Effect of yield surface evolution on bending induced cross sectional deformation of thin-walled sections

Bend–stretch forming is commonly used to shape extruded tubular aluminum parts for automotive and other applications. The tubes are pre-stretched, pressurized and bent over rigid curved dies. Tension prevents buckling of the compressed side and helps reduce springback. An unwanted byproduct of the process is distortion of the cross section. Small amounts of pressure applied during forming can reduce this distortion. The problem was studied through a combination of experiment and analysis. In numerical models of the process the inelastic behavior of the aluminum alloy was modeled through isotropically hardening plasticity. With the limitations imposed by this model, use of a J₂-type yield surface resulted in uniform underprediction of cross sectional deformation. The predictions matched the measurements when a non-quadratic yield function appropriately “calibrated,” was used instead. The change in yield function shape alters the instantaneous normals to the yield surface which, in turn, affect the calculated strain increments. This paper demonstrates how suitably calibrated nonlinear kinematic hardening models can have the same corrective effect. The calibration involves selection of a suitable kinematic hardening rule. Changes in the hardening direction alter the instantaneous normals and therefore alter the plastic strain increments resulting in approximately the same net effect as the switch from the von Mises to the non-quadratic yield function.