Investigation of the Plane Strain Behaviour of a Laser-Heat Treated Aluminium Alloy

Abstract:

The necessity of complex-shaped components characterized by superior mechanical properties and limited weight is moving the attention to the Aluminium (Al) alloys. Deep Drawing Steel grades possess superior stamping characteristics and formability with respect to Al alloys. But the need of light-weighting pushes towards the adoption of materials with optimal strenght-to-weight ratio, like Al alloys. Todays Al alloys are certainly used in the transport sector but their formability (at room temperature) is poorer than Deep Drawing Steel grades, which still hinders their massive implementation in the forming processes and drives the research toward innovative manufacturing solutions. One of the most promising approach to overcome such a limitation and, thus, manufacture complex component using cold forming processes, is the adoption of local heat treatments to obtain a suitable distribution of material properties able to enhance the formability at room temperature.The design of cold forming using locally modified blanks needs: (i) an extensive investigation of the material behaviour at room temperature after the local heating and (ii) the adoption of a Finite Element approach. As for the former aspect, the authors proposed a fast and comprehensive methodology to investigate the hardening behaviour of an Al alloy (AA5754-H32) locally annealed by laser heat treatment. Using a similar approach, the hardening model was then enriched by considering the normal anisotropy, evaluating the correlation between the Lankford parameter and the material condition reached at the end of the local treatment. To improve the knowledge on the plastic response of the material, the present work focusses on the characterization of the plane strain behavior of the AA5754, initially in wrought condition (H32) and subsequently modified by laser heating. In particular, the study proposes a new quasi-homogeneous specimen which combines the local heating profile with an optimized geometry to produce a prevailing plane strain condition in the heat-treated zone. In such a way, data about the material response in the plane strain condition could be obtained for a large range of material conditions determined by the preliminary heat treatment.

• Periodical: Key Engineering Materials (Volume 926)
• Pages: 1030-1038
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/p-ic4qyv
• Online since: July 2022
• Authors: Antonio Piccininni*, Attilio Lattanzi, Marco Rossi, Gianfranco Palumbo
• Keywords: Aluminum Alloy, Finite Element Model, Laser Heat Treatment, Plane Strain Behaviour

References

[1] Taub, A., De Moor, E., Luo, A., Matlock, D. K., Speer, J. G., and Vaidya, U., 2019, Materials for Automotive Lightweighting,, Annu. Rev. Mater. Res., 49(1), p.327–359.

DOI: 10.1146/annurev-matsci-070218-010134

[2] DIN EN 45545-2, 2016, Railway Applications - Fire Protection on Railway Vehicles - Part 2: Requirements for Fire Behaviour of Materials and Components.,.

DOI: 10.3403/30068798u

[3] Palumbo, G., and Piccininni, A., 2013, Numerical-Experimental Investigations on the Manufacturing of an Aluminium Bipolar Plate for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells by Warm Hydroforming,, Int. J. Adv. Manuf. Technol., 69(1–4), p.731–742.

DOI: 10.1007/s00170-013-5047-1

[4] Piccininni, A., Lo Franco, A., and Palumbo, G., 2022, Warm Forming Process for an AA5754 Train Window Panel,, J. Manuf. Sci. Eng., 144(6), p.1–12.

DOI: 10.1115/1.4052583

[5] Geiger, M., Merklein, M., and Vogt, U., 2009, Aluminum Tailored Heat Treated Blanks,, Prod. Eng., 3(4–5), p.401–410.

DOI: 10.1007/s11740-009-0179-8

[6] Piccininni, A., and Palumbo, G., 2020, Design and Optimization of the Local Laser Treatment to Improve the Formability of Age Hardenable Aluminium Alloys,, Materials (Basel)., 13(7).

DOI: 10.3390/ma13071576

[7] Rossi, M., Lattanzi, A., Piccininni, A., Guglielmi, P., and Palumbo, G., 2020, Study of Tailor Heat Treated Blanks Using the Fourier-Series-Based VFM,, Procedia Manuf., 47, p.904–909.

DOI: 10.1016/j.promfg.2020.04.278

[8] Sutton, M. A., Orteu, J. J., and Schreier, H. W., 2009, Image Correlation for Shape, Motion and Deformation, Springer.

[9] Pierron, F., and Grediac, M., 2012, The Virtual Fields Method: Extracting Constitutive Mechanical Parameters from Full-Field Deformation Measurements.

DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4614-1824-5

[10] Avril, S., Bonnet, M., Bretelle, A. S., Grédiac, M., Hild, F., Ienny, P., Latourte, F., Lemosse, D., Pagano, S., Pagnacco, E., and Pierron, F., 2008, Overview of Identification Methods of Mechanical Parameters Based on Full-Field Measurements,, Exp. Mech., 48(4), p.381–402.

DOI: 10.1007/s11340-008-9148-y

[11] Lecompte, D., Cooreman, S., Coppieters, S., Vantomme, J., Sol, H., and Debruyne, D., 2009, Parameter Identification for Anisotropic Plasticity Model Using Digital Image Correlation,, Eur. J. Comput. Mech., 18(3–4), p.393–418.

DOI: 10.13052/ejcm.18.393-418

[12] Grédiac, M., and Pierron, F., 2006, Applying the Virtual Fields Method to the Identification of Elasto-Plastic Constitutive Parameters,, Int. J. Plast., 22(4), p.602–627.

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijplas.2005.04.007

[13] Rossi, M., Lattanzi, A., and Barlat, F., 2018, A General Linear Method to Evaluate the Hardening Behaviour of Metals at Large Strain with Full-Field Measurements,, Strain, 54(3), p. e12265.

DOI: 10.1111/str.12265

[14] Rossi, M., Pierron, F., and Štamborská, M., 2016, Application of the Virtual Fields Method to Large Strain Anisotropic Plasticity,, Int. J. Solids Struct., 97–98, p.322–335.

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijsolstr.2016.07.015

[15] Lattanzi, A., Barlat, F., Pierron, F., Marek, A., and Rossi, M., 2020, Inverse Identification Strategies for the Characterization of Transformation-Based Anisotropic Plasticity Models with the Non-Linear VFM,, Int. J. Mech. Sci., 173, p.105422.

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijmecsci.2020.105422

[16] Martins, J. M. P., Thuillier, S., and Andrade-Campos, A., 2021, Calibration of a Modified Johnson-Cook Model Using the Virtual Fields Method and a Heterogeneous Thermo-Mechanical Tensile Test,, Int. J. Mech. Sci., 202–203, p.106511.

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijmecsci.2021.106511

[17] Lattanzi, A., Piccininni, A., Guglielmi, P., Rossi, M., and Palumbo, G., 2021, A Fast Methodology for the Accurate Characterization and Simulation of Laser Heat Treated Blanks,, Int. J. Mech. Sci., 192(October 2020), p.106134.

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijmecsci.2020.106134

[18] Piccininni, A., Lattanzi, A., Rossi, M., and Palumbo, G., 2021, Investigation of the Anisotropic Behaviour of Laser Heat Treated Aluminium Blank Blanks,, 09, p.1–9.

DOI: 10.25518/esaform21.4086

[19] Grytten, F., Holmedal, B., Hopperstad, O. S., and Børvik, T., 2008, Evaluation of Identification Methods for YLD2004-18p,, Int. J. Plast., 24(12), p.2248–2277.

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijplas.2007.11.005

[20] Rossi, M., Lattanzi, A., Cortese, L., and Amodio, D., 2020, An Approximated Computational Method for Fast Stress Reconstruction in Large Strain Plasticity,, Int. J. Numer. Methods Eng., 121(14), p.3048–3065.

DOI: 10.1002/nme.6346

[21] Oliveira, M.G., Thuillier, S., Andrade-Campos, A., 2021, Evaluation of heterogeneous mechanical tests for model calibration of sheet metals., The Journal of Strain Analysis for Engineering Design: 03093247211027061.

DOI: 10.1177/03093247211027061