Multi-Axial Deformation Setup for Microscopic Testing of Sheet Metal to Fracture

While the industrial interest in sheet metal with improved specific-properties led to the design of new alloys with complex microstructures, predicting their safe forming limits and understanding their microstructural deformation mechanisms remain as significant challenges largely due to the inadequacy of the existing experimental tools. The investigation of the strain-path dependent failure mechanisms requires miniaturized testing equipment, which can be placed in a scanning electron microscope for in situ experiments. So far, such tests could only be carried out for a single strain path (uniaxial tension). In this work, in order to fill this gap, a miniaturized Marciniak test setup is designed, built and tested. With this setup real-time, multi-axial tests of industrial sheet metal can be carried out to the point of fracture within a scanning electron microscope. Proof-of-principle experiments demonstrate that a realm of information can be obtained, crucial for the understanding of the mechanical behavior of new alloys.