Deformation mechanisms and fracture in tension under cyclic bending plus compression, single point and double-sided incremental sheet forming processes

Abstract

This study investigates the deformation and fracture mechanisms of two testing methods, tension under cyclic bending (TCB) and tension under cyclic bending plus compression (TCBC) and their relationship to single point (SPIF) and double-sided (DSIF) incremental sheet forming processes. Experimental tests were carried out by using a bespoke TCBC test rig and a DSIF machine with grade 1 pure Ti samples. The results show the elongation-to-fracture has a high relevance to the bending depth and compression, which leads to detailed investigation to the stress and strain evolutions in the local bending region using finite element (FE) method. A new Gurson-Tvergaard-Needleman (GTN) model is proposed with a modified shear damage mechanism utilising experimental fracture strain loci to calibrate the Lode angle effect under low stress triaxiality. It is found the bending and reverse-bending stages correspond to different stress states and significantly affect the fracture occurrence in TCB, TCBC and SPIF, DSIF processes. For the first time, the stress paths in the plane of stress triaxiality and Lode parameter are used to reveal the transition of deformation modes from equi-biaxial to plane strain tension in SPIF and DSIF, as compared to the plane stress tension in TCB and TCBC. Using the new GTN model, the simulation gives accurate predictions to the elongation-to-fracture in TCB and TCBC, and the fracture depth in SPIF and DSIF with an error of less than 8% in comparison to the experimental results. Although there is a distinction between the equi-biaxial and uniaxial tension deformations, the study concludes that the TCB and TCBC tests provide an insight into the formability improvement and represent intrinsic deformation mechanisms of SPIF and DSIF processes, an ongoing research question, which has drawn considerable attention in recent years.