Effect of strain-rate on forming limit strain of aluminum alloy and mild steel sheets under strain path change

The aim of this study is to show the effect of the strain-rate on the forming limit strain of an aluminum alloy A5052 sheet and a mild steel sheet SPCC. Biaxial stretching test was carried out. The prescribed strain path was linear or that with directional change in straining. The sheet was pre-strained by uniaxial tension in the latter path. The deformation speed was set to be quasi-static or high speed whose strain-rate was about 300 /s using the dedicated high speed stretching device. The forming limit strain of the A5052 sheet for the linear strain path was larger in the high speed stretching than that under the quasi-static condition. For the case with strain path change the forming limit strain was further large. This may be due to the softening phenomenon which occurs by aging treatment, because the stretching experiment was conducted about two weeks after the pre-straining operation. On the other hand, the forming limit strain of the SPCC under the high speed condition was smaller than that under the quasi-static condition in the linear strain path. This is attributed to the decreased strain hardening exponent when the strain-rate increases. Further, in the equi-biaxial stretching of the pre-strained specimen, large difference of the forming limit strain between the deformation speeds was found. It is concluded that A5052 aluminum alloy sheet has a good adaptability to high speed forming, on the other hand, attention should be paid in increasing the forming speed of SPCC.