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Investigation of Springback of Metallic Sheets at

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Article in Strain June 2012

DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-1305.2011.00814.x

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 STRAIN - Manuscript Submission

Investigation of springback of metallic

sheets at small strains

P.Y. Manach1 and S. Thuillier1

1 Laboratoire dIngnierie des MATriaux de Bretagne, Universit de Bretagne-Sud, France

ABSTRACT: The bending process of an aluminium alloy and a high strength steel
is analyzed using the cylindrical bending test of Numisheet 2002 [1]. In order to obtain
reliable results to be used for the validation of finite element models or simulations, partic-
ular attention has been paid to the fine measurement of several experimental parameters
by using a high resolution video camera. Several geometrical and contact parameters,
as well as the springback angle are determined. The springback results are compared
with analytical results obtained using a classical bending model. It is shown that the
agreement is good if the work-hardening is identified within a small strain range, corre-
sponding to the one covered during the test, as it mainly involves small deformations,
pure bending and a weak anticlastic effect. Moreover, the decrease of the apparent
modulus as a function of plastic strain leads to a more accurate measurement of the
variation in the springback angle.

KEY WORDS: bending test, springback, metallic materials, video measurements

Introduction
Finite element simulation of the deep drawing process of metals is nowadays a reliable
tool to study the drawability of a piece and it is now expected to give accurately the
final dimensions of the drawn part. However, the local stress state, which is highly
dependent on the strain history, is in many cases only roughly estimated, leading to
scattered predictions of the final shape. Indeed, during the removal of the tools, the
partial recovery of the elastic contribution to the deformation leads to a modification
of the geometry obtained after loading. This is the so-called springback phenomenon,
that mainly involves the bending behaviour of the material, to which numerous studies
have been devoted in order to improve its prediction [2, 3].

Recently, finite element simulation has been used for several bending processes and
for predicting the springback [4, 5, 6, 7]. For instance, the springback characteris-
tics for a plane strain U bending process by elastic-plastic finite element analysis have

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 Investigation of springback of metallic sheets : P.Y. Manach et al.

been investigated [8]. Li et al. [9] mainly dealt with material hardening to analyze
V bending by simulation and showed that the material hardening model directly af-
fects the springback simulation accuracy. Concerning material behaviour, it has been
shown that the work hardening model has an important influence on the springback
calculation [10] and that a combined isotropic-kinematic hardening model, which can
deal with the Bauschinger effect, leads to a better agreement with experimental results
[8]. Choudhry and Lee [11] accounted for inertial dynamic effects in the finite element
analysis of the sheet metal forming process. The effect of blank holder force, friction,
spatial integration, on the forming response was also numerically investigated, i.e. [12].
Chou and Hung [13] carried out finite element analyses of several springback reduction
techniques such as over bending, stretching, arc bottoming, pinching die, spanking and
double bend techniques involved in U channel bending. Some authors [14] reported
springback and residual stresses of bent plates, designed for assembling spherical steel
tanks, using elastic-plastic incremental finite element calculations and experimental val-
idation. Moreover, the springback analysis of different aluminium sheets with different
thicknesses and finite element analysis results were compared with experimental data
[15]. Lei et al. [16] analyzed the free bending and square cup deep drawing to predict
the springback and stress distributions for stainless steel.

However, most of these studies needs reliable experimental data to validate both
finite element simulation or theoretical models [17, 18, 19]. This study is based on an
unconstrained cylindrical bending test involving small plastic strains but large spring-
back, the main interest of which is to exhibit the influence of elastic strains independently
of a large amount of work-hardening [20]. Moreover, this test has been widely used by
many researchers on the forming and springback of sheet metals, because it involves
simple die geometry but complex contact conditions, thus the numerical stability and ac-
curacy of the finite element software can be conveniently evaluated. This study presents
a high precision experimental database on the bending of thin metallic sheets by using
a high video camera measurement. Several parameters are investigated, such as mate-
rial anisotropy, strain rate, contact angle and bifurcation displacement. An analytical
analysis of the bending test is also presented which allows for the estimation of the
springback angle.

Experimental procedure
The springback phenomenon is investigated experimentally with an unconstrained bend-
ing test. The geometry of the tools is given by the benchmark B of Numisheet 2002
conference [1] presented in Fig.1. A rectangular blank of 120 50 mm2 is forced into
the die hole by a cylindrical punch without any blank-holder.
A device has been designed for the purpose of this study and is settled on an elec-
tromechanical Instron testing machine (see Fig.2). The load is recorded with a load cell
of maximum capacity 1 kN. In a first step, the punch is set in contact with the blank,
the displacement is initialized, and then, the die moves up. When the maximum travel
(28.5 mm) is reached, an ejector presses the blank against the punch and the die moves
down.

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 Investigation of springback of metallic sheets : P.Y. Manach et al.

Figure 1: Dimensions of the unconstrained cylindrical bending test [1]. R1 = 23.5 mm, R2 = 25.5
mm, R3 = 4 mm, W = 50 mm

(a) (b)

Figure 2: a) Principle scheme and b) picture of the experimental bending device. 1. V-punch
support, 2. punch, 3. die, 4. ejector, 5. blank

The blanks were mechanically cut at different orientations to the rolling direction
(RD) and then machined in order to eliminate the hardened area induced by cutting and
thus to remove any stress concentration. The tests were conducted without lubricant.
During the process, the shape of a long edge of the blank is followed with a high reso-
lution digital camera (camera JAI 4 Megapixels). Images in levels of gray at prescribed
points (7, 14, 21, 28.5 mm of die displacement respectively and after springback) are
recorded. To enhance the contrast, the tools were painted black and the blank side white.

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 Investigation of springback of metallic sheets : P.Y. Manach et al.

Figure 3: High resolution pictures before (left side) and after (right side) threshold for 7, 14, 21,
28.5 mm of die displacement and after springback on the AA6111 aluminium alloy

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 Investigation of springback of metallic sheets : P.Y. Manach et al.

10-bit images in levels of gray were recorded and then thresholding was performed to
obtain black and white images in order to extract the blank outlines. Fig.3 shows the
profiles obtained for the prescribed displacements during loading and after unloading.
During the test, the sheet is bent around axis ~y (see Fig.1), which creates a main
curvature with radius R in plane (~x,~z). Moreover, a secondary curvature of opposite
sign and with radius R , therefore anticlastic, is formed in the orthogonal plane of
the bend plane, thus (~y,~z), which is not accessible for video measurement. Numerous
publications have dealt with the anticlastic effect going from the applied elastic theory
to pure plate bending [21, 22]. Thus, adimensional criteria giving the surface shape is
generally used, = w2 /Rh, which depends on the width w, on bending radius R, and
on blank thickness h. This surface allows for two extreme shapes: when < 1, the
transverse curvature is constant and the ratio of radii R /R equals Poissons coefficient.
When > 20, the transverse section is planar in the central zone and only the free
edges have a high gradient curvature. The behaviour of the sheet can be approached by
simplified models in both of these extreme cases: when < 1, the sheet width is small,
thus the behaviour is close to that of a beam in plane stress. When > 20, the width
of the sheet is very large, the approximation of a plate in plane strain can reasonably be
used. Here, = 38.3 and therefore yy = 0 is assumed.

Tensile tests
Two materials were used in this study: an AA6111-T4 aluminium alloy and a High
Strength Steel (HSS) supplied by Alcoa and Posco respectively. For both materials the
thickness is 1.0 mm. Tensile tests were carried out on rectangular samples of dimension
20 140 mm2 . The free edges were machined in order to eliminate the hardened
area induced by cutting and thus to increase the range of homogeneous deformation.
Monotonous tensile tests were carried out at 0 (Rolling Direction: RD), 45 (Diagonal
Direction: DD), and 90 (Transverse Direction: TD) to the RD in order to study the
material anisotropy. For these tests, a cross-head speed of 20 mm.min1 was imposed
which led to ' 2.4 103 s1 . A logarithmic strain measure, as well as Cauchy stress
were used. Fig.4 shows that the mechanical characteristics are higher in the RD and
lower at 90 to the RD for the aluminium alloy.

Material Orientation E YS UTS A% r

AA6111-T4 RD 70.5 0.34 194.1 315.7 27.6 0.89
DD 71.4 0.33 177.9 306.7 27.5 0.61
TD 69.9 0.34 173.4 302.5 26.8 0.66
HSS steel RD 217.5 0.30 203.4 353.7 40.4 1.52
DD 220.3 0.30 218.1 353.7 40.3 2.09
TD 230.6 0.30 212.7 353.7 39.2 2.37

Table 1: Mechanical properties of the AA6111-T4 aluminium alloy and the HSS high strength steel.
Value of E is in GPa and YS and UTS are in MPa [1]

For the high strength steel, the work-hardening curves are very close no matter
the orientation of the sample. Each test is performed at least three times to ensure

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 Investigation of springback of metallic sheets : P.Y. Manach et al.

good reproducibility of the experiments and a test is chosen as representative of the

experimental data. As has been previously mentioned, the tests were carried out at a
low strain rate, thus limiting the rise in temperature caused by the deformation. The
measured mechanical properties are given in table 1.

500

400
Cauchy stress (MPa)

300

200

Al6111 RD
100 Al6111 DD
Al6111 TD
HSS RD
HSS DD
HSS TD
0
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30
Logarithmic strain

Figure 4: Tensile tests at 0 (Rolling Direction: RD), 45 (Diagonal Direction: DD), and 90 (Trans-
verse Direction: TD) for the AA6111-T4 aluminium alloy and the HSS steel [1]

Bending tests

Force-displacement curves
In order to check the reproducibility of the results, at least six bending tests were also
performed for each orientation to the RD. The punch speed is constant during the two
stages of the process and equal to 0.2 mm.s1 . Force-displacement curves are shown
in Fig.5. These curves are representative of all the tests. After an initial linear evolu-
tion of the force with respect to the tool stroke, which is the same for all orientations,
the evolution is non-linear and a slight anisotropy is exhibited for both materials. A
maximum force is reached at around 23 mm, which corresponds to the maximum bend-
ing of the blank and then a pure sliding of the blank between the die and the punch occurs.

The influence of the strain rate has also been checked for both materials in the RD.
For the aluminium alloy, within the range 0.2-8 mm.s1 , no significant influence of the
punch speed on the force-displacement curve was recorded in Fig.6. Conversely the

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 Investigation of springback of metallic sheets : P.Y. Manach et al.

300
Punch force (N)

200

100
Al6111 RD
Al6111 DD
Al6111 TD
HSS RD
HSS DD
HSS TD
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Punch displacement (mm)

Figure 5: Punch force-stroke curves for both materials. Blanks cut at 0 , 45 and 90 to the rolling
direction were tested

HSS steel is more sensitive to the strain rate and the maximum force highly increases
for 8 mm.s1 .

Contact parameters
In order to measure the geometrical shape of the deformed blank, two specific points
are considered: the one situated at the top of the blank ends and another one located 20
mm farther down along the edge from the first one, both on the outer profile (see Fig.7).

Material Orientation End of After Springback Standard

loading springback angle deviation
AA6111 RD 21.0 54.4 33.4 0.415
DD 21.0 53.3 32.3 0.412
TD 21.2 52.9 31.7 0.399
HSS RD 22.5 35.9 13.4 0.482
DD 22.2 35.8 13.6 0.339
TD 22.5 36.0 13.5 0.505

Table 2: Angles between the straight parts of the blank outline measured at the end of loading and
after unloading

They define a straight line and table 2 presents the measured angles between this

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 Investigation of springback of metallic sheets : P.Y. Manach et al.

300
Punch force (N)

200

100
Al6111 0.2 mm/s
Al6111 1 mm/s
Al6111 8 mm/s
HSS 0.2 mm/s
HSS 1 mm/s
HSS 8 mm/s
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Punch displacement (mm)

Figure 6: Strain rate effect on the punch force-stroke curve for both materials in the rolling direction

50
Outer profile
Point A
Point B
40 Circle
Vertical position (mm)

30

20

10

0
0 10 20 30
Horizontal position (mm)

Figure 7: Image treatment to measure the opening angle

line and its symmetric counterpart at the end of loading and after springback. The angle
between the straight lines is measured on the outside outline of the blank profile. As
can be seen in table 2, the angle at the end of loading does not depend on the orientation
for both materials. After loading, the angle is slightly higher for HSS than for the
aluminium alloy that can be due to the device stiffness. Conversely after unloading, a

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 Investigation of springback of metallic sheets : P.Y. Manach et al.

slight anisotropy is recorded for the aluminium alloy, the springback angle being higher
at 0 than at 90 . Moreover, the higher the force and the higher the angle after unloading.
The presented values are averages over at least six tests, for each orientation, and the
standard deviation is in-between 0.3 -0.5 .
Moreover, in order to study the contact state during the test, the position and the
number of the blank lines in contact with the punch are determined. The following
procedure is used: the inside outline of the profile is considered for a given stroke and
the punch is represented by a perfect circle, whose centre is known from the image (see
Fig.3). The distance d between the blank outline and the circle is calculated along a
radial direction and the contact lines are taken at the minimum distance (Fig.8.a). This
is illustrated in Fig.8.b for two different cases on the aluminium alloy. For a punch
stroke of 7 mm, only one contact point is observed in the centre of the sample. For a
punch stroke of 14 mm, two points are observed from the centre of the punch to each
contact zone and the angle, as defined previously, is calculated (table 3).

800 6
Al6111 7 mm
7 mm Al6111 14 mm
700 14 mm
21 mm 5
28 mm
600
Vertical pixel position

4
500
distance d

400 3

300
2
200 d

1
100

0 0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 -50 -40 -30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 50
Horizontal pixel position Angle from center

Figure 8: Image treatment to measure the angles between the contact lines. d is the distance
between the outside outline of the blank and the circle representing the punch

Material Orientation Punch displacement

7 mm 14 mm 21 mm 28.5 mm
AA6111 RD 3.9 59.1 107.1 150.1
DD 6.0 59.0 107.0 150.0
TD 8.3 59.2 106.6 149.8
HSS RD 20.7 61.6 107.3 149.0
DD 22.9 62.2 107.1 148.9
TD 21.9 61.9 106.6 149.0

Table 3: Angles between the lines in contact with the punch for both materials

Experimentally, it is observed that at the beginning of the process, only one line is

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 Investigation of springback of metallic sheets : P.Y. Manach et al.

in contact with the punch and then the punch looses contact in the blank center. At this
time, contact takes place symmetrically at two places. The stroke corresponding to the
transition from one line in contact to two lines in contact was also determined. Images
were taken for every 0.1 mm displacement of the punch, within a range of 5 to 9 mm.
One contact line corresponds to an angle (as defined above) of 0 and two contact lines
to a positive non-zero value. The results are shown in table 4. It should be noticed that
the scattering of these data is higher than those obtained for the other parameters.

Material Orientation One line Two lines Standard deviation

AA6111 RD 7.1 mm 7.2 mm 0.3
DD 6.9 mm 7.0 mm 0.2
TD 6.8 mm 6.9 mm 0.2
HSS RD 5.5 mm 5.6 mm 0.1
DD 5.4 mm 5.5 mm 0.3
TD 5.3 mm 5.4 mm 0.2

Table 4: Measured punch stroke corresponding to one line in contact or two lines in contact with
the punch

These measurements show that there is line contact between the sheet and the punch
at the beginning of bending, however during the forming process, it does not become
a surface contact by following the punch surface. Indeed, at the beginning of bending,
when the bending radius is quite large and the sheet is in the elastic domain, the anticlastic
curvature implies that the punch-sheet contact is reduced in the circular zone at the
centre of the sample. The contact is, therefore, not line contact but surface, and even
punctual contact, when contact begins. In the absence of friction during the descent of
the punch, the contact surface does not increase, but rather separates into two surfaces
located on both sides of the punch. This separation takes place at higher displacement
when the blank stiffness is lower (7 mm for aluminium compared to 5.4 mm for steel).
Under the centre of the punch, the sheet detaches consequently bending at a smaller
radius than the one imposed by the punch, therefore creating contact bifurcation. The
springback is, thus, lower as sheet strain is higher. Moreover, Meinders et al. [20] have
shown through numerical simulation that punch-sheet contact loss is mainly linked to
the friction coefficient between the sheet and tools.

Evaluation of springback
To analyze the parameters, which have an influence on springback, a study of the
bending test was carried out. The sample was assimilated to a plate of length L, width
w and thickness h. This test is similar to a pure bending test which can be carried out
analytically with good approximation for the small strain range. Indeed, as the thickness
of the sheet is small enough compared to the other dimensions, it can be considered
that any flat section before deformation stays flat afterwards and that the Kirchoff-Love
hypothesis in which normal stress is insignificant remains valid. Angle corresponds
to the angle of the intersection of lines (AB) and (CD), tangent to the exterior profile of

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 Investigation of springback of metallic sheets : P.Y. Manach et al.

the sheet as in Fig.7. Springback is characterized by the variation of the bending angle
between the end of loading and unloading.
In the case of a pure bending test, there is thus no tension strain of the mean fibre,
while the evolution of local strain in the thickness of the sample using the frame presented
in Fig.1 can be approximated by:
z
xx = (1)
R
where z is the distance in comparison to the mean fibre and R the curvature radius
of the mean fibre. As was seen in the previous section, the ratio lets one disregard the
anticlastic effect with good approximation. The behaviour of the material is represented
with an isotropic elastic-plastic hardening of Hollomon type, which is the most widely
used hardening law for industrial numerical simulations of sheet forming processes.
The stress state is supposed uniaxial and xx denotes one of the Cauchy stress tensor
component. With these hypotheses, the stress state in the thickness of the sheet is
defined for z > 0 by:
z z0
xx = Exx = E if z (2)
 z n R 2
z0
xx = Knxx = K if z> (3)
R 2
where z0 corresponds to the thickness at which plasticity begins. It is possible to deduce
from these relationships the expression of the bending momentum of the section:
Z z0  Z z0 Z h  n
2 z n 2 z 2 z
M~y = w h K zdz w z E zdz w z K zdz (4)
2 R 20 R 0
2
R
Through integration of this relationship, the bending momentum can be obtained as:
!
Ewz30 Kw hn+2 zn+2
0
M~y = n+1 n = Me + M p (5)
12R 2 R n+2
Thus, using kinematic, geometric, and material hypotheses, it is possible to determine
the stress state and the bending momentum. Springback evolution can be followed
with the help of the curvature radius of the strained zones. At the end of the forming
process, the curvature radius is imposed by the geometry of the tools. Once the tools
are withdrawn, the load progressively decreases until tool-sample contact is suppressed
and the bending momentum decreases regularly and elastically. Thus, springback cor-
responds to release from the bending momentum, the resulting stress state then shows
an equivalent linear distribution, but opposite to the one obtained at the end of loading.
In taking R, Rr and Re as the curvature radii, respectively, at the end of loading, after
springback and due to springback, the variation of the curvature is such that:
1 1 1
= (6)
Rr R Re
As springback is governed by elastic strains, the evolution of the bending momentum
during unloading can be determined with:
Ewh3
M~y = (7)
12Re

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 Investigation of springback of metallic sheets : P.Y. Manach et al.

Springback is characterized by a variation of the bend angle, which is the difference

between angle at the end of loading and angle r = + after springback. Moreover,
in considering that there is no extention of the mean fibre, the length of arc L of the
curved part of the sample stays the same before and after unloading. Therefore at the
end of loading: L = R and after springback: L = Rr r . We can, thus, deduce that
R = Rr ( + ) and:
R Rr
= (8)
Rr
which gives:
R
= (9)
Re
From this relationship, several authors have calculated the variation of the angle of
springback in function to the material behaviour. For example, by considering a linear
isotropic elastic-plastic hardening behaviour of slope k, one obtains the springback
formula of Fukui [23] giving the measurement of the angular variation of springback:

0 R 3
    
Eeq Eeq 30 R Eeq
= + 1 4 1 (10)
E E Eh E Eh
where 0 is the yield stress and Eeq = kE/(k + E). In the case of an elastic-plastic model
with non linear isotropic hardening of the Hollomon type, one obtains the relationship:

z3 12RM p
= 03 (11)
h Eh3
The material properties are identified from tensile tests of Fig.4 separately for each
orientation and each material. Three different identifications are performed: a first one
using a Hollomon hardening law on the strain range 0-5%, denoted by K5% and n5% , a
second one on the strain range 0-25% denoted by K25% and n25% , and a third one using
a linear hardening law on the strain range 0-5% denoted by k5% . An example of the
results are presented Fig.9 for the aluminium alloy in the RD. The obtained values are
those given in table 5:

Material Orientation K5% n5% K25% n25% k5%

AA6111 RD 431.0 0.164 563.9 0.242 1506.7
DD 412.1 0.160 546.6 0.242 1751.5
TD 405.0 0.162 544.2 0.247 1721.6
HSS RD 504.0 0.162 603.3 0.210 1851.4
DD 493.6 0.154 582.0 0.198 1738.9
TD 482.8 0.143 588.0 0.195 1831.8

Table 5: Material parameters obtained from tensile tests for several hardening laws and strain
ranges. Values of K5% , K25% , k5% are in MPa

In our case, the punch radius is R = 23.5 mm, the thickness is h = 1 mm, and the
angle reached at the end of the forming stage is given in table 3. The variation of
springback angle can be calculated using the previous model, the values of which are
given in table 6:

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 Investigation of springback of metallic sheets : P.Y. Manach et al.

AA6111 RD
Hollomon 5%
400 Hollomon 25%
Linear 5%
Cauchy stress (MPa)

300
300

250
200

200

100 150

100
0.000 0.025 0.050
0
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25
Logarithmic strain

Figure 9: Identification of the tensile curve of the AA6111 alloy in the RD for several hardening
laws and strain ranges

Material Orient. Exp k5% Error Holl. 5% Error Holl. 25% Error
AA6111 RD 33.4 31.56 5.83% 31.68 5.43% 29.71 12.42%
DD 32.3 29.26 10.39% 30.40 6.25% 28.46 13.49%
TD 31.7 29.33 8.08% 30.46 4.07% 28.43 11.5%
HSS RD 13.4 12.03 11.39% 12.06 11.10% 11.77 13.85%
DD 13.6 12.04 12.95% 12.08 12.58% 11.77 15.55%
TD 13.5 11.66 15.78% 11.85 13.92% 11.53 17.08%

Table 6: Variation of the springback angle for several hardening laws and strain ranges

It is observed that the model leads to a satisfying approximation of the variation of the
springback angle. However, it is shown that the identification of material parameters
should be performed on a strain range close to the strain range involved during the
bending stage. Indeed, the error over the experimental results is twice less by performing
an identification on the strain range 0-5% than on the entire tensile curve, even by
considering a linear hardening law.
The previous results can be improved by considering the evolution of the slope
during unloading (apparent modulus) as a function of plastic strain. According to [24],
the variation of the apparent modulus can be approximated by a decrease of 10% of
Youngs modulus for steels, and of 5% for aluminium alloys. Let us denote by Ex the
value of the apparent modulus for a given strain value of x% for which the springback
occurs. The variation of the springback angle in the case of an isotropic hardening of

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 Investigation of springback of metallic sheets : P.Y. Manach et al.

Hollomon type is modified in:

Ez30 12RM p
= 3
(12)
Ex h Ex h3
The results obtained using this last relation are presented in table 7:

Material Orient. Exp Ex Error

AA6111 RD 33.4 66975 33.34 0.17%
DD 32.3 67830 32.00 0.94%
TD 31.7 65930 32.06 1.13%
HSS RD 13.4 195750 13.40 0.03%
DD 13.6 198279 13.42 1.30%
TD 13.5 207504 13.16 2.61%

Table 7: Variation of the springback angle by taking into account the decrease of the apparent
modulus

It can be noted that the consideration of the variation of the apparent modulus vs.
plastic strain allows a better analysis of the springback phenomenon for the results are
very close to experimental ones. This shows the high influence of this effect during
unloading, whose magnitude is even larger than the fitting range of the constitutive
law. Most of the time, this test is well-known for the complex evolution of its contact-
friction conditions which mainly determines the bending and springback behaviour. It is
shown that a fine modeling of both elastic and plastic behaviours, whatever the contact-
friction conditions, leads to an accurate prediction of the variation in the springback
angle. These results are consistent with the difficulty usually observed in predicting the
springback effect after deep drawing operations. In most of the cases, the behaviour
is systematically identified in the large deformation range, with a constant Youngs
modulus, regardless the strain range where the springback occurs.

Conclusions
The following conclusions emerge from this investigation:

1. an experimental study of an unconstrained cylindrical bending test has been per-

formed using a video measurement of the shape of the sample. The tests present a
high level of reproducibility and several geometrical and contact parameters have
been obtained, as well as the punch force-displacement curves. The results ob-
tained on two materials, an AA6111-T4 aluminium alloy and a High Strength
Steel show that both materials present different springback behaviours, and that
the evolution of the force and the contact state, such as bifurcation displacement,
differs.
2. Theoretical bending model has been used to correlate the measurements of the
springback angle after bending. The mechanical properties of both materials have
been determined using tensile tests and it is shown that the model, identified on
the right strain range despite systematically on the large deformation range, leads

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 Investigation of springback of metallic sheets : P.Y. Manach et al.

to a rather good description of the experimental results. Moreover, the decrease

of the apparent modulus as a function of plastic strain leads to a more accurate
measurement and an improvement of the variation in the springback angle.

Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank V. Gurin for the experimental tests.

References
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simulation of 3D sheet forming processes. Ed. by D.Y. Yang, S.I. Oh, H. Huh, Y.H. Kim, Jeju
Island, South Korea
2. Kobyashi, S., Oh, S., Altan, T., 1989. Metal Forming and the Finite Element Method. Oxford
University Press
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