LDR and hydroforming limit for deep drawing of AA5754 aluminum sheet

The goal of the research was to determine the limits and conditions in which the sheet hydroforming process provides a significant advantage over stamping in deep drawing of AA5754 aluminum sheets. Specifically, the maximum draw depth achievable by stamping, warm stamping (WF), sheet hydroforming (SHF), and sheet thermo-hydroforming (THF) of AA5754 aluminum alloy were quantified through experimental and computational modeling. A limited number of forming experiments were conducted with AA5754 aluminum sheets using a cylindrical punch and counteracting fluid at different temperatures and pressures. Several parameters, such as force–displacement, hydroforming pressure and temperature, and the maximum draw depth prior to wrinkling or tearing were measured during the forming process to make comparisons with simulations. The computational study included the simulation of stamping, WF, SHF and THF of AA5754 aluminum sheet with the LS-Dyna code, and the Barlat 2000-2d yield function with temperature-dependent coefficients. To predict the onset of wrinkling and tearing, the numerically generated, temperature-dependent forming limit diagrams (FLDs) based on the Barlat 2000-2d yield function were used. It was found that compared with stamping, SHF and THF can achieve more than 100% deeper draw depths with AA5754 aluminum sheet. The stamping simulations were used also to calculate the optimum blank size and die corner radii for the limiting draw ratio (LDR). The LDR was found to be very sensitive to the punch and die corner radii used in the experiments, which represent the curvature of character lines in an actual part. The LDR for AA5754 aluminum sheet was found to be 1.33 and 2.21 for sharp and round die corner radii, respectively. Overall, it was concluded that SHF is most ideal for deep drawing of aluminum sheets with sharp radii features. With the additional drawability provided by SHF, the automotive industry would be able to make difficult-to-form aluminum parts that cannot be stamped without product concessions such as increasing the die radii.