Influence of temperature on the formability of an aluminum alloy

Warm forming is widely used as increasing the temperature is a solution to improve the formability of aluminum alloys. The stress (or strain) state is one of the most important factors affecting the formability of metals. In warm forming, the temperature and strain rate also play an important role on the deformation and fracture behavior. Figuring out the relationship between formability, temperature, strain rate and stress state is of great importance for providing more understanding of ductile fracture in warm forming conditions. Therefore, the objective of this work is to investigate the influence of temperature on the ductile fracture of a 6000 series aluminum alloy sheet metal under different stress states. Dogbone specimens, notched tensile specimens with different radius, tensile specimens with a central hole and shear specimens are used to cover a wide range of stress states. The hybrid experimental-numerical approach is used to identify the fracture strain and the corresponding stress state parameters (i.e. stress triaxiality and Lode parameter). To this end, fracture tests are carried out at 200°C using a tensile machine to determine the instant of fracture. Numerical simulations of the tensile tests are performed in 3D with the finite element code Abaqus to predict the strain field and calculate the evolution of the stress state. To accurately model the material behavior the positive strain rate sensitivity in the flow stress response at elevated temperature is considered. The results show a strong dependency of the ductile fracture on the temperature, strain rate and stress state.