821

Eect of pre-straining and grain size on the limit

strains in sheet metal forming
M Shakeri*, A Sadough and B M Dariani
Mechanical Engineering Department, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
Abstract: Forming processes of metal sheets are generally limited by plastic instability phenomena and
ow localization. The occurrence of these phenomena is dependent on the material properties such as
strain-hardening exponent, strain rate sensitivity, anisotropy parameters and grain size and is also
dependent on the strain path. The formability of the sheet metals can be assessed by the forming
limit diagram (FLD). In this study, a theoretical model using the `many slices' approach is
introduced to simulate the neck growth. The eects of changing strain path and grain sizes on the
limit strains are then investigated both theoretically and experimentally. The low carbon steel ST12
and austenitic stainless steel 321 are used in the experimental approach. The theoretical and
experimental FLDs of these sheets are obtained for dierent grain sizes and after pre-straining in
uniaxial and biaxial tension parallel to the prior rolling direction. It is shown that the limit strains
are quite sensitive to the grain size and strain path. Thus, by selecting the proper strain path and
grain size, better formability properties can be achieved. Also, good agreement is obtained between
theoretical and experimental results.
Keywords: sheet metal forming, limit strains, forming limit diagram, pre-straining, grain size
NOTATION
c
d0
f
F
G
H
K
m
n
P
r
R
Rt
ta
ta0
tb
tn

strength coecient
grain size
non-uniformity index
anisotropy constant
anisotropy constant
anisotropy constant
material constant
strain rate sensitivity parameter
strain-hardening exponent
anisotropy constant
anisotropy parameter
initial surface roughness
surface roughness
thickness of sheet outside necking band
initial sheet thickness in homogeneous area
thickness of sheet inside necking band
sheet thickness in weakest slice

"
"0

total plastic strain

pre-strain applied to sample prior to the
experiment

The MS was received on 16 August 1999 and was accepted after revision
for publication on 17 February 2000.
*Corresponding author: Mechanical Engineering Department, Amirkabir University of Technology, 424 Hafez Avenue, Tehran, Iran.
B07099

"3
d
"a
d
"b
d"tt
e
nn
nt
xx
yy
1

thickness strain
strain increment in homogeneous area
strain increment in heterogeneous area
strain increment in the direction of defected
area
eective stress
stress component normal to defected area
tangential stress
normal stress in x direction
normal stress in y direction
INTRODUCTION

The manufacture of sheet metal components using

pressworking is a cost-eective processing method. In
this way it is possible to produce components at a very
high rate, from small machine parts to automobile
bodies, as well as large-scale aerospace structures. The
acceptable strain limits during the processing of sheet
materials can be assessed from the forming limit diagram
(FLD) [1, 2]. FLDs represent the relationship between
the major and the minor limiting principal strains.
Considerable research has been carried out on both
experimental and theoretical assessments of the FLD
[3, 4]. It has been shown that the FLD is sensitive to
strain-hardening exponent n, strain rate sensitivity

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M SHAKERI, A SADOUGH AND B M DARIANI

m and anisotropy parameter r [57]. Also, grain

rening annealing improves the formability of low
carbon steel sheets [8]. It is known that pre-deformation
has an eect on the subsequent mechanical behaviour of
the sheet metal, which means that the FLD depends on
the strain path [911].
The main aim of this paper is to study the eect of
strain path and grain size on the limit strains. In the
experimental study, the FLDs of low carbon steel ST12
with three dierent grain sizes (8, 25 and 60 mm) and
austenitic stainless steel 321 are obtained, using tension
tests and stretch forming tests with a hemispherical
punch. Then the FLDs of low carbon steel sheet are
obtained after pre-straining to two levels in uniaxial
tension and biaxial tension parallel to the prior rolling
direction. In the theoretical study FLDs are obtained
numerically under linear and complex strain paths.
Hill's theory of orthotropic anisotropy and timedependent constitutive equations are used to predict
the instability strains. The process of instability is studied
on the basis of the idea of an initial geometric imperfection to start the neck growth process.
Finally the experimental results are compared with
theoretical results.
2

EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE

In the experimental study, low carbon steel sheet ST12

(conforming to DIN 1623, No. 1.0330) and austenitic
stainless steel 321 (conforming to DIN 17440, No.
1.4541) with 2.5 mm thickness are used. These two
materials have dierent crystalline structures (bcc for
ST12 and fcc for stainless steel).
The FLDs of the sheets are determined using tension
tests and stretch forming tests with a hemispherical
punch. The FLD for negative minor strains is determined with notched tensile specimens of various
widths. The tensile testing is performed at a crosshead
speed of 5 mm/min, using a tensile Instron test machine.
The FLD for plane strain and positive minor strains is
determined by stretch forming tests with a hemispherical
punch of 90 mm diameter, adopting strips of various
widths, circular and rectangular blanks. Furthermore,
various lubricating and non-lubricating conditions are
used to realize various strain states. The geometries of
notched tensile specimens and stretch forming strips
and blanks are given in Fig. 1a, and Fig. 1b shows the
hemispherical stretch forming die.
Circular grids of 3 and 4 mm diameter are initially
printed on the surface of the specimens for the purpose
of strain measurement. All tests are continued until a
localized necking is achieved and at this moment the
test is interrupted. For each specimen the major and
minor strains are directly measured from the deformed
grids, using a prole projector. The FLDs of original
ST12 sheet with three dierent grain sizes (8, 25 and

Fig. 1

(a) Notched tensile strips, circular and rectangular

stretch forming specimens. (b) Hemispherical stretch
forming die

60 mm) and stainless steel sheet are obtained with this

approach.
For uniaxial pre-straining, large rectangular sheets are
stretched to various elongations (10 and 15 per cent) as
the primary stage and all the above-mentioned necessary
specimens (notched tensile and stretch strips with various
widths, circular and rectangular blanks) are cut from
the large stretched sheets. Then the FLD of uniaxially

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EFFECT OF PRE-STRAINING AND GRAIN SIZE ON THE LIMIT STRAINS IN SHEET METAL FORMING

pre-strained sheet is determined, using tension and

stretch forming tests of these specimens.
For biaxial pre-straining, large circular blanks are
stretched using a punch with a at bottom through a
thin sheet metal ring. This ring deforms together with
the circular blank and causes large biaxial strains in the
at part of the bottom of the cup. The tensile test
strips with various widths are cut from the bottom of
stretched cups and then stretched unidirectionally as
the secondary stage. In this way the left-hand side of
the FLD for biaxially pre-strained sheet is determined.
In both cases, the direction of uniaxial stretching is
parallel to the rolling direction of the original sheet.
3

THEORETICAL ANALYSIS

Following the MK method [12] to describe the development of non-uniform plastic ow, a thin sheet subjected
to plane stress state is considered. The analysed material
consists of a homogeneous area, labelled by `a', and a
heterogeneous area arbitrarily made in the plane of the
sheet, labelled by `b' [13].
The defected area is subdivided into slices as shown in
Fig. 2a. The material is assumed to present orthotropic
anisotropy, with the principal axes of anisotropy coinciding with the material axes, and it obeys Hill's criterion
for plane stress state [14]. Thus
2h

2e

G H2xx F H2yy 2Hxx yy 2P2xy

1
where F, G, H and P are anisotropic constants. If
isotropic work hardening and strain rate hardening are

823

assumed, the behaviour of the material can be represented in the form

e c"0 "n "_ m

where "0 is the uniform pre-strain applied to the sample

prior to the experiment, " is the total plastic strain and c
is the strength coecient. The associated ow rule in the
principal axes of orthotropic anisotropy is expressed by
d"ij d0

@h
;
@ij

d0

d
"
e

If deformation is assumed to be homogeneous in each

slice, the rotation of the necking band can be expressed
as a function of the initial orientation and of the principal strain increments in the homogeneous area:
tan' d'

tan'1 d"1
1 d"2

The equilibrium condition requires that the applied load

remains constant along the specimen, so
ann ta bnn tb ;

ant ta bnt tb

where the vectors t and n and also the angle ' are more
clearly shown in Fig. 2b.
The compatibility condition gives
d"att d"btt

On substituting equation (2) in equation (5), the following dierential equation can be obtained:

  b m
ann =ae
"0 "b n d
"
f
7
"0 "a
d
"a
bnn =be
where f is the coecient of heterogeneity and can be

Fig. 2 Model of localized necking in theoretical analysis

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M SHAKERI, A SADOUGH AND B M DARIANI

expressed as [13]
f f0 exp"b3 "a3

f0

ta0 2R Kd00:5 "b

ta0

In these equations "3 is the thickness strain, R is the

initial surface roughness of the sheet, d0 is the grain
size, K is the material constant and nn is given by


yy
xy
nn xx cos2 '
sin2 ' 2
sin ' cos '
xx
xx
9
Thus by using equation (1) the following equation can be
obtained:
ann S1

ae
S2

10

where S1 and S2 are given in the Appendix.

The ow rule and compatibility condition give the
following formula:
p p
bnn
T1 T2 b1 2
11

be
T3 b1 2 2Hb1 1
On combining the above equations, the following expression is obtained after a lengthy but straightforward
calculation:

d
"b
S1 =S2 2 T8

d
"a
T7 f 2 "0 "b ="0 "a 2n
 b 2 2m

d
"
T6 1=2


12
d
"a
T7
Using equations (3) and (7), the strain increment d"b3 can
be obtained:
 

T6 d
"a =d
"b 2 T7 1=2
b
b
d"3 d
" K3
T8
 a 
d
"
K4
13
d
"b
where T1 , T2 , T3 , T6 , T7 , T8 , , K3 and K4 are given in the
Appendix.
The numerical solution of equation (12) is obtained by
iteration with a fourth-order RungeKutta method.
With a loading path imposed, a nite increment of
strain is imposed on region `a'. By solving equation
(12) and knowing the value of the local geometrical
defect, it is possible to compute the resultant strain
increments in the adjacent slice that is indicated by `b'.
The strain states of region `b' are then used to compute
the strain state of the following neighbouring slice. The
simulation is then repeated until the weakest slice is
reached. In this process the initial value of the angle '
is chosen arbitrarily. This angle changes in any step of

the deformation according to equation (4). At the end

of each incremental step, the current value of ' is
updated. However, the initial value of this angle is
chosen to be that which minimizes the computed limit
strains.
The numerical computation is performed until
"b < 0:1 in the range of strain ratios from 0:5 to
d
"a =d
1.0. The behaviour of the sheet under complex strain
paths can be examined with the theoretical model developed in this work. A non-proportional loading is then
applied to the bulk in order to determine the FLDs
under several strain path combinations.
The theoretical computations of FLDs are performed
with dierent numbers of slices ns to select a suitable
slice number. Then the theoretical FLDs are obtained
for ST12 low carbon steel with three dierent grain
sizes and stainless steel 321 without pre-straining. The
FLDs of ST12 sheet are obtained after uniaxial and
biaxial pre-straining.
4

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The experimental data for theoretical computation of the

FLD according to the sheet properties are as follows:
For ST12 low carbon steel sheet:
n 0:32; m 0:01; r0 2; r90 2:2; t0 2:5 mm;
R 0:006 mm; K 0:104 and d0 25 mm
For 321 austenitic stainless steel sheet:
n 0:29; m 0:012; r0 0:95; r90 1:05; t0 2:5 mm;
R 0:0065 mm; K 0:104 and d0 25 mm
Figure 3a shows the eect of slice number on the
theoretical computation of the FLD and in Fig. 3b
these results for ST12 sheet are compared with the
experimental results. It is seen that the FLD is sensitive
to the slice number, especially for numbers up to 3. It
is concluded that, to save computation time and to stay
in agreement with the experimental results, a slice
number of 5 is suitable.
In Fig. 4a the theoretical FLD of ST12 sheet is compared with the experimental result and Fig. 4b shows
the theoretical and experimental FLDs of 321 stainless
steel sheet. The theoretical and experimental results
have good agreement for both bcc (ST12) and fcc (stainless steel) crystalline structures.
Figure 5a shows the eect of grain size on the FLD of
ST12 sheet using the theoretical approach and the experimental results are shown in Fig. 5b. In the experimental
study the sheets have the same chemical compositions
but dierent grain sizes. These sheets have dierent n
values, so Fig. 5b shows the eect of grain size d0 as
well as n. As expected, ne grain size sheets have better

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EFFECT OF PRE-STRAINING AND GRAIN SIZE ON THE LIMIT STRAINS IN SHEET METAL FORMING

825

Fig. 3 The eect of slice number ns on the FLD

Fig. 4

Theoretical and experimental FLDs of (a) ST12 steel and (b) 321 stainless steel

formability properties, and larger limit strains without

failure can be achieved with ne grain size.
Theoretical computations of the FLDs are also performed for complex strain paths. Figure 6a illustrates

the theoretical FLD under uniaxial pre-straining.

Figure 6b shows the experimental results for ST12
sheet. The eect of biaxial pre-straining in both theoretical and experimental studies is shown in Fig. 7. It can be

Fig. 5 The eect of grain size on the FLD of ST12 sheet: (a) theoretical and (b) experimental results
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M SHAKERI, A SADOUGH AND B M DARIANI

Fig. 6 The eect of uniaxial pre-straining on the FLD of ST12 sheet: (a) theoretical and (b) experimental
results

Fig. 7 The eect of biaxial pre-straining on the FLD of ST12 sheet: (a) theoretical and (b) experimental results

seen that larger limit strains in the region of biaxial

tensile deformation can be achieved by uniaxial prestraining and that larger strains in the region of planestrain and tensile deformation can be achieved by biaxial
pre-straining.

CONCLUSION

This work provides an experimental and theoretical

analysis for the determination of FLDs and shows the
eect of grain size and uniaxial and biaxial pre-straining
on the limit strains in sheet metal. The main achievements of this research can be listed as follows:
1. It is shown that the many-slice numerical model
developed in this work provides an accurate prediction of necking development and ow localization.

By relating the change of surface roughness during

deformation to the grain size, the eect of grain size
on the FLD could be investigated.
2. Larger limit strains can be achieved with ne grain
size sheets. This eect can be explained by the
higher heterogeneity of the coarse grain material
compared with the ne grain material. With the selection of an appropriate winding temperature in the
rolling line or by using grain rening annealing,
sheets with ner grain size could be produced.
3. Pre-strain in uniaxial tension raises the forming limits
for subsequent plane strain and biaxial tension; thus
uniaxial pre-straining can be used in the stretch forming and hydro-bulging processes. Pre-strain in biaxial
tension raises the limits on the left-hand side of the
FLD, whereas it lowers the forming limits on the righthand side. Thus biaxial pre-straining can be used in the
uniaxial stretching and cup drawing processes.

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4. Finally, it is concluded that the limit strains are quite

sensitive to the grain size and strain path. Also, the
proposed changes in the theoretical model makes it
possible to achieve better agreement with experimental results.

APPENDIX
Information on quantities in equation (8)
 yy =xx
S1 cos2 ' a1 sin2 '

REFERENCES

S2 1 F Ha1 2Ha1 1=2

1 Keeler, S. P. Circular grid systema valuable aid for

evaluating sheet metal formability. SAE Trans., 1968, 77,
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2 Hecker, S. S. Simple technique for determining forming
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3 Priadi, D., Magny, C., Massoni, E., Levaillant, C. and
Penazzi, L. A new tensile test on notched specimens to
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4 Narasimhan, K. and Wagoner, R. H. Finite element modeling
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827

S3 G Fa1 =S2
S4 f1 Ha1 sin2 ' F Ha1 H cos2 'g=S2
S5 sin2 ' H cos2 ' b1 F H cos2 '
H sin2 '
L1

a1 1 sin ' cos '

S1

L2

L1 sin2 ' sin ' cos '

cos2 ' sin2 ' 2L1 sin ' cos '

L3

L1 sin2 ' sin ' cos '

cos2 ' sin2 ' 2L1 sin ' cos '

T1 cos2 ' 2L3 sin ' cos '2

T2 sin2 ' 2L2 sin ' cos '2
T3 F H
T4 sin2 ' H cos2 '
T5 F H cos2 ' H sin2 '
T6 T2 T1 T3 S42
T7 T1 T52 T2 T42
T8 T52 T3 T42
K1 T4 cos2 ' T5 sin2 ' 2L1 sin ' cos 'T5 T4
K2 T4 sin2 ' T5 cos2 '
K3 G cos2 ' F sin2 ' 2L1 sin ' cos 'F G

K4

K1
G sin2 ' F cos2 '
K2

S4 G sin2 ' F cos2 '

K2

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