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Procedia Engineering 81 (2014) 993 998

11th International Conference on Technology of Plasticity, ICTP 2014, 19-24 October 2014,
Nagoya Congress Center, Nagoya, Japan

Analytical approach of springback of arced thin plates bending

Tian-xia Zou, Ji-yuan Xin, Da-yong Li*, Qiang Ren
School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University, 800, Dongchuan Road,Shanghai, 200240, China

Abstract
In practical production, metal sheet bending process contains multiple steps of bending to meet the requirements of the shape
and quality. The arced thin plate with pre-strain is taken as the subject to investigate the subsequent bending and spring-back.
Based on linear combined hardening constitutive model, the analytical method of the arced thin plate with pre-strain bending
forming and springback is researched. The tangential strain on the cross section of the arced thin plate during bending is
analysed, and then analytic formulas of material hardening in the circumstance of the positive and reverse loading are deduced.
Distributions of stress and strain in subsequent bending and corresponding bending moment formulas are deduced. The central
angle and radius of curvature after springback are obtained. The accuracy of the analytical model is verified by FEM cases. In
addition, the established model is applied to the UOE forming process and the results show that the analytical approach
presented in the paper are feasible and of good precision.
2014 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of Nagoya University and Toyohashi University of Technology.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Nagoya University
Keywords: Springback; Arced thin plate; Bending; UOE process

1. Introduction
Bending process is one of the most important technologies in sheet metal forming. Springback control, which
greatly affects the final product quality, has always been a hotspot and difficulty (Li et al., 2006). Numerical
analysis of sheet metal bending, including theoretical analysis and finite element simulation, offers an effective
way to solve challenging technological problems. Currently, theoretical method of sheet metal bending can only
predict and analysis one-step forming (Yuen et al., 1990; Zhang et al,. 1995). However, metal sheet forming

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +86-21-34206313; fax: +86-21-34206313.

E-mail address: dyli@sjtu.edu.cn

1877-7058 2014 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license

(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Nagoya University
doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2014.10.130

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Tian-xia Zou et al. / Procedia Engineering 81 (2014) 993 998

process always contains multiple steps of bending in practical manufacturing to meet the requirements of the shape
and quality, such as UOE process and JCOE process for welded pipe production. Although FEM can simulate
multi-step bending and calculate the springback accurately (Uemori et al., 2000), it fails to inversely design
process parameters effectively. Therefore, analytical research on springback in multi-step bending is more valuable.
Since the metal sheet experiences complex loading-unloading-reverse loading cycles in multi-step forming process,
subsequent bending process of arced metal sheet with pre-strain and work hardening is the key to research the
whole multi-step forming.
In this paper, an analytical model for analyzing the arced thin plate with pre-strain is developed. In this model
the springback equations are established. The accuracy of the analytical model is verified by the comparison of
analytical model results with FEM results. In addition, the established model is applied to the UOE forming
process.
Nomenclature

H
E
E

s
s
y

m
t
1
2
2
1
2
d1
d2

H
Me
M ep
Rc
Lc
Ru
u

Tangential strain
Elastic modulus
Plastic modulus
Tangential stress
Initial yield stress
Subsequent yield stress
Thickness direction coordinates
Combined hardening factor
Thickness of plate
Neutral layer radius of the arced thin plate
Neutral layer radius during the subsequent bending
Neutral layer radius after the springback
Central angle of the arced thin plate
Central angle after the springback
Thickness of elastic layer
Half of thickness of elastic layer
Stress increment
Strain increment
Elastic moment
Elasic-plastic bending moment
Neutral layer radius of UOE plate during C-forming
Arc length of C-shaped plate
Neutral layer radius of UOE plate during U-forming
Central angle of U-shaped plate
Compression ratio of O-forming

2. Constitutive model
Generally, the stress-strain relationship under uniaxial tension or compression can be described as,

EH
V=
'
V s  E H

V  Vs
V t Vs

(1)

where is the tangential stress, is the tangential strain, E is the elastic modulus, s is the yield stress and E is the
plastic modulus.

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Work-hardening of the material after initial yielding can be divided into three types: isotropic hardening,
kinematic hardening and combined hardening (Gau et al., 2001). In the reverse loading, the yield stress of the
material can be generally expressed as,
 V s' V s  (2m  1) E '  H  V s E  ,

(2)

where s is the yield stress of reverse loading and m is the combined hardening factor.
If 0  m  1 , Eq.(1) can refer to the combined hardening model; If m 0 , Eq. (1) is equivalent to the
kinematic hardening model; If m 1 , Eq. (1) can refer to the isotropic hardening model.
After data fitting of the stress-strain curve are shown in Fig. 1, a linear combined hardening model can describe
the loading-unloading-reverse loading behavior of X70 steel well, with m=0.25.

Fig.1. Stress-strain response of X70 steel and the linear work hardening model fit.

3. Analytical study
In multi-step forming, the sheet metal often undergoes subsequent bending under positive loading or reverse
loading. After the subsequent bending, the neutral layer radius turns into 2 and the central angle changes into 2 .
If 1 < 2 , the arced plate undergoes positive bending, as shown in Fig.2(a). Otherwise, it undergoes reverse
bending, as shown in Fig. 2(b).
(a)

(b)

Fig. 2. General bending forming of the arced thin plate: (a) positive loading; (b) reverse loading.

Based on the assumption that the arc length of neutral layer remains unchanged, the tangential strain is
expressed as,

H ( y)

U1  U 2 y
t t
, y  , ,
U 2 U1  y
2 2

(3)

where y is thickness direction coordinate, t is the thickness of the plate.

Due to work hardening, the pre-strain affects the subsequent yield stress greatly. The yield stress of the
secondary forming is updated as,

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Tian-xia Zou et al. / Procedia Engineering 81 (2014) 993 998

y Vs '

V s 
E
U1 E

Vs

V  (2m  1) y  V s
s

U1 E

V s'  y 

, Positive loading, d1 d y d
,

t
2

y d d1

(4)
,

'
t
E , Reverse loading, d1 d y d
2

where d 1 = s 1 /E.
Based on the Hookes law, half of the thickness of elastic layer during the subsequent loading is given as,

d2

V U1 U 2
.
E U 2  U1  V s U 2

(5)

If d 2 >d 1 , it means yield stress in elastic deformation area is unequal. s is substituted into Eq. (5). Then, Eq.(5)
is rewritten as,

U  U1
d2
E 2

U1  d 2
U2

y Vs
V s  E c 
,
E

V  E c y  V s ,

s
E
U

U 2 ! U1
(6)

U 2  U1

Then the elastic-plastic moment caused by the tangential stress with the radius changing from 1 to 2 is
expressed as,

M ep

t

t 2 V s (2m  1) E 't (2m  1)V s E c




6U
2E
U 2  U1 E c 4 2

2
 1
'
'
U 2  U1 E

d 22 V s  (2m  1) E V s  (2m  1) E d 2

2E
3U
2

V ydy

U  U 2 2 U1  2
U d
 Ec 1
 U1t  U12ln 1 2  2 U1d 2
U1 ln

t
U2
U2  d2

U 

E

(7)

U1  U 2 2 U1  d 2
U1 ln
 2 U1d 2
U2
U1  d 2

The strain increment during the springback can be expressed as,

'H

U1 y 1 1
 .
U1  y U 2' U 2

(8)

The tangential stress increment during the springback is explicitly expressed as,

'V

E 'H

U1 y 1 1
 .
U1  y U 2' U 2

(9)

Then elastic moment is given as

t

Me
Since M e

U 2'

 2t 'V ydy


 E U1 1/ U 2'  1/ U 2  U12 ln[( U1  t ) / ( U1  t )]  U1t .

2
2

(10)

M ep , the neutral layer radius of sheet metal after springback can be expressed as,

U2
1 U 2  M ep E A U1

(11)

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Tian-xia Zou et al. / Procedia Engineering 81 (2014) 993 998

where A

U12 ln[( U1  t / 2) / ( U1  t / 2)]  U1t .

4. Results and verification

In order to verify the analytical model, FEM numerical simulation is adopted to compare with analytical
calculation. The pipe line steel (X70) is used in the cases. The mechanical properties of the material are listed in
Table 1.
Table 1. Material properties.
Material

Yield stress(MPa)

Elastic modulus(MPa)

Plastic modulus(MPa)

X70

530

0.2

210000

2000

Fig. 3(a) shows an example of subsequent positive loading. In the first step, neutral layer radius of the plate is
bent from infinite to 0 (202 mm), and then 1 and 1 after springback can be calculated. In the second step,
neutral layer radius is bent from 1 to 2 (182 mm), and then 2 and 2 will be obtained by the analytical model.
Fig. 3(b) shows an example of subsequent reverse loading. In the first step, neutral layer radius of the plate is
bent from infinite into 1 (202 mm), and then 1 and 1 after springback can be calculated. In the second step,
neutral layer radius is bent from 1 to 2 (398 mm), and then 2 and 2 can be obtained by the analytical model.
(a)

(b)

Fig.3. Multi-step bending deformation: (a) subsequent positive loading; (b) subsequent reverse loading.

The results of numerical simulation and analytical calculation are shown in Table 2. As can be seen from the
table, the analytical results are consistent with the FEM simulation results.
Table 2. Comparison results between analytical calculation and FEM simulation under reverse bending condition.
Positive bending condition

Reverse bending condition

Parameters

Calculated

FEM value

Relative error

Calculated value

FEM value

Relative error

1 (mm)

325.83

327.54

0.52%

325.83

327.54

0.52%

1 ()

55.8

55.5

0.54%

55.8

55.5

0.54%

2 (mm)

263.64

265.23

0.60%

328.88

331.08

0.66%

2 ()

68.96

68.54

0.61%

55.28

54.91

0.67%

The analytical model presented in the paper is further applied to the UOE forming process. The process
parameters of the specification are listed in Table 3.
Table 3. Parameters of C-U-O-forming.
Specification
O D (mm)
t(mm)

W(mm)

Material

C-forming
R c (mm)

L c (mm)

U-forming
R u (mm)
u (rad)

O-forming
D o (mm)

c (%)

1219

3740

X70

597

215

450

1194.8

0.3

20

1.570

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Tian-xia Zou et al. / Procedia Engineering 81 (2014) 993 998

Fig. 4 illustrates the deformed configurations of the plate after the springback of C-forming, U-forming and
O-forming by using the analytical method and FEM. As can be seen from the figure, the analytical results show
good agreement in the geometric configurations of plate with the FEM results.
(b)

(a)

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)

Fig. 4. Calculation results of deformed configurations of the plate after springback: (a) Analytical result of C-shaped plate; (b) FEM result of Cshaped plate; (c) Analytical result of U-shaped plate; (d) FEM result of U-shaped plate; (e) Analytical result of O-shaped plate; (f) FEM result
of O-shaped plate.

5. Conclusion
Based on linear combined hardening constitutive model, the bending and springback of the arced thin plate
with pre-strain by an analytical method is researched. The tangential strain on the cross section of the arced thin
plate during bending is analysed, and then analytical formulas of material hardening in the circumstance of the
positive and reverse loading are deduced. According to the assumption of springback, the central angle and radius
of curvature after springback are obtained. The accuracy of the analytical model is verified by FEM cases. In
addition, the analytical method presented in this paper can be used to predict the springback of UOE forming
processes in welded pipe production.
References
Li Wenping, 2006, Study on variational principles of spring-back for bending and its numerical simulation[D][J], Journal of YanShan
University.
Yuen W Y D,1990.Spring-back in the stretch-bending of sheet metal with non-uniform deformation[J]. Journal of materials processing
technology, 22(1): 1-20.
Zhang L C, 1995. A mechanics model for sheet-metal stamping using deformable dies[J]. Journal of materials processing technology, 53(3):
798-810.
Uemori T, Okada T, Yoshida F,2000. FE analysis of springback in hat-bending with consideration of initial anisotropy and the Bauschinger
effect[J]. Key Engineering Materials, 177: 497-502.
Gau J T, Kinzel G L,2001. A new model for springback prediction in which the Bauschinger effect is considered[J]. International Journal of
Mechanical Sciences, 43(8): 1813-1832.