Forming limit of textured AZ31B magnesium alloy sheet at different temperatures

Repeated unidirectional bending （RUB） was carried out to improve the texture of commercial AZ31B magnesium alloy sheets. All specimens were prepared in the rolling direction. The forming limit diagrams （FLDs） of AZ31B magnesium alloy sheet were determined experimentally by conducting stretch-forming tests at room temperature, 100, 200 and 300 ℃ Compared with the as-received sheet, the lowest limited strain of AZ31B magnesium alloy sheet with tilted texture in the FLD increased by 79% at room temperature and 104% at 100 ℃. The texture also affected the extension of the forming limit curves （FLC） in the FLD. However, the FLCs of two kinds of sheets almost overlapped at temperature above 200 ℃. It can be concluded that the reduction of （0002） texture intensity is effective to the improvement of formability not only at room temperature but also at low-and-medium temperature. The effect of texture on FLDs becomes weak with increasing temperature.

Influence of microstructure and texture on formability of AZ31B magnesium alloy sheets

The effect of the repeated unidirectional bending （RUB） process and annealing on the formability of magnesium alloy sheets was investigated. The RUB process and annealing treatments produce two effects on microstructure： grain coarsening and weakening of the texture. The sheet that underwent RUB and was annealed at 300 ℃exhibits the best formability owing to the reduction of the （0002） basal texture intensity, which results in low yield strength, large fracture elongation, small Lankford value （r-value） and large strain hardening exponent （n-value）. Compared with the as-received sheet, the coarse-grain sheet produced by RUB and annealing at 400 ℃ exhibits lower tensile properties but higher formability. The phenomenon is because the deformation twin enhanced by grain coarsening can accommodate the strain of thickness.

Theoretical prediction of forming limit diagram of AZ31 magnesium alloy sheet at warm temperatures

A theoretical prediction on forming limit diagram（FLD） of AZ31 magnesium alloy sheet was developed at warm temperatures based on the M-K theory. Two different yield criteria of von Mises and Hill＇48 were applied in this model. Mechanical properties of AZ31 magnesium alloy used in the prediction were obtained by uniaxial tensile tests and the Fields-Backofen equation was incorporated in the analysis. In addition, experimental FLDs of AZ31 were acquired by conducting rigid die swell test at different temperatures to verify the prediction. It is demonstrated from a comparison between the predicted and the experimental FLDs at 473 K and 523 K that the predicted results are influenced by the type of yield criterion used in the calculation, especially at lower temperatures. Furthermore, a better agreement between the predicted results and experimental data for AZ31 magnesium alloy sheet at warm temperatures was obtained when Hill＇48 yield criterion was applied.

Cold stamping for AZ31B magnesium alloy sheet of cell phone house

Electric product house of magnesium alloy sheet is usually obtained by warm stamping owing to its poor plasticity and formability at room temperature.The formability of AZ31B magnesium alloy sheet can be improved by repeated unidirectional bending(RUB)process through control of(0002)basal texture.Compared with as-received sheet,the Erichsen value(IE)of the sheet underwent RUB process increases to 5.90 from 3.53 at room temperature.It is also confirmed that cell phone houses could be stamped successfully in crank press with AZ31B magnesium alloy sheets underwent RUB process.It provides an alternative to the electronics industry in the application of magnesium alloys.

Incremental forming of free surface with magnesium alloy AZ31 sheet at warm temperatures

The formabilityof AZ31 sheet begins to increase drastically at 150℃.The incremental forming technique was thus applied to AZ31 sheet at 150℃to utilize the formability to its fullest capacity at the lowest possible temperature for forming applications.A surface scanning technique was used followed by the tool path generation to incrementally form an egg surface.After thorough examination of various tool paths,the surface was most successfully produced by forming an intermediate shape followed by a series of tool paths.Flexible scale stickers were devised to improve the accuracy in the measurement of grid deformation.

Textural Evolution of AZ31B Magnesium Alloy Sheets Undergoing Repeated Unidirectional Bending at Room Temperature

In this paper, repeated unidirectional bending （RUB）, was applied to improve the texture of AZ31B magnesium alloy sheets so as to enhance their stamping properties. The samples undergoing RUB were annealed at different temperatures. The mechanical properties, formability, textural components and microstructure of the samples before and after RUB were characterized and compared. It was found that the basal textural component was reduced dramatically by RUB, and that （1212） and （1211） textural components appeared. Annealing has a great effect on the mechanical properties of samples undergoing RUB. The plasticity and stamping formability of samples were greatly improved by RUB and annealing at 260℃ for 1 h, and elongation to fracture and Erichsen value were increased to 38% and 67%, respectively.

The Formablity of AZ31B Magnesium Alloy Sheet

The forming limit diagrams （ FLD ） of AZ31B magnesium alloy sheet were tested by means of the electro etching grid method based on the forming experiment of magnesium alloy sheet carried out with a BCS- 30D sheet forming testing machine and the strain testing analysis made with an advanced ASAME automatic strain measuring system. Experiments show that, at room temperature, the mechanical properties and deep drawing peorformance of AZ31B cold-rolled magnesium alloy sheet were so poor that it failed to test the forming limit diagrams without an ideal forming and processing capacity, while the hot-rolled magnesium alloy sheet was of a little better plasticity and forming peorformance after testing its forming limit diagrams. It can be concluded that the testing of the forming limit curves （ FLC ） offers the theoretical foundation for the drawing of the deep drawing and forming process of magnesium alloy sheet.

Viscous warm pressure bulging process of AZ31B magnesium alloy with different ellipticity dies

Based on the bulging principle of different ellipticity dies, the methyl vinyl silicone rubber with excellent thermal stability and heat transfer performance was chosen as the viscous medium. The finite element analysis and experiments of viscous warm pressure bulging （VWPB） of AZ31B magnesium alloy were conducted to analyze the influence of different ellipticity dies on the formability of AZ31B magnesium alloy. At the same time, based on the grid strain rule, the forming limit diagram （FLD） of VWPB of AZ31B magnesium alloy was obtained through measuring the strain of bulging specimens. The results showed that at the temperature range of viscous medium thermal stability, the viscous medium can fit the geometry variation of sheet and generate non-uniform pressure field, and as the die ellipticity increases, the difference value of non-uniform pressure reduces. Meanwhile, according to the FLD, the relationship between part complexity and ultimate deformation was investigated.

Consideration of Castability and Formability for New Magnesium Alloys

A comprehensive consideration based on castability or plastic formability, as well as mechanical properties for development of either cast magnesium alloys or wrought magnesium alloys is a very important issue. To develop new magnesium alloy sheets with high formability at room temperature, the microstructure, texture, ductility and anisotropy of rolled Mg-Zn-Gd alloy sheets were investigated. The sheets exhibit an excellent ultimate elongation of nearly 50% and an uniform elongation greater than 30% with a very low planar anisotropy. The new sheet has a random basal texture and the basal pole is tilted by maximum 40° from the normal direction towards the transverse direction. The majority of grains in the tilted texture have an orientation favorable for both basal slip and tensile twining because of their high Schmid factor. The low planar anisotropy, the large uniform elongations and the high strain hardening rate observed in the Mg-Zn-Gd sheets result in excellent room temperature formability, the Erichsen values reach ~8, well comparable with the conventional aluminum alloys sheets at room temperature. The solidification pathways and phase equilibria of Mg-Al-Ca alloys have been profoundly investigated by using thermal analysis and thermodynamic calculations. The relationship between hot tearing tendency and alloy compositions were discussed in terms of strength of the mushy zone, solidification pathways and feeding mechanisms, et al. Thixoforming refers to as that metal components are formed in their semi-solid state. Criteria for thixoforming are summarized and then the thixoformability of Mg-Al-Ca based alloys (AC alloys) are evaluated using the thermodynamic calculations based on the consideration of metallurgical parameters.

Numerical and Experimental Investigation of Electromagnetic Free Bulging of AZ31 Magnesium Alloy Sheet

The electromagnetic free bulging experiment and the coupled-field numerical simulation of the EMF process were carried out to determine the possibility to improve the formability of magnesium alloy AZ31 sheets(1 mm thick)at room temperature.Formability data were examined using strain measurements.The numerical simulation for the electromagnetic sheet free bulging is performed by means of ANSYS FEA software.Compared with quasi-static FLD results,increase in the major and minor principal strains of approximately 87%and 39%were achieved,respectively.The effects of various process parameters on electromagnetic bulging of AZ31 magnesium alloy sheets were evaluated. Three-dimensional(3D)FE model is established to predict the electromagnetic bulging of the sheet.The simulation results agreed well with experimental observations.

Isothermal Gas Forming of Mg Alloy AZ31 Sheet

There have been reports on sheet forming of Mg alloy in industry via the punch and die method; this paper is probably the first formal one for studying the sheet formability of AZ31 employing pressurized gas to press the sheet into a female die cavity at various elevated temperatures. The results indicate it is feasible to form a rectangular box via pressurized gas from extruded sheets of 0.5 and 1.7 mm thick. The formed box has 1:2 depth over width ratio, which should be large enough when dealing with realistic industrial sheet forming parts. Presently, forming a sheet of 0.5 mm thick is considered a technical challenge by industry, and it is conquered as demonstrated in this paper. Gas forming technique applied to Mg alloy is unprecedented and shows potential for industrial utilization.

Optimisation of alloy composition for highly-formable magnesium sheet

The effectiveness of Ca or Gd addition on ductility and formability of Mg-Zn-Zr based dilute alloys in deep drawing has not been systematically compared previously.In this study,formable Mg-Zn-Gd-Zr and Mg-Zn-Ca-Zr sheet alloys are produced by hot rolling.These sheets have similarly weakened basal texture,but the sheet of the Mg-Zn-Gd-Zr alloys has higher ductility and formability than that of Mg-Zn-Ca-Zr alloys.The combined addition of 0.2wt%Ca and 0.4wt%Gd to the Mg-1Zn-0.5Zr(wt%)alloy leads to a Mg-1Zn-0.4Gd-0.2Ca-0.5Zr alloy that has even better ductility,and its formability during deep drawing is comparable to the benchmark Al6016 sheet.An increase in Ca content from 0.2wt%to 0.5wt%leads to decreased sheet ductility and formability,predominantly due to grain boundary embrittlement.

Formability of AA5052/polyethylene/AA5052 sandwich sheets

The formability of AA5052/polyethylene/AA5052 sandwich sheets was experimentally studied. Three kinds of AA5052/polyethylene/AA5052 sandwich specimens with different thicknesses of core materials were prepared by the hot pressing adhesive method. Then, the uniaxial tensile tests were conducted to investigate the mechanical properties of AA5052/polyethylene/ AA5052 sandwich sheets, and the stretching tests were carried out to investigate the influences of polymer core thickness on the limit dome height of the sandwich sheet. The forming limit curves for three kinds of sandwich sheets were obtained. The experimental results show that the forming limit of the AA5052/polyethylene/AA5052 sandwich sheet is higher than that of the monolithic AA5052 sheet, and it increases with increasing the thickness of polyethylene core.

Quasi-static-dynamic formability of AA5052-O sheet under uniaxial and plane-strain tension

An experimental study on the quasi-static-dynamic formability specified in electromagnetically assisted sheet metal stamping(EMAS)was presented.A series of uniaxial and plane-strain tensile experiments were carried out on AA5052-O sheet by using a combined quasi-static stretching and pulsed electromagnetic forming(EMF)method.Failure strains representing formability beyond conventional quasi-static forming limits are observed under both uniaxial tensile and plane-strain states.The total forming limits of the as-received aluminum alloy undergoing both low and high quasi-static pre-straining are almost similar in quasi-static-dynamic deformation.Ultimate total formability seems to depend largely on the high-velocity loading conditions.Thus, it appears that for quasi-static-dynamic deformation,the quasi-static pre-straining of material is not of primary importance to the additionally useful formability.These observations will enable to develop forming operations that take advantage of this improvement in formability,and will also enable the use of a quasi-static preform fairly close to the quasi-static forming limits without weakening its total formability for design of an EMAS process in shaping large aluminum shell parts like auto body panels.

Effect of Mg on microstructures and properties of Al-Mg-Si-Cu aluminium alloys for automotive body sheets

The effects of variation of Mg content on microstructures, the tensile properties and the formability of Al-Mg-Si-Cu alloys for automotive body sheets were investigated by means of scan electron microscopy, optical metallographic analysis, tensile and Ericsson tests. The results show that for Al-Mg-Si-Cu aluminium alloys with excessive Si, with an increment of Mg content, the strength enhances, the specific elongation and Erisson values of alloys decrease, and the number of Mg2Si constituent increases and that of Al（MnFe）Si type constituents reduces. Al-Mg-Si-Cu aluminium alloys with excessive Si for automotive body sheets can present obviously the paint bake hardenability during the paint bake cycle （i.e. artificial aging at 170 ℃ for 30 min immediately after the solution treatment and quenching）. Suitable Mg content should be controlled in the range of 0.8% and 1.2%（mass fraction）.

Application and comparison of different anisotropic yield criteria in the formability analysis of aluminum sheet

The application of four widely used anisotropic yield criteria,namely,Hill'48,Hill'90,Barlat'89,and Yld2000,on the formability analysis of an automobile aluminum sheet is investigated. The applicability and reliability of these four yield criteria are identified on the basis of uniaxial tensile and stamping tests of an aluminum covering panel by embedding the specimen in the corresponding finite element models. Results show that the strain distribution and safety margin of the aluminum sheet after stamping can be predicted with a high accuracy by applying Yld2000 compared to those subjected to the three other yield criteria. The significant effects of the anisotropic plastic characteristics of the aluminum sheet on stamping are discussed by applying the advanced simulation technology.

Numerical modeling and deformation analysis for electromagnetically assisted deep drawing of AA5052 sheet

Electromagnetic forming(EMF)is a high-velocity manufacturing technique which uses electromagnetic(Lorentz)body forces to shape sheet metal parts.One of the several advantages of EMF is the considerable ductility increase observed in several metals,with aluminum featuring prominently among them.Electromagnetically assisted sheet metal stamping(EMAS)is an innovative hybrid sheet metal processing technique that combines EMF into traditional stamping.To evaluate the efficiency of this technique,an experimental scheme of EMAS was established according to the conventional stamping of cylindrical parts from aluminum and the formability encountered was discussed.Furthermore,a "multi-step,loose coupling" numerical scheme was proposed to investigate the deformation behaviors based on the ANSYS Multiphysics/LS-DYNA platform through establishing user-defined subroutines.The results show that electromagnetically assisted deep drawing can remarkably improve the formability of aluminum cylindrical parts.The proposed numerical scheme can successfully simulate the related Stamping-EMF process,and the deformation characteristics of sheet metal reflect experimental results.The predicted results are also validated with the profiles of the deformed sheets in experiments.

Reduction effect of final-pass heavy reduction rolling on the texture development,tensile property and stretch formability of ZWK100 alloy plates

Obviously planar anisotropy due to‘TD split’orthotropic texture(TD indicates Transverse direction)always exist in the Rare-earth(RE)or Ca containing Mg alloy sheets,which is likely caused by the lowreduction rolling(and annealing)as revealed in our previous research.In this work,the as-cast billets of a ZWK100 alloy were subjected to final-pass heavy reduction rolling(FHRR)at 500°C with different reductions(30%-70%)after rough rolling,aiming to investigate the reduction effect on the microstructure and texture formation.The results show that FHRR with higher reductions above 50%is in favor of shear banding formation but has little effect on the as-deformed texture components,and the excellent formability with single-pass reduction up to 70%is mainly ascribed to the activation of prismatic slip.FHRR with reduction above 50%and annealing can generate uniform grain structures of~10μm and symmetrical‘oblique-line split’texture in(0001)pole figures,with basal poles tilting by about 50°from ND(Normal direction)towards some oblique-line of TD and RD(Rolling direction)as well as uniform distribution of counter lines as an annular shape,resulting in excellent elongation to failure of~50%and ultra-low planar anisotropyΔr_of~0.1 and high stretch formability(Erichsen value:8.1).The formation‘oblique-line split’texture in(0001)pole figures is mainly correlated with the preferred growth tendency of grains with■//RD,which was suggested to relate to the high mobility of some special boundaries such as 40°-45°■.The influences of starting textures on the mechanical properties,planar anisotropy and related deformation modes,as well as their correlations with the stretch formability were comparatively investigated with the‘TD split’orthotropic texture as a counterpoint.

不同退火温度下预压缩镁板冲压成形性能研究

为探讨孪晶对镁合金静态再结晶的影响机制,首先对1 mm厚AZ31镁板沿轧向预压缩7%引入{1012}拉伸孪晶,然后对预孪晶镁板在200、250、300和350℃下进行3 h的退火处理,研究了镁板显微组织演变,探讨了温度对力学性能和冲压成形性能的影响规律。结果表明:200℃退火镁板未发生再结晶,保留了孪晶片层结构,同时去除了残余应力,降低了位错密度,导致基体软化。随着退火温度的升高,再结晶发生完全,晶粒尺寸先增大后减小,300℃的退火试样晶粒尺寸达到峰值。孪晶结构导致了晶格畸变,在基体中引入了较高的储存能,利于再结晶晶粒的形核及生长。随退火温度的升高,镁板的屈服强度(YS)和极限抗拉强度(UTS)先降低后升高,在300℃时最低;伸长率(EL)先升高后降低,在300℃最佳。随着退火温度升高到300℃,因再结晶晶粒的逐渐长大,晶粒取向变得有利,导致基体软化,从而YS和UTS降低,EL升高。而350℃退火的试样晶粒尺寸变得更加均匀细小,利于强度的改善。随着退火温度的升高,镁板的加工硬化指数n先增加后减小,屈强比ReL/Rm和塑性应变比r先减小后增加,300℃退火试样的n值最大、Re L/Rm和r值最小,使其达到了优异的杯突成形性能。

Developments of New Sheet Metal Forming Technology and Theory in China

Developments of new sheet metal forming technology and theory in China are reviewed in detail in this paper.Advances of crystal plasticity on the deformation mechanism of Mg alloy are firstly described, especially its applications on the prediction of sheet forming process. Then, a new macroscopic constitutive model is introduced, which possesses an enhanced description capacity of tension/compression anisotropy and anisotropic hardening. In order to take into account the twinning process of hexagonal close-packed material, a modified hierarchical multi-scale model is also established with adequate accuracy in a shorter computational time. The advanced forming limit of sheet metal, mainly about aluminum alloy, is also investigated. Besides the above theory developments, some new sheet metal forming technologies are reviewed simultaneously. The warm forming technology of Mg alloy is discussed. New processes to form sheet parts and to bend tubes are proposed by using hard granules. On the other hand, a new kind of ultra-high-strength steel based on typical22 Mn B5 by introducing more residual austenite and Cu-rich phase to increase the elongation and strength and its novel forming method that integrates hot stamping and quenching participation are proposed. Progresses in sheet hydroforming,press forging and electromagnetic forming of sheet metal parts are also summarized.