Difference in Tensile and Compressive Flow Stresses in Austenitic Stainless Steel Alloys and Its Effect on Springback Behavior

T. Kuwabara1, R. Saito1, T. Hirano2 and N. Oohashi2 Division of Advanced Mechanical Systems Engineering, Institute of Symbiotic Science and Technology, Graduate School of Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology 2 Nippon Kinzoku Co., Research lab, 4-10-1, Funawatari, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo 174-8560, JAPAN
ABSTRACT: V-bending test was conducted for sixteen different lots of austenitic stainless steel alloys, SUS304. The tensile flow stresses of all alloys were nearly identical to each other in the rolling and transverse directions. We found that the springback angles of all alloys were approximately 20% larger in TD-bending than RD-bending, where RDand TD-bending refer to the modes of V-bending in which the direction of the bending stress is parallel to the rolling and transverse directions of the sheet, respectively. In order to clarify the cause of the asymmetry of springback behaviour between TD- and RD-bending, in-plane tension and compression tests were carried out for one of the alloys and a tension-compression asymmetry was observed. Consequently, we conclude that the difference in the springback angles between RD- and TD-bending is mainly caused by the significant decrease of the flow stress in the rolling direction due to the Bauschinger effect. KEYWORDS: Bending, Springback, SUS304, Tension-compression asymmetry, Bauschinger effect
1

1 INTRODUCTION
Electronic terminal parts, such as switches and connecters, are often made of ultra-thin austenitic stainless steel sheets, SUS304. Large springback occurs while bending SUS304 sheet, as the flow stress of cold rolled SUS304 is high. Springback causes serious problems in determining the optimum geometry of dies for bending the sheet and is the main impediment to high-efficiency production of electronic parts. In order to establish time- and cost-effective press forming technologies for electronic parts using ultra-thin SUS304 sheets, it is vital to predict the amount of springback accurately using simulation techniques and to determine the optimum forming conditions. Springback is basically caused by the bending moment retained in the pressformed parts before unloading [1]. Therefore, a sophisticated material model for SUS304 sheet needs to be incorporated into simulation software to accomplish accurate springback simulations. In the course of a basic study on the V-bending of coldrolled ultra-thin SUS304 sheets of sixteen different lots, we found an interesting phenomenon on springback. Figure 1 shows the relationship between the measured springback angles after V-bending, , and the flow stresses of the samples, 0.029 , at a tensile strain of 0.029. The difference of springback angles between RDbending and TD-bending was checked for all lots, where RD- and TD-bending refer to the modes of V-bending in which the direction of the bending stresses (maximum

and minimum principal stresses) is parallel to the rolling and transverse directions of the sheet, respectively. The sheet thickness of all lots was 0.3mm in common. The flow stresses of the alloys at a 2.9% tensile strain were in a range of 880MPa to 1050MPa. It was found that the springback angles were approximately 20% larger in TD-bending than RD-bending irrespective of lots. This result is surprising, because the tensile flow stresses of the samples in the rolling and transverse directions were nearly the same in all alloys. In this study, the stress-strain curves of the SUS304 sheets subjected to in-plane tension and compression
32 SUS304-3/4H 0.3mm 30 Bending angle 90 Bending radius 5.0mm 28 26 24 22 20 18 850
t

Springback angle /

RD TD
900 950 1000 1050 1100

0.029/MPa

Figure 1: Difference in springback angles in V-bending cold-rolled SUS304 sheets from sixteen different lots between rolling and transverse directions. 0.029 : tensile stress at tensile strain, = 0.029 .

____________________ * Corresponding author: 2-24-16, Nakacho, Koganei-shi, Tokyo 184-8588, JAPAN, phone +81-42-388-7083, fax +81-42-385-7204, email address kuwabara@cc.tuat.ac.jp

followed by unloading are precisely measured both in the rolling and transverse directions. These observed data are approximated using analytical functions for calculating bending moment later. Moreover, pure bending tests were conducted and bending momentcurvature diagrams were measured precisely. Consequently, we found that the difference in the springback angles between RD- and TD-bending is mainly caused by the decrease of the flow stress in the rolling direction due to the Bauschinger effect.

Upper die 2 Upper die 1 Specimen

Teflon sheets

Lower die 2 Positioning pins

2 EXPERIMENTAL METHOD
2.1 TEST MATERIAL The test material used in this study was cold-rolled austenitic stainless steel sheet, SUS304, 0.3mm thick that was commercially produced for electronic parts. The work-hardening characteristics of the material are listed in Table 1.
Table 1: Mechanical properties of the SUS304 used Loading direction R.D. T.D. Loading mode Tens. Comp. Tens Comp E/ GPa 182 181 193 198 A*/ MPa 1023 965 1026 1206 B* / MPa 677 822 648 823 C* 319 140 282 256
eY
*

Lower die 1

(a)

Hydraulic cylinder B Blank holding plate Load cell

0.002 0.0007 0.002 0.002

Slide rail

Hydraulic cylinder A

(b)

*Approximated using = A B exp { C ( eY

)} ,

where

is total strain. eY : Strain at elastic limit.

2.2 IN-PLANE TENSION-COMPRESSION TEST Figure 2(a) shows the comb-type dies developed for application of continuous in-plane stress reversals to sheet specimens. This is a modified version of the previous one [2] which enabled applying in-plane compression to sheet materials and is basically the same as those developed by the same author [3][4]. For this study, however, the gap between the teeth and the tooth length were modified, as described later, so that a 0.3 mm thick SUS304 sheet could be compressed without buckling. A review of testing apparatus for application of continuous in-plane stress reversals to sheet specimens can be seen in [5] Lower and upper comb-type dies are installed in the testing apparatus as shown in Figure 2(b). Lower die 1 is fixed to the lower plate of the die set and lower die 2 is on a slide rail that enables the die to move smoothly in the horizontal direction. A sheet specimen is set on the lower dies 1 and 2 and both ends of the specimen are attached to the dies by chucking plates. The upper dies are placed on the specimen so that the four positioning pins fixed to the lower dies align with the holes of the upper dies. Accordingly, the movement of the upper dies is synchronized with that of the lower dies. Lower die 2 is actuated in the horizontal direction by a servocontrolled hydraulic cylinder A, so that continuous inplane stress reversals are applied to the specimen. Hydraulic cylinder B exerts a constant blank-holding

(c)
Figure 2: Experimental apparatus for application of inplane stress reversals to a sheet specimen: (a) configuration of the dies, (b) an overview of the testing apparatus, and (c) strain gauge lead wires passing through the hole in upper die 1. [3][4]

force on the specimen through the upper dies and the cylindrical rollers lying between the upper dies and the blank-holding platen. The specimen can thus be compressed in the longitudinal direction without buckling. The tooth width and length are 1.0 mm and 10 mm, respectively, and the gap between the teeth is 1.3 mm. The gauge section of the test specimen was 25 mm wide and 60 mm long. In order to prevent buckling of the specimen during in-plane compression, a blank-holding pressure of 5 MPa was applied to the specimen. In order to prevent the specimen from galling the dies, the specimen was lubricated on both sides with Vaseline and Teflon sheets (0.05 mm thickness), resulting in reduction of the coefficient of friction to 0.02. However, it should be noted that the frictional forces between the dies and specimen have little effects on the measurement of stress [2]. The amount of longitudinal strain was measured using a strain gauge (Kyowa Dengyou Co., KFG-02-C1-16). The lead wires of the strain gauge were passed through a hole in upper die 1, as shown in Figure 2(c). The strain

gauge was glued onto the specimen at the position where the hole in upper die 1 was located, so that the strain gauge was free from the contact pressure to upper die 1. The tension/compression forces applied to the specimen were measured using a load cell connected to the right side of lower die 2, as shown in Figure 2(b). The outputs of the measured forces and strains were monitored every second using A/D data acquisition and a personal computer, and saved for future analysis. 2.3 PURE BENDING TEST Figure 3(a) shows a schematic diagram of the pure bending testing apparatus used in this study. Both ends of the specimen were fixed to two fan-shaped blocks. A nylon string is wound around the circular side of each block. The blocks can rotate around the rotating axis when tension is applied to the string. Thus, the specimen is bent under a pure bending moment and is free from axial force during the bending process, because the rotating axes of the blocks are fixed to sliding rails that can move freely in the horizontal direction during the bending process. Figure 3(b) shows the geometry of the specimen used in the pure bending test. The curvature of the specimens during bending tests was measured using strain gauges (Kyowa Dengyou Co., KFG-02-C1-16) glued onto both sides of the specimen.

(iii) The cross-section of the sheet remains planar and normal to the x -axis during the bending process. (iv) All layers in the sheet follow stress-strain responses as determined by Eq. (1) during the bending process. The tensile and compressive stress-strain curves obtained under monotonic tension and compression of the samples were approximated using analytical functions as follows.
x < eY : = EN x , x eY : = A B exp {C ( x eY )} ,

(1)

where EN is the nominal Youngs modulus: the slope of the stress-strain curve approximated by a straight line in a strain range of x < eY . eY is the nominal elastic limit determined from the observed stress-strain curve. The bending strain, x , and bending stress, x , of layeri were determined as follows. The radius of the layer at which x = 0 is denoted as rn , and its y-coordinate is assumed to be zero, yn = 0 . Then the bending strain, xi , of layer- i can be determined from:

xi = ln(1 + yi / rn ) .

(2)

By substituting Eq. (2) into Eq. (1), the stress value xi for layer- i can be determined. Since the stretching force applied to the sheet is zero, the equilibrium equation in the x -direction must be satisfied as

i =1

100

xi

yi = 0 ,

(3)

(a)

where yi are the thickness of layer- i . The value of rn in Eq. (2) was iteratively determined so that Eq. (3) is satisfied. The bending moment per unit width, M , is calculated as
M = xi yi yi .
i =1 100

(4)

4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

(b)
Figure 3: (a) Schematic diagram of the pure bending testing apparatus used for the sheet material [4]. (b) Geometry of the specimen.

3 BENDING ANALYSIS
The sheet thickness was divided into 100 thin layers of equal thickness. The i -th layer counted from the concave surface of the bent specimen is denoted as layer- i and the subscript i is attached to values related to layer- i . The following terms were assumed in calculating the bending moment-curvature diagram: (i) The stretching force in the x -direction is assumed to be zero during the bending process. (ii) All layers in the sheet are subjected to uniaxial tension; x is the only non-zero stress component in the sheet.

Figure 4 compares the stress-strain curves obtained for tension followed by compression and for compression followed by tension. The tensile flow stresses almost coincide in the rolling and transverse directions. On the other hand, the compressive flow stresses show a significant difference between RD and TD. In RD, the stress is significantly lower under compression than tension. This phenomenon is possibly caused by the Bauschinger effect of the sample. This is because the sample was elongated in the rolling direction during cold rolling and revelling during production; therefore, the flow stresses of the sample subjected to in-plane compression became lower than those under tension, due to reverse loading following cold rolling and revelling. In TD, the stresses are slightly higher under compression than tension. To the authors knowledge, this is the first experimental study demonstrating the tension/ compression asymmetry (TCA) of ultra-thin austenitic stainless steel sheet commercially produced for electronic parts. The physical causes of the TCA in

1500 1000

Rolling direction Transverse direction

500 0 -500 -1000 -1500

the springback angles are approximately 20% larger in TD-bending than RD-bending, irrespective of lots. Thus, from the results of Figures 4 and 5, it is concluded that the difference in springback angles between RDand TD-bending arises from the TCA in flow stresses. In order to accurately predict the springback angles of SUS304, it is crucial to precisely measure and model the stress-strain curves under both tension and compression. A springback analysis which takes account of the nonlinearity of the stress-strain curves during unloading shown in Figure 4 is in progress.
0.005 0.010

True stress / MPa

-0.010

-0.005

0.000

True strain

5 CONCLUSIONS
The difference in the springback angles between RDand TD-bending of the SUS304 used in this study (Figure 1) is mainly caused by the tension-compression asymmetry of the material (Figure 4).

Figure 4: True stress-logarithmic strain curves of the SUS304 under tension followed by compression and under compression followed by tension.
Bending moment per unit width / Nmm/mm
25

SUS304
20

REFERENCES
TD

15

10

RD

Calculated Experimental
0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05
-1

0 0.00

0.06

0.07

Curvature / mm

Figure 5: Bending moment-curvature diagrams of the SUS304. The dashed lines are those calculated by taking into account the difference in stresses between tension and compression, shown in Figure 4.

metals have been, and remain, an issue of considerable interest. Following earlier studies on the TCA of metals, the possible causes of TCA can be categorized as (1) twinning [6], (2) pressure dependence of plastic flow [7], [8], as often referred to as the strength-differential effect (SDE), and (3) the directionality of dislocation structures of severely deformed metals and their rearrangement during reloading [9], [10]. Further studies are necessary to clarify the cause of the TCA of the SUS304 used in this study. One of the authors also observed TCA in tension-compression tests of ultra-thin copper alloy sheet for electronic parts [4]. Figure 5 shows the bending moment-curvature diagrams for the SUS304. The measured bending momentcurvature relations are in good agreement with the calculated ones for both the rolling and transverse directions. The bending moment is approximately 20% higher in TD than RD. This is because the compressive stresses are significantly higher in TD than RD, as shown in Figure 4. Considering the theory of springback that the springback angle is proportional to the bending moment applied to the sheet material, the result of Figure 5 is consistent with the observation in Figure 1, wherein

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