Finite Element Analysis of AA 6016-T4 Sheet Metal Forming Operations Using a New Polycrystalline Model

Abstract

A major challenge in forming polycrystalline aluminum alloy sheets is their strong plastic anisotropy, namely the flow stresses and plastic strains depend on the loading direction. This plastic anisotropy is due to the anisotropy of the constituent crystals and the preferred orientations that they assume in the polycrystalline material i.e. crystallographic texture. Recently, in [1] we developed a single-crystal yield criterion that involves the correct number of anisotropy coefficients such as to satisfy the intrinsic symmetries of the constituent crystals and the condition of yielding insensitivity to hydrostatic pressure. This single-crystal criterion is defined for any stress state. It is shown that a polycrystalline model that uses this single-crystal criterion in conjunction with appropriate homogenization procedures leads to an improved prediction of the plastic anisotropy in macroscopic properties under uniaxial tension and shear loadings for polycrystalline aluminum alloy 6016-T4. Moreover, results of FE simulations of cup forming operations demonstrate the predictive capabilities of this polycrystalline model.