Investigation of Strain Hardening in Aluminum Alloy Sheared Sheet Based on Micro Hardness Measurement and Finite Element Analysis

抄録

This research work was carried out aiming to investigate the strain hardening in an aluminum alloy sheet caused by punch/die shearing by mean of a micro hardness measurement and finite element method (FEM) analysis. To examine the strain hardening zone at the sheared edge, a 0.36 mm thickness of AA4047 aluminum alloy sheared sheet was chosen. Then, it was prepared and subjected to the micro Vickers hardness test. In addition, a two-dimensional FEM model for the shearing of the aluminum alloy worksheet was developed and used for simulating the strain hardening. The effects of shearing parameters on the strain hardening were numerically analyzed. The results revealed that the micro Vickers hardness test was applicable for detecting the strain hardening zone at the sheared edge. Moreover, from the FEM simulation, we found that the maximum width of the strain hardening zone remarkably depended on the punch/die clearance and the friction at the worksheet/tool interfaces. The variation of the maximum width of the zone was explained by a critical level of the maximum principal stress in the worksheet being sheared.