The Effect of Test Machine Compliance on the Measured Shear Punch Yield Stress as Predicted Using Finite Element Analysis

Abstract

In previous research involving the use of the shear punch test, it was assumed that the displacement of the punch tip was only slightly different than the crosshead displacement. The present work explores this assumption and its ramifications by simulating the shear punch test with finite element analysis (FEA). The simulations suggest that punch tip displacement is much less than previously assumed, and that for the test frames which have been used, crosshead displacement is over an order of magnitude greater than punch tip displacement. This difference in displacements is thought to be due to test machine and punch compliance, and a simple elasticity calculation of the compliance of the punch, the test machine, and a specimen gives a result which is in agreement with the FEA simulations. The effect of using punch tip displacement on the observed effective shear yield stress was evaluated using FEA simulated shear punch tests on several different metals. Yield was measured at several different offset shear strains with a 1.0% offset shear yield strength measurement providing the best correlation with 0.2% offset uniaxial yield strength. When using the 1.0% offset shear yield values, the previously observed material-to-material variability in the tensile-shear correlation all butmore » disappeared. Based on this work, it appears that the material-to-material variations in prior correlations between uniaxial yield strength and shear yield strength is due to a combination of large test machine compliance and material-to-material differences in the work hardening exponent.« less