Abstract
In order to predict the crack defects in sheet metal bending, an Lemaitre criterion was improved to effectively predict the forming limit in bending while considering the stress triaxiality , the maximum principal stress ratio , and the influence of plastic strain on the damage. Taking 7075-T6 aluminum alloy as the research object, the crack forming in sheet bending was simulated to obtain the criterion parameter so as to determine the cracking threshold. Three point bending test and metallographic test were carried out on 7075-T6 aluminum alloy sheet with 6 mm in thickness. The accuracy of the criterion for crack prediction was verified by comparing the press measure of experimental, simulation and theoretical values. The results show that the improved Lemaitre fracture criterion is 9.7 mm, which is consistent with the results of simulation and experiment. Therefore the improved Lemaitre fracture criterion has a certain accuracy in predicting the crack of bending forming.
In recent years, the plastic forming methods are contin-uously evolving; in the process of new product development, if the blank, die, forming conditions of the process parameters are not properly selected, products often generate cracks and other defects, which cannot meet the quality requirements, resulting in large economic losses. Traditional plastic forming process and die design use trial and error method and empiri-cal method, by which product design and manufacturing cost is high and cycle is long. Therefore, many scholars have devoted themselves to study the theory and method of process formability evaluation for defect prediction. With the development of technology, the application of finite element and boundary elemen
A lot of research have been done on the prediction of crack defects in plastic forming process. Ami
Lemaitre ductile fracture criterion combined with finite element simulation is a widely used method to predict the cracking of materials during plastic formin
In this study, the Lemaitre criterion was improved by considering the stress triaxiality , the maximum principal stress ratio and the influence of plastic strain on the damage. A parameter indicating the degree of cracking was proposed. The theoretical press measure was in good agreement with the simulation and experimental results. The improved criterion can effectively predict the crack generation.
In the process of sheet metal bending, the convex bending side of sheet metal is subjected to tensile stress and the concave bending side is subjected to compressive stress. According to the damage mechanics, Mises equivalent stress is used to describe the yield behavior.
Mises equivalent stress:
(1) |
where , and are principal stress.
According to the research of Y
(2) |
where is the damage variable of micro holes, is the Poisson's ratio of the material, is the Hydrostatic stress (MPa), is equivalent strain, is the stress triaxiality.
According to
(3) |
Since Poisson's ratio and relative density of the material conform to the normal distribution relationship, when the material fails, its relative density is a fixed value and does not change with deformation. With the increase in strain, will decrease, but the magnitude is small and negligible. So, and are constant. When is shifted to the left,
(4) |
where is a constant related to the generation of microholes in the large plastic deformation of plates. It reflects the size of the micropore damage variable. The physical meaning is to reflect the volume fraction of holes in the process of material deformation.
In the process of metal plastic deformation, when the plastic strain reaches a certain degree, regional damage will increase significantly, which will further affect the plastic deformation of sheet metal. Therefore,
(5) |
where is the damage equivalent strain critical value of obvious cracks, is the Mises equivalent stress.
According to Ref.[
(6) |
where is the influence coefficient of the maximum principal stress.
The damage model is based on damage mechanics and fracture mechanics to analyze the mechanism of crack generation from the microscopic aspect. So, the calculated value is the limit value of the tensile stress in the damaged area.
In order to reflect the bending process of sheet metal, crack initiation and propagation path in the deformation process accurately and intuitively, DEFORM finite element analysis software was selected to simulate the crack generatio
The three-point symmetrical bending is a large deformation process. The model and size parameters are shown in

Fig.1 Three-point bending model (a) and stress cloud diagram (b)
The phenomenon of simulation is shown in

Fig.2 Position of the three points and corresponding colored stress patterns of P1, P2 and P3 at initial crack generation (a); change of the stress with time at the points of P1, P2 and P3 (b); change of stress in the crack extending (c–f)
1) In the process of bending, upper surface is compressive stress and bottom surface is tensile stress. The variation trend of the forces is roughly the same, but the value of the force is slightly different. This is due to the neutral layer offset phenomenon caused by tension-compression asymmetr
2) With the increase in time, the equivalent stress of P2 suddenly decreases at 28 s. No obvious crack defect appears on the surface from the stress cloud diagram of P2 in
3) With the increase in the press measure, the equivalent stress of P1 decreases suddenly at 36 s. This is mainly due to the crack produced at point P2. With the application of force, the crack of P2 expands to point P1. The time of 36 s is also the time point when the crack of aluminum alloy plate occurs at P1.
The simulated data of different working conditions are shown in
(7) |
L/mm | H/mm | /MPa | /MPa | /MPa | /MPa |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
250 | 40 | 0.135 | 663 | 363 | 763 |
300 | 30 | 0.157 | 671 | 361 | 751 |
300 | 40 | 0.135 | 663 | 359 | 765 |
The experimental material was 7075-T6 hot-rolled aluminum alloy plate with 6 mm in thickness, whose chemical composition was provided by the supplier as follows: 5.9wt% Zn, 2.7wt% Mg, 1.6wt% Cu, 0.09wt% Si, 0.28wt% Fe, 0.21wt% Cr, and the balance Al.
1) Symmetrical three-point bending. The rate of upper die was 0.2 mm/min; the changes of stress-strain curves were observed during the pressing process.
2) Due to the relatively high hardness of 7 series aluminum alloy, when the first plate was bended, the roll work was not stopped in time when the crack occurred, and the sheet was broken, so the second experiment was carried out.
3) According to the experimental data of the first sheet metal, the approximate values of the force and press measure at the time of crack formation can be obtained. Combined with the numerical solution, we controlled the press measure of the second sheet metal between 8.5 and 9 mm. After the test, the sheet metal does not break, and no macroscopic cracks are produced.
4) The data of the two experiments were analyzed and processed. The variation curve of stress with displacement is shown in

Fig.3 Experimental force-displacement curve
5) The experiment is compared with the simulation results, as shown in
Parameter | Simulation | Exp.1 | Exp.2 |
---|---|---|---|
Material code | 7075-T6 | ||
Sheet size/mm | 100×50×6 | ||
Temperature/°C | 20 | ||
Position of the upper die | Symmetric bending | ||
Rate of upper die/mm·mi | 0.2 | ||
Roll spacing/mm | 70 | ||
Mold drawing |
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Press measure/mm | 10.0 | 9.27 | 8.67 |
Crack | Yes | Yes | No |
Consequence |
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Metallographic structure analysis is a comprehensive analysis and determination of microstructure morphology, grain size, inclusion, defect, and composition phase, which is widely used in material science research, production inspection, failure analysi
1) Sampling. In order to facilitate the observation of stress states and microstructure evolution at different positions of sheet metal during bending forming, and to make the samples representative, seven small samples were selected from the base material and numbered as 0#,1#, 2#, 3#, 4#, 5#, 6#, as shown in

Fig.4 Schematic diagram of sampling
2) Grinding and polishing. Each sample was polished successively with metallographic sandpaper of 240#, 600#, 800#, 1000#, 1600# and 2000#.
3) Corrosion. The polished sample was corroded with Keller's reagent (2.5 mL HNO3+1.5 mL HCL+1 mL HF+ 95 mL distilled water).
4) Observation and analysis. The surface of the material was observed by a metallographic microscope.

Fig.5 Metallographic microstructure of fractured plates at different stress positions in Exp.1 at room temperature: (a) 0#, (b) 1#, (c) 2#, (d) 3#, (e) 4#, (f, h) 5#, and (g) 6#
Due to the distance from the stress position, there are small microholes in the plate structure, which are evenly distributed in the structure in Fig.
The main cracks are initiated at the root of the fracture and expand along the grain boundary in a “Z” path, and then expand perpendicular to the load direction in Fig.
As shown in

Fig.6 Metallographic microstructures of plates without obvious cracks at different stress positions in Exp.2 at room temperature: (a) 0#, (b) 1#, (c) 2#, (d) 3#, (e) 4#, (f, h) 5#, and (g) 6#
In order to verify the accuracy of the improved fracture criterion, the theoretical value of the fracture criterion is compared with the experimental results. The , and of point and the change of threshold with in the bending process of plate with 6 mm in thickness are summarized in

Fig.7 Curves of stress , , and the threshold as a function of (a); curve of press measure as a function of (b); comparison of press measure (c)
In the process of force loading, when =0.128, the threshold value of fracture criterion =11.65, and the press measure is 9.7 mm from Fig.
1) In the bending process of the metal plate, cracks first occur at the midpoint of the convex bending side, and then expand to both sides. The damage degree at different positions in the metallological experiment verifies the conclusions obtained from the simulation.
2) In the process of plate bending, micropores are generated, and the pores polymerize to produce obvious microcracks. The cracks are initiated in the way of transcrystalline propagation, and expand in the mixed way of intercrystalline and transcrystalline propagation from the metallography experiment.
3) The improved Lemaitre fracture criterion considers the effects of stress triaxiality, maximum principal stress ratio and plastic strain on the damage. The theoretical values obtained from the prediction are in good agreement with the simulation and experiment values, suggesting that it can provide a good guiding significance for crack prediction.
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