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TheScienceofFormingDoHigherStrengthSteelsHaveLessFormability?Part1|MetalformingMagazine
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DOHIGHERSTRENGTHSTEELSHAVELESSFORMABILITY?PART1
By:StuartKeeler

Thereare1comments|Postacomment
Tuesday,January01,2013

Highstrengthlowalloy(HSLA)steelswerethesalesleaderduringthe1970sand80sforhigherstrength
applications.Yieldstrengthsrangedbetween35to80KSI,withdeformationcapacitysufficienttosuccessfullyform
moststampingsforavarietyofindustries.Today,weightreductionprograms,greaterloadcarryingdesignsand
increaseddemandsforinserviceperformancehaveforcedcompaniestoordersheetsteelwithgreateras
receivedyieldstrengths.Tomeettheseincreasedrequirements,metallurgistshaveraisedtheupperyield
strengthsofHSLAsteelstothe100110KSIrange.
Unfortunately,pressshopsstillarehauntedbytheageold
ruleofthumbthatformabilitydecreasesasyieldstrength
increases.Whilesomeformabilitymodeshavereduced
tensilestretchabilityasyieldstrengthincreases,other
modesremainunaffected.Toexplainthesedifferences,the
followingformingmodesarediscussed:tensilestretching,
compressivedeformation,bending,cupdrawing,stiffness
andspringback.
Acirclegridimprintedonthesurfaceofsheetmetalproves
extremelyusefulindeterminingthetypeandamountof
deformationthestampingundergoesateachlocation.The
circleinFig.1illustratesthethreepossibledeformationsit
alsoindicatesthemaximumelongation(largestpositive
stretch)bythelongaxisoftheresultingellipsedefinedas
majordeformation.
Perpendiculartothemajordeformationistheminor
Fig.1Diagramshowingpossiblemajor/minordeformation
deformation,ortheleastamountofdeformation.Asthe
combinationsformetalforming,asmeasuredwithacirclegrid.
stampingdeforms,oneofthedeformationmodesbecomes
obvious.CaseAinFig.1showsanincreaseinlengthoflineinboththemajorandminordirections.Sometimes
calledbiaxialstretch,thisformingmodewouldbefoundinanembossmentorhemisphericaldome,wheretensile
stressesareappliedinthemajorandminordirections.
Likewise,caseBelongatesinthemajordirectionbutispreventedfromdeformingintheminordirection.Thismode
planestraindeformationresultsfromdesignfeaturesthatpreventdeformationintheminordirection,suchas
lockbeads,sharpbendsparalleltothemajordirectionorverywidestripsofsheetmetal.CaseCexperiences
tensilestretchinginthemajordirection,yetallowstheminordirectiontoreducethelengthoflinebecausethe
materialhaslittleornorestraintintheminordirection.Thisoccurs,forexample,whenelongatingatensiletest
strip.
Tensilestretchinghastworestrictions.First,thedeformationfoundinthecircleonthesheetsuppersurface
equalsthedeformationinanidenticalcircleonthesheetsbottomsurface,andeverywherethroughthethickness
betweenthetwocircles.Thisoccursoftenforthinsheetmetalandfordiefeatureswithgenerousradii.However,
severebendingofthematerial,orotherprocessesthatchangethestressstatesandresultingdeformationfrom
onesurfacetotheother,isnotallowed.
Second,allmetalformingmustfollowtheconstancyofvolumerule,
whichstatesthatduringdeformationmaterialisneithercreatednor
destroyed.Thefinalthicknessofthestampingatagivenlocationis
controlledbythecombinationofmajorplusminordeformations.
Therefore,formingmodeAinFig.1willcreatethegreatestamountof
thinningbecauseboththemajorandminordeformationsarepositiveor

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TheScienceofFormingDoHigherStrengthSteelsHaveLessFormability?Part1|MetalformingMagazine
elongating.FormingmodeCwillexperiencetheleastamountof
thinningbecausethenegativeminordeformationhelpstofeedmaterial
intothepositivemajordeformation.
Stampingsrarelyhavelargeareasofconstantsurfacestrains,and
thereforethethicknessofthefinalstampingvariesfrompointtopoint.
Highlylocalizedfeaturessuchascharacterlines,cornerradii,
embossmentsandotherareasofhighstretchusuallyexperience
severethinningthatleadstolocalneckingandultimatelytearing.
Amaterialsworkhardeningexponent(nvalue)controlsthelocalization
ofthinningindeformationgradientsandthemaximumamountof
thinningbeforetheonsetoflocalnecking.Adecreaseinnvalue
increasestheamounttothinningindeformationgradientsand
decreasestheamountofthinningallowedbeforelocalnecking(given
bytheforminglimitdiagram).Thatiswhynvalueissuchanimportant
formabilityproperty.

Themetallurgicalprocessesthatincreasetheyieldstrengthofhigher
strengthsteelsalsoreducenvalue(Fig.2).Fortruetensilestretching,
Fig.2Graphshowingapproximatenvaluesfor
theoldruleofthumbringstrueincreasedyieldstrengthcauses
lowcarbonmildandhighstrengthlowalloy
steels.
designandformingproblemsbecauseofreducedformingcapability.
BecarefulwheninterpretingCaseCinFig.1.Themostcommonfailureisanexcessivetensileforceinthemajor
directionandtheresultingreductioninlengthoflineintheminordirection.However,thesameelongationvalues
canbecreatedinCaseCbyastrongcompressiveforceintheminordirectionthatforcestheworkpiecetoextrude
inthemajordirection.Veryhighlevelsofmajordeformationcanresult.Oneexampleisthesharpverticalcorners
ofanenameledvegetablecrisperpanforrefrigerators.Onepanhadmajorelongationof320percent,witha
correspondingincreaseinthicknesscausedbyalargecompressionintheminordirection.Thenvaluenolonger
limitedthemaximumdeformation.Tensilestretchinginthemajordirectionwouldhavetornatmuchlowervaluesof
stretch.
Toillustratethedifferencesbetweentensilestretchingandcompressivedeformationwithamaterialwithann
valueof0noworkhardeningconsiderafulltubeoftoothpaste.Squeezing(compressing)thetubeeasily
generatesalongribbonoftoothpaste.However,attemptingtopull(tensilestretching)aribbonoftoothpastefrom
thetubeinstantlyresultsinlocalneckingandtearing.Similarly,compressivedeformation,whenappliedcorrectly,
cancreatestampingsfromhigherstrengthmaterialsthatcannotbemadebytensilestretching.
Nextmonthwelldiscusssomeinterestingdifferencesfoundduringbendingandcupdrawing,andwhatcontrols
stiffnessandspringback.MF
OnFebruary56,2013,inIndianapolis,IN,StuartKeelerwillpresentadoubleseminarcoveringSheetmetal101
UnderstandingtheMetal,andFormingSheetmetalUnderstandingtheProperties.Completeinformationcanbe
foundatwww.pma.org.

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