Investigation of Influence Parameters on Forming Limit Diagrams of Aluminum Alloy-AA2024

Abstract

Sheet metal forming technology is the keyword for many industries such as aerospace, aeronautics and automobile industries. Customer expectations, quality and safety requirements and market competitions require sheet metal forming operations to be well analyzed before the process to fulfill all these requirements. In this study, combination of FEA (finite element analysis) and mechanical material characterization were used in order to improve sheet metal forming operations while considering cost and quality. On the material characterization side of the studies, simple uniaxial tensile tests were conducted to obtain anisotropy parameters and yield points along different directions and hydraulic bulge test (HBT) was performed to obtain plastic behavior of the material up to 0.7 strains. Deformation measurements were conducted using optical measurement system GOM-ARAMIS while a 60-ton hydraulic press; Zwick/Roell BUP600 was used to deform the sheet part AA2024-0 aluminum alloy. Effects of process parameters, which are initial material thickness, lubrication and punch speed, on sheet metal formability and forming limit diagrams (FLDs) were investigated. On the study of thickness effects, sheet metals those having 0.81mm, 1.27mm and 1.60mm thickness were tested. Punch velocities of 250mm/min, 500mm/min and 750mm/min were used to investigate effect of punch speed on formability of sheet metals. Finally, PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene), paraffin lubricated and dry conditions were presented to obtain friction effects. FE analyses were performed to simulate experiments and to obtain friction coefficients of different lubricants. Good correlations were observed between numerical simulations and experimental results.