Int J Adv Manuf Technol
DOI 10.1007/s00170-016-9221-0
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Springback behavior of AA6061 with non-uniform thickness
section using Taguchi Method
M. F. Adnan 1 & A. B. Abdullah 1 & Z. Samad 1
Received: 1 April 2016 / Accepted: 25 July 2016
# Springer-Verlag London 2016
Abstract Establishing a non-uniform thickness section is
considered one of the most effective approaches to reduce
automotive part weight. Low weight results in low fuel
consumption, which is good for the environment.
Thickness is the most significant parameter to formability;
therefore, forming a section with non-uniform thickness
becomes a great challenge. An incorrect decision may
result in a severe defect, and one of the main concerns
is springback. This study focuses on the springback be-
havior of AA6061 strip with non-uniform thickness using
the Taguchi method. Three parameters (i.e., thickness ra-
tio, bend angle, and alignment) are studied, and results
determine that the most significant parameter is bend an-
gle, followed by thickness ratio, and then by the align-
ment of the specimen during the bending process.
Keywords Weight reduction . Non-uniform thickness .
Springback . Taguchi method
1 Introduction
The application of lightweight construction is one of the
central challenges in modern transportation engineering.
* A. B. Abdullah
mebaha@usm.my
1
School of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300
Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
Lightweight construction is optimal if materials are used
only in component areas where stresses appear and if the
material used is charged near yield stress [1]. Lightweight
components are separated into two types. First, light-
weight construction deals with the use of light materials.
In this approach, the use of light materials will reduce the
total component weight. Second, lightweight construction
deals with different design strategies, including the pro-
cess of forming components [2]. Formability of a material
depends on many factors, including thickness, properties
of a material, and complexity of the formed part. These
factors may initiate defects, such as springback, which
lead to increased part rejection.
Many studies on springback problem for uniform section
have been conducted. However, studies that involve thickness
changes (non-uniform section) remain lacking. Springback
may be predicted and controlled by understanding the effect
of thickness, variation of thickness, and other process param-
eters of springback behavior. This study focuses on the effect
of the process parameters to the springback pattern via the v-
bending method using the Taguchi method.
2 Literature review
At present, 96 % of the transportation systems in the world
depend on petroleum-based fuels and products, with the
global transportation system accounting for approximately
40 % of the global oil consumption of nearly 75 million
barrels of oil per day [3]. Given the limited energy re-
sources, the need for alternatives to reduce energy con-
sumption has gained significant attention in recent years.
Vehicle weight and size reduction is one of the most

Fig. 1 Classification of tailored
blanks [13]
effective approaches that can reduce fuel consumption.
Inertial forces, which an engine must overcome as a vehi-
cle accelerates, are reduced by reducing the mass of a ve-
hicle; thus, the work required to move the vehicle is re-
duced. Joost stated that more than 85 % of the energy in
fuel is lost to thermal and mechanical inefficiency, whereas
the remaining 12–15 % is used to overcome tractive force,
which includes the effect of vehicle weight [4].
Ghassemieh agreed with this discovery by stating that
weight reduction remains the most cost-effective means
to reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gases from
the transportation sector [5]. He estimated that fuel econo-
my improves by 7 % for every 10 % of weight eliminated
from the total weight of a vehicle. Several major studies
and some automakers or car manufacturers announced
plans that indicate that mass-reduction technology with
minimal additional manufacturing cost can achieve up to
20 % reduction in the mass of new vehicles in the 2015–
2020 time frame [6]. The mass-reduction techniques can be
observed through historical trends in vehicle design, new
vehicle designs, and concepts for future model redesign.
Mass reduction occurs gradually, for example, reducing
the mass of a vehicle piece by piece or through a funda-
mental whole-vehicle redesign [7].
Fig. 2 Sheet with the constant
thickness compared with the TRB
with the optimized thickness
distribution [18]
Int J Adv Manuf Technol
In recent years, efforts to improve the sheet metal
manufacturing process and forming capability have been
made using various tools for example [8–10]; however,
many have failed to produce complex shapes without de-
fects. The use of semi-finished products, namely, tailored
blanks, has become increasingly popular for manufac-
turers to overcome these challenges. Merklein and Opel
[11] stated that tailored blanks provide a weight reduction
potential of 20–34 %. A tailored blank is a collection of
semi-finished sheet products characterized by a local var-
iation of thickness, sheet material, coating, and material
properties. Merklein [12] determined that tailored blanks
can be divided into four subgroups, namely, tailor-welded
blanks (TWBs), patchwork blanks, tailor heat-treated
blanks (TTHBs), and tailor-rolled blanks (TRBs), which
are shown in Fig. 1. The advantages of patchwork blanks
include increased fitting accuracy between two sheets and
the ability of the small areas of the blanks to be reinforced
[13].
TWBs can be described as blanks with similar or dis-
similar thicknesses, materials, or coatings welded in a sin-
gle plane before forming. Formability characteristics of
TWBs are affected by weld condition, such as weld prop-
erties, weld orientation and location, thickness difference,
Int J Adv Manuf Technol
Fig. 3 Schematic illustration of
some common springback modes
in automotive part. a Flange/wall
angle change. b Sidewall curl. c
Twist springback (The dark line
represents the shape after
springback and the light line is the
design intent [22]
and strength difference among sheets [14]. TWBs are
mostly used with complex designs to minimize weight
and to optimize engineering properties. Patchwork blanks
involve a process in which the welded blanks of one or
more pieces of reinforcing sheet metals (patches) are lap
welded onto the main sheet [15]. TTHBs are sheets that
exhibit locally different material properties. Local heat
treatment is used to change the properties, and the main
objective is to improve the formability of products. In
some cases, the forming process of tailored blanks is more
difficult than that of conventional blanks because of inho-
mogeneous thickness or strength distribution [13]. TRBs
are sheets with a continuous thickness transition. Zhang
[16] prepared the TRB with the desired thickness in differ-
ent rolling directions and through roll gap adjustment. The
TRB process is suitable for blanks that have an optimal
thickness distribution, particularly if several thicknesses
in a portion require high strength [17]. Meyer et al. [18]
determined that unlike blanks with constant thickness,
TRBs can achieve maximum depth in the deep drawing
process. The TRB process in the industry usually sets the
Table 1 Springback parameter and their levels
Factor Parameters Unit Level 1
A Thickness ratio – 1
(3.00 mm)
B Stroke (bend angle) mm 3 5
C Alignment mm 7 8
maximum sheet thickness of the TRB equal to the strength
of the constant thickness, which can be seen in Fig. 2.
Springback is one of the major geometrical variation
issues in metal forming. For example, in the manufactur-
ing process of the inner and outer panels of automobiles,
springback can strongly affect the quality of final
stamping and subsequent assembly process [19].
Springback is a common phenomenon in sheet metal
forming, and it is mainly caused by elastic recovery and
redistribution of internal stress during the unloading pro-
cess [20]. Several studies were conducted, and various
approaches were developed to solve this problem.
Yoshida [21] classified springback into three modes:
flange/wall angel change, sidewall curl, and twist.
Eggertsen et al. [22] represented these springback modes
in automotive parts, as illustrated in Fig. 3. The flange
drawing process is widely used to construct flanges from
the sheet metal blank using a die, a punch, and a blank
holder. Lee et al. [23] discovered that flanged springback
occurs when the flanged section formed is not parallel
with the original blank. Twist springback is caused by
Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5 Level 6
0.923 0.902 0.881 0.859 0.838
(2.80 mm) (2.70 mm) (2.65 mm) (2.60 mm) (2.45 mm)
7 – – –
9 – – –
 Int J Adv Manuf Technol

Table 2 Experimental layout based on an L18 orthogonal array rotations of two cross sections along their axes [24]. Li
Experiment Parameters Parameter et al. [25] reported that twist springback can be described
number setting in terms of the rotation between two different cross sec-
Thickness Alignment Stroke (bend tions along the axes. From the mechanical point of view,
ratio (A) (B) angle) (C) twist springback is a result of torsional moments in the
1 2.45 7 3 A1B1C1
cross section of a workpiece. In recent years, the majority
(level 1) (level 1) (level 1) of automotive manufacturers have preferred AA6061,
2 2.45 8 5 A1B2C2 which exhibits high strength-to-weight ratio, high stiff-
(level 1) (level 2) (level 2)
3 2.45 9 7 A1B3C3
ness [26], and good formability [27]. Aluminum alloy
(level 1) (level 3) (level 3) has a wide application in automotive industries, for exam-
4 2.6 7 3 A2B1C1 ple, in the B-pillar external skin and the inner door panel
(level 2) (level 1) (level 1)
for the Volkswagen Golf V [27].
5 2.6 8 5 A2B2C2
(level 2) (level 2) (level 2)
6 2.6 9 7 A2B3C3
(level 2) (level 3) (level 3)
7 2.65 7 5 A3B1C2
(level 3) (level 1) (level 2) 3 Methodology
8 2.65 8 7 A3B2C3
(level 3) (level 2) (level 3) 3.1 Optimization of springback parameters
9 2.65 9 3 A3B3C1
(level 3) (level 3) (level 1)
using the Taguchi method
10 2.7 7 7 A4B1C3
(level 4) (level 1) (level 3) Traditional experimental design procedures are complicat-
11 2.7 8 3 A4B2C1
(level 4) (level 2) (level 1)
ed, time consuming, and costly. The traditional trial-and-
12 2.7 9 5 A4B3C2 error method fails to provide an overall planning for the
(level 4) (level 3) (level 2) parameters. In general, a large number of experimental
13 2.8 7 5 A5B1C2 works must be conducted when the number of process
(level 5) (level 1) (level 2)
14 2.8 8 7 A5B2C3 parameters increases. The Taguchi method is used as a
(level 5) (level 2) (level 3) tool in designing experiments to avoid the need to con-
15 2.8 9 3 A5B3C1 duct numerous experiments. The quality engineering
(level 5) (level 3) (level 1)
16 3 7 7 A6B1C3 method proposed by Taguchi is commonly known as the
(level 6) (level 1) (level 3) Taguchi method or the Taguchi approach. The modified
17 3 8 3 A6B2C1 and standardized form of design of experiment (DOE) is
(level 6) (level 2) (level 1)
18 3 9 5 A6B3C2 used to provide a new experimental strategy. The Taguchi
(level 6) (level 3) (level 2) method is useful to study economically the effect of many
factors (variables) on the desired quality characteristics
[28]. The Taguchi design experiment uses particularly
torsion moments within the cross section of the work- constructed tables known as orthogonal array (OA). OA
piece, and the logical consequence includes different can be used with useful statistic information and reliable

Fig. 4 Illustration of B-pillar

component. a B-pillar parts. b
Portion of B-pillar with various
thicknesses [26]
Int J Adv Manuf Technol
Fig. 5 Aluminum strip for non-uniform profile (tapered shaped)
factorial effects [29]. These factorial effects are different
from full factorial experiment, which requires numerous
experiments when the number of parameters increases.
OA makes the DOE easy and consistent, and it requires
few experimental trials to study an entire experiment
space. Optimization in time, cost, and labor can be
achieved.
3.1.1 Selection of springback parameters and their levels
Six sets of specimens with different thickness ratios are
listed in Table 1. In this study, thickness ratio is defined as
the ratio of minimum thickness to maximum thickness.
The feasible space for the experiment parameters is de-
fined by varying the thickness from 2.45 to 3 mm, the
alignment of the puncher from 7 to 9 mm, and the punch
stroke from 3 to 7 mm. The majority of these ranges are
Punch Holder
Punch Plat
Punch
Die
Die Plat
Die Shoe
Fig. 6 Die setup for the preparation of the specimen
selected in light of the data available in the literature and
previous research. Six levels of the first parameter and
three levels each of the other two parameters are selected,
as shown in Table 1.
3.1.2 Selection of the OA
The selection of an appropriate OA depends on the num-
ber of parameters and levels involved. The total number
of degrees of freedom (DOF) plays an important role in
the OA selection process. DOF is the number of compar-
isons among process parameters that must be made to
define which level is good and to determine how efficient
it is. In this study, the DOF is equal to 17 because each
parameter has three levels, except for thickness ratio,
which has six levels. In general, the DOF of OA should
be greater than or at least equal to that of the process
parameters. In this study, an L18 (61 × 32) OA with three
columns and 18 rows is appropriate. The experimental
layout for springback parameters using L18 OA is shown
in Table 2. Each row of this table represents an experi-
ment with different combinations of parameters and their
levels (Fig. 4).
3.2 Specimen preparation for the experiment setup
For this experiment, aluminum strip, which has various
thicknesses, must be formed into a non-uniform profile
(tapered shape), as shown in Fig. 5. The data are sum-
marized in Table 1. For the deformation, the die and
puncher are made from D2 steel material, and the pro-
cess is performed using 100 t mechanical press forging
machines, as shown in Fig. 6. Then, the material is cut to
the desired dimension using an EDM wire cutting machine.
The preparation of specimens begins with reducing the
 Int J Adv Manuf Technol

Fig. 7 a Aluminum strip before

deformation and b aluminum strip
after cutting with dimension of
20 mm × 50 mm

a b

angle, thickness ratio, and alignment of the workpiece

Table 3 Aluminum strip data during the experiment. Alignment can be described as
Set Length (mm) Wide (mm) Minimum Thickness ratio the point where the punch is located in the specimen dur-
thickness (mm) ing the bending process. Rax Vision Mitutoyo Profile
Projector (PC 3000) is used to measure the springback.
1. 50 20 3.00 1.000 Two-line technique is applied to measure angles. The two-
2. 50 20 2.80 0.923 line technique requires two points for each line. Then, the
3. 50 20 2.70 0.902 profile projector calculates the angle between the two
4. 50 20 2.65 0.881 lines. In the measurement of the angle after loading, the
5. 50 20 2.60 0.859 die valley radius, punch radius, and the die opening are
6. 50 20 2.45 0.838 constant at 90°, 2 mm, and 32 mm, respectively, as shown
in Fig. 8a. The die radius and punch radius are presum-
ably equal in this study. The definition of stroke (bend
thickness of the aluminum strip, which has dimensions of
angle) can be explained using Fig. 9a, b. These selected
65 × 80 mm × 3 mm (width × length × thickness), as shown in
parameters are critical in the forming process itself. For
Fig. 7a. The aluminum strip is cut into the desired dimensions
example, the bent product has a specific bend angle, and
of 50 mm × 20 mm. Six sets of specimens with different thick-
the quality of the product is measured on the basis of the
ness ratios are listed in Table 3.
angle of the bend of the wall. The alignment is the loca-
tion where bending occurs. This parameter is crucial be-
3.3 Experiment setup cause the product has a particular bending location. The
experiment is conducted at room temperature at a constant
The experiment is performed, and the springback pattern speed of 5 mm/s with thin common engine oil as a
is measured only on the basis of the variation of bend lubricant.

Fig. 8 a V-bending bottom die. b

V-bending experimental setup
Int J Adv Manuf Technol

Fig. 9 The definition of the

V-bending process. a initial and b
end

4 Result and discussion from the slope of the graph. The result shows that the
required stress increases with the decrease of the n value.
4.1 V-bending experiment The results nearly coincided with those obtained by
Dwivedi et al. [32].
The amount of springback is defined as the difference
between the angle after loading and that after unloading.
In this case, stroke values play an important role in Table 4 Experimental result for v-bending on an L18 orthogonal array
springback measurement after the loading condition. Experiment Parameters Average
Many researchers studied the effect of process parameters, number springback %
including bending angle, material thickness, punch radius, Thickness Alignment Stroke (bend
ratio (A) (B) angle) (C)
and punch height, in the v-bending process [30].
However, the majority of these process parameters were 1 2.45 7 3 2.53153
studied on materials with uniform thickness. The effect of (level 1) (level 1) (level 1)
the process parameters in the V-bending process on the 2 2.45 8 5 1.90258
(level 1) (level 2) (level 2)
non-uniform thickness of a material is rarely investigated.
3 2.45 9 7 0.0000
In the v-bending experiment, observations are made at (level 1) (level 3) (level 3)
different strokes. The bend radius is 10°, 17°, and 24° at 4 2.6 7 3 2.84597
3, 5, and 7 mm stroke, respectively. The maximum stress (level 2) (level 1) (level 1)
5 2.6 8 5 1.75931
is approximately 700 MPa. The average springback is
(level 2) (level 2) (level 2)
obtained after the v-bending test is conducted for all spec- 6 2.6 9 7 0.16430
imens. Each specimen represents an experiment in the OA (level 2) (level 3) (level 3)
in Table 2. The results of this experiment are summarized 7 2.65 7 5 1.76588
(level 3) (level 1) (level 2)
in Table 4. Figure 10 shows the stress–strain behavior of
8 2.65 8 7 0.01341
the material for the maximum stroke of 7 mm. Strain (level 3) (level 2) (level 3)
hardening (also called work hardening or cold working) 9 2.65 9 3 2.51948
is the process of hardening and strengthening a metal (level 3) (level 3) (level 1)
10 2.7 7 7 0.09852
through plastic deformation. Selvakumar et al. [31] dis-
(level 4) (level 1) (level 3)
covered that in cold working, the material experiences the 11 2.7 8 3 2.01881
usual strain or work hardening characteristics and geomet- (level 4) (level 2) (level 1)
rical work hardening. This scenario explains why the flow 12 2.7 9 5 1.20743
(level 4) (level 3) (level 2)
stress increases with the increase of the axial strain
13 2.8 7 5 1.13113
amount. Strain hardening increases the hardness of the (level 5) (level 1) (level 2)
section with a minimum thickness. Figure 11 shows the 14 2.8 8 7 0.15014
relation between the thickness of a workpiece and Vickers (level 5) (level 2) (level 3)
15 2.8 9 3 2.03866
hardness pattern. The average values are obtained from
(level 5) (level 3) (level 1)
five readings at the same location. Strain also plays a 16 3 7 7 0.01359
significant role in the occurrence of springback; increased (level 6) (level 1) (level 3)
strain hardening increases the springback. Figure 12 17 3 8 3 2.10824
(level 6) (level 2) (level 1)
shows the strain–stress relationship for different values
18 3 9 5 1.10433
of strain hardening index (n). The observation is then (level 6) (level 3) (level 2)
converted into logarithm scale. The n values are obtained
 Int J Adv Manuf Technol

Fig. 10 The stress strain Stress Strain Behaviour

behavior of the material 800
700
600

Stress, MPa
500 Bend point
400
300
200
100
0
-100 0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.12 0.14
Strain

Fig. 11 The relation of thickness

vs. Vickers hardness number

124
Vickers hardness, HV

122

120

118

116

114
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Specimen Longitudinal Length, mm

4.1.1 Regression analysis for the springback percentage. The correlation between
factors (i.e., thickness ratio, punch alignment, and bend
The thickness ratio, punch alignment, and bend angle angle) and response (i.e., springback percentage) was
were considered to develop the mathematical models obtained via multiple linear regressions. The statistical

Fig. 12 Stress vs. strain for 750

different thicknesses taking n as
parameter
700
Stress, Mpa

650
n: 0.198, T.Rao: 0.838
n: 0.2158, T.Rao: 0.859
600
n: 0.2284, T.Rao: 0.881
n: 0.1935, T.Rao: 0.902
550 n: 0.2169, T.Rao: 0.923
n: 0.2297, T.Rao: 1
500
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.12 0.14
Strain
Int J Adv Manuf Technol

software Minitab was used to derive the regression Table 5 Springback percentage, S/N ratio, and MSD value for
experiments
equation as follows:
Experiment Springback Mean square S/N ratio
Springback percentage number percentage deviation (MSD)
¼ 2:172 þ 0:0ðA1Þ þ 0:112 ðA2Þ−0:045 ðA3Þ−0:370ðA4Þ
−0:371ðA5Þ−0:403ðA6Þ þ 0:0 ðB1Þ−0:072ðB2Þ−0:225ðB3Þ 1 2.53153 2.53153 −8.0677
þ 0:0ðC1Þ−0:865ðC2Þ−2:270ðC3Þ 2 1.90258 1.90258 −5.5869
R ¼ 0:9799;
2
ð1Þ 3 0.00000 0.00000 *
4 2.84597 2.84597 −9.0846
where R2 is the regression coefficient. 5 1.75931 1.75931 −4.9068
In multiple linear regression analysis, R2 was the re- 6 0.16430 0.16430 15.6872
gression coefficient (R2 > 0.90) for the models. The pre- 7 1.76588 1.76588 −4.9392
ceding equation indicated that the fit of the experiment is 8 0.01341 0.01341 37.4514
satisfactory. 9 2.51948 2.51948 −8.0262
10 0.09852 0.09852 20.1295
4.1.2 Analysis of the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio 11 2.01881 2.01881 −6.1019
12 1.20743 1.20743 −1.6372
The S/N ratio value is calculated and tabulated by consid- 13 1.13113 1.13113 −1.0703
ering Equation 1. The springback values measured from 14 0.15014 0.15014 16.4701
the experiments and their corresponding S/N ratio values 15 2.03866 2.03866 −6.1869
are listed in Table 5. The springback response table for 16 0.01359 0.01359 37.3356
thickness ratio, alignment, and bend angle is created in 17 2.10824 2.10824 −6.4784
the integrated form, and the result is shown in Table 6. 18 1.10433 1.10433 −0.8620
Any experiment always aims to determine the highest
possible S/N ratio for the result. A high value of S/N
implies that the signal is considerably higher than the
random effects of noise factors or minimum variance. parameter that has a significant effect on the response
Figure 13 shows the optimal performance for the percent- characteristic. The mean of square deviation, SSm, as a
age of springback when the parameter setting of the spec- result of parameters must be calculated to perform the F
imen is A6, B1, and C3. Table 6 shows the effect of the test. The F value for each parameter is simply the ratio of
process parameters on the springback percentage values. the mean of square deviation, SSm, to the mean of square
Table 6 shows that the delta for the bend angle (stroke) is error, SSe. In theory, the F value is more than four means;
the highest, which is 32.7391. The bend angle (stroke) is this finding indicates that the change of the process pa-
the main parameter that affects the springback percentage rameter has a significant effect on the quality characteris-
in this experiment. The results agree with those obtained tics [34]. Table 7 shows that the F value for the parameter
by Abdullah et al. [33] (bend angle) is 184.06, which is the highest. This finding
indicates that the change of the parameter has a significant
4.1.3 Analysis of variance (ANOVA) effect on percentage springback. The P value reports the

Table 7 shows the ANOVA result for this experiment. The

total sum of the squared deviation SST from the total
Table 6 S/N ratio value for springback percentage by factor level
mean S/N ratio nm can be calculated as follows:
n 
Level Thickness Alignment Bend angle
X 2 ratio
SST ¼ xi j − xii ; ð2Þ
i¼1 1 −6.8273 5.7172 −7.3243
where n is the number of experiments in the OA, Xij is the 2 0.5653 5.1412 −3.1671
percentage of springback for the ith experiment, and xi is the 3 8.1620 −0.2050 25.4148
mean of the angle of springback in the ith experiment. 4 4.1301 – –
The total sum of square deviation, SST, is the combi- 5 3.0710 – –
nation of two sources: the sum of square deviation, SSd, 6 9.9984 – –
and the sum of squared error, SSe. Mean square (MS) is Delta 16.8257 5.922 32.7391
equal to SST divided by DOF. DOF is associated with Rank 2 3 1
parameters. The F value is a tool to determine the
 Int J Adv Manuf Technol

Fig. 13 Effect of process

parameters on springback
percentage

Table 7 ANOVA result

Symbol Parameter Degree of Sum of square, Mean square, F value P value

ρ % contribution
freedom, DOF SST SSm

A Thickness ratio 5 0.7739 0.15479 3.62 0.052 4.54

B Alignment 2 0.1589 0.07947 1.86 0.218 0.93
C Stroke 2 15.7563 7.87813 184.06 0.000 92.51
(bend angle)
Error 8 0.3424 0.04280 2.02
Total 17 17.0315 100

significance level (suitable and unsuitable). Percent (%) is the The percentage number on Table 7 depicts that parameter
significance rate of the parameters on the springback percent- C, stroke (bend angle), has the most significant effects on
age. P value is usually less than the significant level of 0.05; springback percentage. Table 7 shows that the contributions
this observation indicates that the null hypothesis is rejected, of parameters C, A, and B are 92.51, 4.54, and 0.93 %,
and the effect of the parameter is significant. The P value for respectively.
parameter C is 0.0005, which is less than 0.05. Thus, the
effect parameter C is significant to the result of the experi-
ment. The percentage of contribution, ρ, is calculated by the 4.1.4 Confirmation test
following formula:
  The final stage in verifying the result drawn on the basis of
SS d the Taguchi design approach is the confirmation test.
ρ¼  100% ð3Þ
SS T Confirmation test is a crucial step and highly recommend-
ed by Taguchi to verify the experimental result [28]. This
step also shows the correlation between the experiment
Table 8 Optimal combination of parameters and their level result and the estimated result. This study has no confir-
mation test because the optimal combination of parameters
Experiment number Items Optimal condition
and their level coincidently matches those in the experi-
18 Level A6 B1 C3 ments in the OA. The optimal combination is A6 B1 C3,
Springback percentage 0.01359 thereby resulting in the highest S/N ratio of 37.3356 and
S/N ratio 37.3356 springback percentage of 0.01359. The detail of the opti-
mal combination is shown in Table 8.
Int J Adv Manuf Technol
Fig. 14 Comparison of the result 4.0000
as a validation to the developed
3.5000
model using uniform thickness
strip 3.0000
2.5000
% Springback
2.0000
1.5000
1.0000
0.5000
0.0000
2 3
-0.5000
-1.0000
5 Validation
Validation is performed on the specimen with uniform thick-
ness (i.e., 3 mm). The validation aims to confirm the devel-
oped model. Figure 14 shows that the pattern of the specimen
agrees with that of the specimen with various thicknesses.
6 Conclusion
This study discussed an application of the Taguchi method
to investigate the effect of parameters on the springback
behavior of AA6061 strip with non-uniform thickness. In
this study, the parameters were selected by considering the
process requirement. Several experiments on the effect of
thickness ratio, alignment, and stroke (bend radius) were
conducted. The following conclusions were drawn from
the result in springback percentage using the conceptual
S/N ratio, regression analysis, ANOVA, and the Taguchi
method.
& The designed experiments based on the Taguchi method
are statistically performed using L18 OAs to analyze the
springback behavior as a response variable. The concep-
tual S/N ratio and ANOVA approaches are used for data
analysis and resulted in similar findings.
& The regression coefficient, R2, is equal to 0.9799, which is
greater than 0.9. This finding indicates that the experimen-
tal data are satisfactory.
& The optimum percentage of springback is 0.01359 with an
S/N ratio of 31.4159. This optimum percentage can be
achieved with the combination of A6 B1 C3.
& Stroke (bend angle) is the most significant parameter,
whereas the alignment of punch is the least significant
parameter.
& The contributions of the parameter to the percentage of
springback are 92.51 % (bend radius), 4.54 % (thickness
ratio), and 0.93 % (alignment).
Thickness rao : 1
Thickness rao : 0.923
Thickness rao : 0.902
Thickness rao : 0.881
Thickness rao : 0.859
Thickness rao : 0.838
4 5 6 7 8
Bend angle (stroke), mm
For future work, the springback behavior of the aluminum
strip with complex non-uniform profile will be further ex-
plored. The data and information in this study can be used
as reference and as a platform to understand the behavior
and parameters of materials that may influence springback
the most.
Acknowledgment The authors want to acknowledge the Ministry of
Higher Education for their sponsorship through the Fundamental
Research Grant Scheme (Acc. No. 203/PMEKANIK/6071308) and Mr.
Fakhrul, who helped in the experiments.
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