
method, is proposed basedon digital image correlation (DIC) technique. It's assumed that thereexists one virtual
grid with an initial diameter of 2.5mm, which isusually the same dimension as the grid in traditional circular
gridanalysis, close to the crack of specimen, and the limit strain point onFLD is determined by the deformation of
this virtual grid. The DIC-Gridmethod has been compared with traditional circular grid analysis andthe standard
ISO/FDIS 12004-2 in Nakajima tests. The results showthat the forming limit strains obtained by the newly
proposed methodare more stable and precise. Furthermore, DIC-Grid method can avoidthe measurement error
which exists in the circular grid analysis. Meanwhile, it overcomes the shortcomings of time-consuming data
processing and non-applicable for unrealistic strain distribution in the method of ISO standard. In addition, the
effect of the ratio betweenDIC frame rate and the punch velocity on the determination of forming limit strains is
studied, and the minimum value of this ratio is suggested.

CONCLUSION:
In this way, we have studied the different methods to get the Forming limit diagram (FLD).

REVIEW QUESTIONS:
1. What is Forming Limit Diagram (FLD)?
2. What is Forming Limit Curve (FLC)?
3. What is the significance of FLD in sheet-metal?