Plastic deformation of metals:

In metal forming processes, the product shapes are produced by plastic

deformation. Hence it is important to know the plastic flow properties of
metals and alloys for optimizing the processes. Also the resulting component
properties depend upon the intensity and the conditions
of plastic deformation during forming.
Many forming processes produce raw materials for other processes which in
turn produce finished or semi-finished products. For example, steel plants
produce sheet metal which is used
by automobile industry to manufacture components of automobiles and their
bodies. In fact sheet metal is used by a number of manufacturers for
producing a large variety of household and
industrial products. Similarly billets produced by steel plants are used by rerolling mills for rolling into products like angles, channels, bars etc. Bars may
be further used for manufacturing
forgings, wires, bright bars and machined products.
Variables in metal forming and their optimization
Mechanical properties of the materials means to study the behaviours of the
metal under the system of external forces. Elasticity and plasticity are the
general mechanical properties considered during the mechanical working of
metals.
ElasticityIt is the properties of the material by virtue of which the material regains its
original shape and size after removal of load.
Plasticity- It is the properties of the material by virtue of which the material
does not regains its original shape and size after removal of load.
During loading if the elastic limit exceeded ,the body experience the
permanent deformation after removal of load
1.Elastic Behaviour- linear plot of stress vs strain. When stress is applied, strain
is instantaneous; i.e., not time dependent. Furthermore, instantaneous recovery
ensues upon removal of stress. Some rocks at shallow depths and for short
periods of time, approach ideal elastic behaviour during small magnitudes of
deformation. Seismic waves are an example of elastic behaviour.
Recoverable or Reversible

Plastic Behaviour- continuous deformation after some critical stress ( c)value

is achieved and maintained. Many rocks exhibit plastic behaviour

Permanent Strain
Three Megascale Types of DeformationVisible effects of strain in rocks are usually of plastic or rupture variety as elastic
strain produces little long term features.
a.Elastic Deformation
b.Plastic Deformation
c.Rupture Deformation
Elastic Deformation-Occurs when a body is deformed in response to a stress,
but returns to its original shape when stress is removed. Stress is totally
reversible or recoverable.
Viscoelastic (Anelastic) Strain- strain totally recoverable but not instantaneous
recovery; time dependent, describe in terms of strain rate. Most rocks have
elastic and anelastic properties at small stress magnitudes.
Plastic Deformation- Irreversible strain without visible fractures. Stress is
applied to a rock body and deformation occurs. When stresses are removed, a
portion of the strain remains. That portion of the rock that is deformed has
experienced plastic strain. Permanent plastic deformation precludes visible
fractures. Material deforms but does not break and produce visible fractures.
Microscopic fracturing may occur, however. Plastic strain is not recoverable or
reversible.
Rupture Deformation- visible fractures form. Irreversible, not recoverable strain.
Material loses cohesion.
Terms describing Behaviour of Materials during Deformation:
Ductile- Rocks experience large amounts of plastic deformation before rupturing.
Plastic-flow without macroscopic brittle behaviour
Brittle- Rocks that exhibit elastic behaviour followed by rupture.
Rupture- loss of cohesion; occurs prior to significant amounts of plastic
deformation.
Elastic Limit- ductile rocks deform elastically to a point (stress value of which is
the yield strength), beyond this point, plastic deformation ensues with increasing
stress.

Rupture point- (rupture strength) brittle rocks experience elastic deformation

until a rupture point is attained, whereat the rock deforms by brittle rupture.
Failure- point when a brittle rock loses all resistance to stress and crumbles.
Failure is difficult to discern in plastic deformation.
Ultimate Strength- maximum stress that a rock can support before failure.
Competency- relative term that compares the resistance of rocks to flow.
Generalized Stress-Strain Curve for Rocks
Brittle Rocks- exhibit elastic behaviour before rupture
Ductile Rocks- exhibit elastic-plastic behaviour before rupture

1.4.2 True Stress-True Strain

The curves of Figs. 1.6 and 1.7 are drawn with the stress defined as load divided by
original area of cross-section and the longitudinal strain is defined as l/l0, where l0 is the original
length of test specimen. The curves would look very much different if we use true stress on
ordinate and true strain on abscissa. The true stress and true strain are defined below.

A typical stress-strain curve for mild steel fig 5

For accurate calculations, the true stress-true strain curve for the metal
should be drawn
to determine the yield strength. Figure 5 redrawn on true stress-true strain
axes would look like the one shown in Fig. 6. Also there are standard
specifications for the shape and dimensions of test specimen, which should be
adapted in order to obtain meaningful results. Besides, in all above type of
tests the following factors should also be noted.
(i) Temperature at which the test is conducted.
(ii) The strain rate during the test.
(iii) Accuracy of load measuring instrument.
(iv) Accuracy of instrument which measures elongation.

Fig. 6 True stress-true strain curve for tensile test

1.5 FACTORS THAT AFFECT THE YIELD STRENGTH

In metal forming, particularly in hot forming many metallurgical processes
may take
place concurrently. These include strain hardening, recovery, re-crystallization,
etc. All these
factors affect the yield strength. Therefore, it is important to know the extent
of effect of each of
these factors. The yield strength of a metal or alloy is affected by following
factors.
(i) Strain hardening.
(ii) Strain rate.
(iii) Temperature of metal and microstructure.
(iv) Hydrostatic pressure.
1.5.1 Strain Hardening
To understand the effect of strain hardening let us again consider the tension
test curve
shown below in Fig. 7
In this figure the test piece is loaded beyond the yield point up to a point P.
The test piece
is then unloaded. The elastic deformation recovers via the unloading curve PR
which is more or
less parallel to AO. It is generally taken that there is no change in Youngs
modulus during plastic
deformation. The line PR depicts elastic recovery. Out of the total strain OS
corresponding to the
point P, the part RS is the elastic recovery. The part OR which is not recovered
is the plastic strain
suffered by the test specimen.

Now if we reload the same test piece, it nearly follows the line RP. There is,
however, some
deviation due to hysteresis which is very small, and the yielding now occurs at
the point P.
Further loading of the test piece beyond P gives the same stress-strain curve
as we would have
obtained if there were no unloading. This shows that after suffering a plastic
strain represented
by OR, the yield strength of metal has increased from point B to point P (or
o1 to o2). This is
called strain hardening or work hardening.

Fig. Strain hardening effect

Dependence of stress-strain diagram on Strain rate

Strain rate:

Strain rate in forming is directly related to speed of deformation v

Deformation speed v = velocity of the ram or other movement of the
equipment Strain rate is defined:
=V/h

Where = true strain rate; and h = instantaneous height of workpiece being

deformed.

Strain rate/deformation velocity has the following major

effects
1. The flow stress of the material increases with strain rate.
2. The temperture of workpiece is increased because of adiabetic heating.
3. If there is improved lubrication at the tool metal interface then the
strain rate also increased so long as the lubricant film can be maintain.
Dependence of stress strain diagram on temperture
When temperture s increased the bonds between the molecules are loosed
and therefore the ductility increase due to more deformation takes place at
the given stree level.yeild strength and tensile strength are reduced at the
elevated temperture

Elevated
Temp

Elevated

y
temp
tensile strength

strain rate

strain rate

Effect of temperature on flow stress for a typical metal.

4.3 HOT WORKING AND COLD WORKING

4.3.1 Hot Working
(a) Properties
1. Hot working is done at a temperature above recrystallization but below its
melting point. It can therefore be regarded as a simultaneous process of
deformation and recovery.
2. Hardening due to plastic deformation is completely eliminated by recovery
and
recrystallization.
3. Improvement of mechanical properties such as elongation, reduction of
area and impact
values.
4. No effect on ultimate tensile strength, yield point, fatigue strength and
hardness.
5. Poor surface finish due to oxidation and scaling.
6. Refinement of crystals occurs.
7. Due to hot working cracks and blowholes are welded up.
8. No internal or residual stress developed.
9. Force required for deformation is less.
10. Light equipment is used in hot working.
11. Difficult to handle a hot worked metal.

12. Hot working processes arehot forging, hot rolling, hot spinning, hot
extrusion, hot drawing, and hot piercing, pipe welding.
(b) Advantages of Hot Working
1. Porosity in the metal is largely eliminated. Most ingots contain many small
blow holes. These
are pressed together and eliminated.
2. Impurities in the form of inclusions are broken up and distributed
throughout the metal.
3. Coarse or columnar grains are refined. Since this hot work is in the
recrystalline temperature range, it should be continued until the low limit is
reached to provide a tine grain structure.
4. Physical properties are generally improved owing principally to grain
refinement. Ductility and resistance to impact are improved, strength is
increased, and greater homogeneity is developed in the metal. The greatest
strength of rolled steel exists in the direction of metal flow.
5. The amount of energy necessary to change the shape of steel in the plastic
state is far less
than that required when the steel is cold.
(c) Disadvantages/Limitations of Hot Working
1. Because of the high temperature of the metal, there is rapid oxidation or
scaling of the
surface with accompanying poor surface finish.
2. Difficult to achieve close tolerances due to scaling.
3. Some metals cannot be hot worked because of their brittleness at high
temperatures.
4. Hot working equipment and maintenance costs are high.
4.3.2 Cold Working
(a) Properties
l. Cold working is done at temperature below recrystallization temperature.
So, no appreciable recovery can take place during deformation.
2. Hardening is not eliminated since working is done below recrystallization
temperature.
3. Decreases elongation, reduction of area etc.
4. Increase in ultimate tensile strength, yield point and hardness.
5. Good surface finish is obtained.
6. Crystallization does not occur. Grains are only elongated.
7. Possibility of crack formation and propagation is great.
8. Internal and residual stresses are developed in the metal.
9. Force required for deformation is high.
10. Heavy and powerful equipment is used for cold working.
11. Easier to handle cold parts.
12. Cold working processes arecold rolling, cold extrusion, press work
(drawing, squeezing,bending, and shearing).
(b) Advantages of Cold Working
1. Cold working increases the strength and hardness of the material due to
the strain hardening which would be beneficial in some situations. Further,
there is no possibility of decarburisation of the surface.
2. Since the working is done in cold state, hence no oxide formation on the
surface and consequently, good surface finish is obtained.

3. Greater dimensional accuracy is achieved.

4. Easier to handle cold parts and also economical for small sizes.
5. Better mechanical properties are achieved.
(c) Disadvantages/Limitations of Cold Working
1. Only small sized components can be easily worked as greater forces are
required for large
sections. Due to large deforming forces, heavy and expensive capital
equipment is required.
2. The grain structure is not refined and residual stresses have harmful effects
on certain
properties of metals.
3. Many of the metals have less ductility e.g., carbon steel and certain alloy
steels, cannot be
cold worked at room temperature. It is therefore, limited to ductile metals and
the range of
shapes produced is not as wide as can be obtained by machining.
4. Tooling costs are high and as such it is used when large quantities of similar
components are required.
METAL FORMING
Metal forming can be defined as a process in which the desired size and shape
are obtained through the deformation of metals plastically under the action of
externally applied forces.
Metal forming processes like rolling, forging, drawing etc. are gaining ground
lately. It is due to the fact that metal forming is the wasteless process which is
highly economical. They give high dimensional accuracy, easy formability for
complex shapes and good surface finish with desired metallurgical properties.
The metal forming is based upon the plastic deformation of metals. For finding
out the complete information of the stresses and strains that developed in the
metal due to application of loads, comprehensive study and calculations are
required.
To start with, there are three conditions to be satisfied, while going for stress
estimation:
1. There should be equilibrium at all points.
2. The volume should remain same before and after the forming.
3. Stress-strain relationship of material should be maintained.
Different Types Of Metal Forming Processes
Metal forming processes can be classified under two major groups. Bulk
deformation processes and sheet metalworking processes. Bulk deformation is
characteristic in that the work formed has a low surface area to volume ratio.
In sheet metalworking the metal being processed will have a high surface
area to volume ratio. The following is a brief overview of the major metal
forming processes .