STUDY OF METAL FORMING AND FORMABILITY OF 6082 ALUMINIUM ALLOY

Abstract

In the present work, finite element (FE) simulations were performed to capture the influence of friction and temperature gradient on barreling and the local strain distribution across the cross-section of the hot compressed specimen. The FE predicted deformation histories for different regions of the hot compressed sample were exported to the viscoplastic self consistent (VPSC) model to perform texture simulations in the variable velocity gradient mode and to capture the texture heterogeneity. Differences in texture intensity, as well as characteristics, were observed depending upon the distance from the central region of the hot compressed sample. The implications of texture inhomogeneity in the hot compressed sample during subsequent steps of the thermomechanical processing cycle (cold rolling and recrystallization annealing) was analyzed by performing additional VPSC simulations in plain strain deformation mode and recrystallization simulations considering the probability of nucleation of new grains and their corresponding growth probability. Formability is an important aspect to see in the sheet metal forming process. To plot forming limit curve (FLC) major and minor strain at different rho is required. True stress-strain data for all rho values are obtained with the help of VPSC by using tensile data as input. FE simulation was performed using VPSC output to predict the forming limit curve (FLC) for pre-aged and naturally aged AA 6082.