Journal of Materials Processing Technology 213 (2013) 844850

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Journal of Materials Processing Technology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jmatprotec

Evolution of springback and neutral layer of AZ31B magnesium alloy V-bending

under warm forming conditions
Lifei Wang a,b , Guangsheng Huang a,b,c, , Hua Zhang a,b , Yanxia Wang a,b , Liang Yin a
a
College of Material Science and Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China
b
National Engineering Research Center for Magnesium Alloys, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China
c
Chongqing Research Center for Advanced Materials, Chongqing Academy of Science & Technology, Chongqing 401123, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The evolution of springback and neutral layer for AZ31B magnesium alloy sheet was investigated by
Received 4 September 2012 V-bending tests at temperatures from 50 to 300 C. Moreover, in order to perceive the inuence of the
Received in revised form 8 January 2013 punch radii on springback and offset of neutral layer, the tests with punch radii at 7.5, 8.1, 8.7 and 9.3 mm
Accepted 12 January 2013
were conducted at 100 C. The results show that the neutral layer shifts to the tension zone of the sheets.
Available online 18 January 2013
The coefcient of neutral layer (k-value) decreases with the increase of temperature and punch radii. This
is mainly because of the asymmetry between the outer tension layer and inner compression layer during
Keywords:
bending. The outer tension region is dominated by slip, while the inner compression region is dominated
AZ31B magnesium alloy
V-bend
by twinning. With the increase of temperature, the asymmetry of tensioncompression becomes weaker,
Springback and the offset of neutral layer decreases. The offset of neutral layer increases as punch radii decreases.
Neutral layer The shift of neutral layer of AZ31B sheet results in the calculation of springback bigger than the reality.
Asymmetry 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
In recent years, magnesium alloys are very attractive, for their
high specic strength, high specic stiffness, and high electro-
magnetic shielding. They serve as potential materials for various
applications, especially in the automotive and electronics indus-
tries (Zhu et al., 2009). However, due to the close-packed hexagonal
structure of magnesium alloy, the number of slip systems is limited,
so magnesium alloys always suffer from poor formability at room
temperature (Watanabe et al., 2005). Furthermore, the forming of
magnesium alloys cannot proceed smoothly, especially the bend-
ing process which emerges springback phenomenon. As a widely
used forming process in various sheet metal products, bending is
also indispensable in forming of magnesium alloys (Gisario et al.,
2011). A exible, effective and efcient bending process is required
to meet the high-precision demands in sheet metal manufacturing,
but the springback phenomenon makes it complex and difcult
to achieve the goal. Thus, the springback after bending is widely
investigated.
Corresponding author at: College of Material Science and Engineering,
Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China. Tel.: +86 23 65112239;
fax: +86 23 65102821.
E-mail address: gshuang@cqu.edu.cn (G. Huang).
Bruni et al. (2006) pointed out that the springback decreased
with the increase of forming temperature and decrease of punch
radii in air V-punch and U-die bending experiments at tempera-
tures ranging from 100 to 400 C. Kuo and Lin (2012) suggested
that the angle of springback decreased with the increase of bending
temperature in L-bending of AZ31B magnesium alloy sheets. Not
only the springback phenomenon happened, but also the micro-
structures changed during bending. Wu et al. (2010) indicated
that the dislocation slips, along with a few {1,0,1,2} [1,0,1,1]
extension twins and {1,0,1,1}{1,0,1,2}double twins were the
main deformation mechanism in extrados of the bent tube that
underwent tensile deformation while the extension twinning and
dislocation slips were mainly deformed in intrados which under-
went compression.
To date, most of the previous studies concerning the springback
of magnesium alloys do not consider the shift of neutral layer dur-
ing bending process. The neutral layer is located in the middle of
undeformed sheet, but it comes to shift during bending. To gen-
eral material with structure of fcc/bcc, such as aluminum alloys,
the neutral layer shifts toward the compression zone of the sheet
during bending. But for the material with structure of close-packed
hexagonal, it may be diverse. The shift of neutral layer during bend-
ing is bound to make inuences on springback. So the traditional
researches on springback cannot bring out sufciently exact calcu-
lation. Besides, no systematic studies about the evolution of neutral
layer of AZ31B magnesium alloy sheets during bending under warm

0924-0136/$ see front matter 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2013.01.005
 L. Wang et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 213 (2013) 844850 845

conditions and a variety of punch radii can be found. Consequently,

in order to obtain the law of neutral layer shifting and its effects on
springback, the evolution of springback and neutral layer shifting
during air V-bending was studied in this paper.

2. Materials and experimental procedures

The extruded AZ31B magnesium alloy (Mg3 wt% Al1 wt%Zn)

sheets with a thickness of 3 mm were cut into specimens with a
length of 80 mm and a width of 30 mm.
The V-bending tests were conducted at temperatures from 50 to
300 C. V-punch and V-die bending was carried out on a CMT6305-
300KN electronic universal testing machine with a punch radius of
9.3 mm. The die and specimens were heated to the rated tempera-
ture by a resistance furnace and the whole tests proceeded inside
the furnace. Moreover, the tests with different punch radii of 7.5,
8.1, 8.7 and 9.3 mm were performed at 100 C. In order to ensure
the reproducibility of the experiments, each test was conducted for
Fig. 1. Loadpunch curves at different temperatures.
three times. A constant bending angle of 90 was used in this bend-
ing trial. Each test proceeded until the specimens closed to V-punch
tightly. In the bending experiments, the extrusive ber for each it proceeds at temperatures from 50 to 300 C. From this picture, it
sample was perpendicular to the symmetry plane of the punch. can be seen that the amplitude of bend increases as temperature
The initial punch speed was set to 10 mm/min. After unloading increases. Fig. 4 shows a photograph of the optical microstructure of
the specimens, the springback angle was measured by a universal the planes parallel to the extrusion direction. The ne and equiaxed
goniometry. The coefcient of neutral layer (k-value) is a standard grains distribute in the all section. While an extruded AZ31 magne-
to measure the offset of neutral layer. When the k-value is less than sium alloy sheet usually expressed a typical basal texture with the
0.5, it means that the neutral layer shifts to the inner compres- c-axis of most grains parallel to the ND direction (Yin et al., 2009).
sion zone. While k-value exceeds 0.5, the neutral layer shifts to the Fig. 5 shows the optical microstructures of bending specimens
outer tension zone. The more the k-value deviates from 0.5, the big- in bending let region at different temperatures, where the outer,
ger the offset of the neutral layer will be. k-Value was obtained by
a geometric algorithm through measuring the thickness of AZ31B
magnesium alloy sheets after bending. According to stamping pro-
cess manual, the computational formula of k-value was shown as
follows:
Ri
k = 0.52 (1 ) (1)
t
where k, , Ri and t were the coefcient of neutral layer, coefcient
of incrassation, the inside bending radii and the original thickness,
respectively.
After the bending tests, the microstructure and optical micro-
graphs were inquired by a metallographic microscope.

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Effect of temperature on springback and shift of neutral layer

The loadstroke curves recorded at different temperatures are

shown in Fig. 1. It is obviously seen that the bending load decreases
with the increase of temperature. This phenomenon is mainly
owing to the enhanced softening effect as temperature increases.
The curves of springback angle and k-value at different temper-
atures are shown in Fig. 2. The springback angle decreases with
the temperature increases, as shown in Fig. 2(a). This is because
springback is affected by both the elastic modulus and yield stress
of the material. The elastic modulus does not vary too much with
the variation of temperature, while the yield stress of AZ31B sheet
decreases with the increase of temperature (Vasudevan et al.,
2011). So the springback decreases at higher forming temperature.
The results about the effects of temperature on springback are con-
sistent with the previous research on a similar magnesium alloy
(Chen and Huang, 2003).
Fig. 3 shows the specimens after V-bending at different tem-
peratures, and the regions where the microstructure obtained are
marked in this picture. Since the formability of magnesium alloy is
so poor that this test cannot be carried out at room temperature, Fig. 2. Effect of temperature on (a) springback angle () and (b) k-value.
846 L. Wang et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 213 (2013) 844850
Fig. 3. Specimens after V-bending process at different temperatures.
middle and inner regions of the specimens are included. In Fig. 5,
a large amount of twins appear in inner regions, which result in
the shift of neutral layer. It is because the grains in outer region
are under tensile deformation, while the grains in inner region are
under compressive deformation. The operating deformation mech-
anism between the outer region and the inner region is different.
As well known, the magnesium alloys have an axial ratios (c/a) of
around 1.633 (Song et al.,2007). Lv et al. (2012) suggested when the
axial ratio was less than 3, normally only the {1,0,1,2} twinning
activated by a compressive stress parallel to the basal plane or a ten-
sile stress perpendicular to the basal plane. Samman et al. (2010)
indicated the {1,0,1,2} twinning was resisted and the dislocation
slips were favored for specimens with the loading direction along
the extrusion axis. However, the twinning was preferred in com-
pression perpendicular to the c-axis. Chino et al. (2008) showed
that the {1,0,1,2} tensile twin was hardly generated due to the
low Schmid factor during tensile deformation, although the criti-
cal shear stress (CRSS) was low. Chang et al. (2009) indicated that
the slip was the dominant deformation mechanism under tensile
load along c-axial. So the outer region during bending, dislocation
slips contributed to larger plastic deformation. In theory, the outer
region under tensile deformation would have few twins during
bending for the suppression of twins when tension parallel to c-
axial of magnesium alloys sheet. However, there were a number
of twins occurring, which was mainly related to the coarsening of
grains. But the dislocation slips still dominated the deformation
(Knezevic et al., 2010). While the tensile twinning was easier to start
when compressing perpendicular to the c-axis, Wu et al. (2010)
considered that the stress to active {1,0,1,2} tensile twinning was
even lower than slip. Thus twinning dominated the deformation
in compression. So in the inner regions of specimens under com-
pression, twinning contributes to large plastic deformation. It can
be seen that a large amount of twins appear in the inner region, as
shown in Fig. 5. While the asymmetry of deformation between the
outer and the inner region results in the shift of neutral layer.
Fig. 4. Optical micrographs of the as-extruded AZ31B alloy in the let region at extrusion direction (a) outer edge, (b) middle and (c) inner edge.
As temperature increases, the offset of neutral layer and the k-
value decreases. This phenomenon is mainly because the softening
effect enhances and the stress concentration gets released with
temperature increasing. The volume fraction of twins decreases
and the asymmetry weakens. Yin et al. (2011) reported that the
texture had a signicant effect on the tensioncompression asym-
metry, and the extruded AZ31 alloy with strong ber texture
exhibited the larger yield asymmetry. While the texture decreases
with the increasing of temperature, the asymmetry decreases at
the same time. Jager et al. (2004) presented the non-basal slips
occurred above 200 C. Samman and Gottstein (2008) indicated
that the dynamic recrystallization played a vital role at defor-
mation temperature above 200 C. Bruni et al. (2010) suggested
that the dynamic recrystallization carried out above 200 C which
had the function of grain renement. Especially in inner edge,
the deformation was much more serious, so the ner grains were
obtained. The smaller of grain size, the less of stress concentra-
tion could be emerged. So it would be harder to generate twins
during the deformation (Chino et al., 2008). And the contribu-
tion of twins in the deformation decreased and the asymmetry of
tensioncompression weakened. Especially at 200 C and 250 C, it
could be seen that many ne grains occur in inner region which
weakened the asymmetry more. All in all, due to the weakening
of tensioncompression asymmetry by texture weakening, grain
rening and so on in bending, k-value decreases as temperature
increases as well.
It is interesting to nd that the microstructures among the outer,
middle and inner edge are quite different. The microstructures,
especially the size of grains are much more complex with the tem-
perature varying. The microstructures in the middle region alter
only a little compared with initial organization. This is because the
middle regions are near or in the neutral band and the deforma-
tion is relatively smaller (Carsley and Kim, 2007). The grains are
rened at the temperature of 200 C and 250 C is mainly because
of dynamic recrystallization. While, due to the higher temperature,
the grains grow up at 300 C, as shown in Fig. 5(f). However, it
appears coarse grains below 150 C, which may be dependent on
strain path, strain distribution, temperature and strain rate.
3.2. Effects of punch radii on springback and shift of neutral layer
The loadpunch strike curves recorded with different punch
radii at 100 C are shown in Fig. 6. The larger bending load is
obtained at a smaller punch radii. The curves of springback angle
and k-value with different punch radii are shown in Fig. 7. It is
obviously found that the springback decreases at smaller punch
radii irrespective of the temperature changing. This is mainly
related to the state of stress during bending. So the stress analysis
is introduced. The sketch diagram of stress/strain and innitesimal
deformation are shown in Fig. 8.
Consulting to Liang and Hu (1987) about the stress analysis of
thin sheets bending, supposing the cross section keeps invariant
 L. Wang et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 213 (2013) 844850 847

Fig. 5. Optical micrographs of bending specimens in the let region at different temperatures: (a) 50 C, (b) 100 C, (c)150 C (d)200 C, (e) 250 C and (f) 300 C.
848 L. Wang et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 213 (2013) 844850
Fig. 6. Inuence of punch radius on the loadpunch stroke curves at 100 C.
after V-bending; the strain in width keeps invariant, the deforma-
tion is the plane deformation; the bending area turns into plastic
deformation fully; the sheets are under pure bending moment. The
principal stress and principal strain of the bending area are tan-
gential ( , ), radial ( rr , rr ) and width ( BB , BB ). And their
directions are shown in Fig. 8(a). Along the principal axis in the
outer of bending area, the deformation micro area with shadow
is selected to analyze the state of stress, as Fig. 8(b) shown. Every
deformation micro area is force balanced.
Fig. 7. Effect of punch radius on (a) springback angle () and (b) k-value.
Fig. 8. The sketch diagram of (a) the state of stress and strain and (b) the stress state
of innitesimal deformation.
As well known, the plastic equation in the inner layer expressed
as (d rr /dRy ) + ( rr  /Ry ) = 0, while the plastic equation in the
outer layer expressed as (d rr /dRy ) (  rr /Ry ) = 0. So it can get
the three principal stresses in inner layer:  rr = 1.15 s ln(Ry /Rb ),
 = 1.15 s [1 + ln(Ry /Rb )],  BB = 1.15 s [(1/2) + ln(Ry /Rb )]. The
three principal stresses in the outer layer can be
expressed as:  rr = 1.15 s ln(Ra /Ry ),  = 1.15 s [1 ln(Ra /Ry )],
 BB = 1.15 s [(1/2) ln(Ry /Rb )]. While  >  BB >  rr in the outer
layer,  rr >  BB >  is in inner layer in plane strain. So in
outer layer,  = 1.15 s [1 ln(Ra /Ry )], while in inner layer,
 rr = 1.15 s ln(Ry /Rb ). While  >  BB >  rr in the outer tension
layer,  rr >  BB >  is in inner compression layer in plane strain.
It can be seen that the tangential stress  in outer layer and the
radial stress  rr in inner layer increases as Rb decreases. The strain
and stress t to the linear relation in the state of plane strain, so the
strain increases with the punch radii decreases. At a smaller punch
radii, a higher local strain level will be. Regardless of the bending
temperature, a higher local straining level will reduce the spring-
back (Vasudevan et al., 2011). So springback decreases with the
punch radii decreases. In Fig. 7(b), k-value decreases with the punch
radii increasing from 7.5 to 9.3 mm. The reason of this phenomenon
is the same as AZ31 sheets deforming at various temperatures,
which is related to the asymmetry of tensioncompression during
bending processes.
 L. Wang et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 213 (2013) 844850 849

Fig. 9. Optical micrographs of bending specimens in let regions with different punch radius: (a) 7.5 mm, (b) 8.1 mm, (c) 8.7 mm and (d) 9.3 mm.

The optical micrographs of bending specimens in let region
with different punch radii at 100 C are shown in Fig. 9. The regions
where the microstructure obtained are the outer, middle and inner
region in the let of specimens. Due to the grains near the neutral
band, the grains in the middle region are similar to the initial unde-
formed microstructure. In the outer region, the volume fraction of
twins decreases with the punch radii increasing. While, accord-
ing to the stress analysis, the smaller radii of the punch, the larger
of the strain degree and the dislocation motion will be blocked
more seriously, especially in inner region. In order to coordinate
the deformation, a larger amount of twins will occur at the smaller
punch radii. So in theory, the volume fraction of twins increases
when the punch radii decreases. While, since there are so many
twins generated in inner region that it was even not obviously
observing the change of the amount of twins, as shown in Fig. 9.
Yin et al. (2011) reported that {1,0,1,2} tensile twinning
was the underlying reason for the large tensioncompression
asymmetry. Jain et al. (2010) indicated that the asymmetry of
tensioncompression was attributed to the polar nature of tensile
twinning on the {1,0,1,2} plane. The outer tension is dominated
by slip and the inner compression is dominated by {1,0,1,2} twin-
ning. The more twins are in the inner compression zone, the larger
the asymmetry of the deformation mechanism between outer and
inner will be. So the offset of neutral layer increases with the
decrease of punch radii. The k-value increases with the punch radii
decreases, as shown in Fig. 7(b).
Through the experiments above, the k-value exceeds 0.5, and the
magnesium sheets in bending let region become thicker after V-
bending. It can be seen that the neutral layer of magnesium shifts to
the tension zone of the bent sheets, which is different with the tradi-
tional materials which shifts to the compression zone of sheets. As
more materials in the plastic deformation, there is a stronger abil-
ity to resist the elastic resilience with thick sheets. So the thicker
the sheets, the smaller of the springback will be. Irrespective of
850 L. Wang et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 213 (2013) 844850
neutral layer shifting, the calculation of springback of magnesium
alloy is bigger than reality, and the prediction of springback is not
accurate. Thus when it needs accurate springback prediction, the
inuence of neutral layer shifting must be not neglected, especially
for magnesium alloys whose neutral layer shifts outside.
4. Conclusions
In this study, the springback was analyzed by V-bending under
warm conditions with different punch radii. The evolution of
neutral layer and microstructure during bending process was inves-
tigated. Springback decreased with the increase of the forming
temperature and decrease of punch radii. For magnesium alloys,
the neutral layer shifted to tension zone. The offset of neutral
layer decreased with the increase of temperatures and decrease
of the punch radii. The asymmetry of deformation mechanism
between tension outer and compression inner resulted in the
shift of neutral layer. The {1,0,1,2} tensile twining dominated
the deformation compression inner, while the slip dominated
the tension outer. As temperature increasing, the asymmetry of
tensioncompression between inner and outer region became
weaker, so k-value decreased with temperature increasing. Due to
the increase of volume fraction of twins, k-value increased with
the punch radii decreasing. The shift of neutral layer resulted in
the calculation of springback bigger than reality and the traditional
prediction of springback of magnesium alloy was not accurate.
Acknowledgements
Project (CSTC2010AA4035) supported by Scientic and Techno-
logical Project of Chongqing Science and Technology Commission;
Project (CDJZR11130008) supported by the Fundamental Research
Funds for the Central Universities, China; Project (2008DFR50040)
supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of
China.
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