Evaluation of The Macroscopic Formability
Evaluation of The Macroscopic Formability
Evaluation of The Macroscopic Formability
Original Article
Article history: Several flow features revealed by hot cylinder compression tests are macroscopically
Received 9 November 2022 analyzed and compared. Materials including AISI 1025 (100e500 C), AISI 52100 (900
Accepted 24 January 2023 e1200 C), AA6082 (20e300 C and 350e550 C), Tie6Ale4V (500e800 C) and AZ61A (250
Available online 30 January 2023 e400 C) were grouped in terms of formability. The shapes of cylinder-compressed speci-
mens were analyzed and related to formability. The addition of the maximum radius in-
Keywords: crease near the mid-plane and the averaged minimum radius increase at the two
Comparative study specimen-tool interfaces, i.e., the “cylinder compression evaluation factor” (CCEF), serves
Formability as an index of formability. To quantify the effect of temperature on formability, several
Steel metrics were used, including the CCEF and temperature softening formability index (TSFI).
Aluminum It has been shown that the CCEF and TSFI have utility for evaluating the formability of
Magnesium tested materials and that temperature softening greatly affects the formability of metallic
Titanium materials.
© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC
BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: [email protected] (M.S. Joun).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmrt.2023.01.173
2238-7854/© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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stainless steels (ASSs; AISI 304-type) with different carbon macroscopic stability. We thus analyzed data from hot
contents (0.02% and 0.087%). Wei et al. [3] investigated 0.26C- compressed cylinder experiments of the six materials
1.56Mn-1.72Si (wt%)-based and 0.23C-1.50Mn-1.79Al (wt (Tie6Ale4V, AA6082 (20e300 C), AA6082 (350e550 C), AISI
%)-based microalloyed high-strength steels using hot cylinder 52100, AZ61A and AISI 1025) under the wide range of tem-
compression tests, and compared the flow behaviors at peratures and performed a comparative study based on the
different temperatures (900e1100 C) and strain rates theoretical effects of heat transfer during plastic deforma-
(0.01e30 s1) to reveal the effects of aluminum and silicon. tion on cylinder compression. Several novel geometrical and
Guo and Li [4] experimentally studied the effects of common thermal parameters, including CCEF and TSFI, respectively,
alloying elements (C, Mn, Si, and Al) on the warm-deformation were presented to represent material flow characteristics
behaviors of high-Mn TRIP steels with a martensitic structure and macroscopic formability, and rules were established for
at various temperatures (550e650 C) and strain rates material evaluation in terms of process stability and product
(0.001e0.1 s 1). Gao et al. [5] investigated the effects of the quality.
initial austenite grain size of boron microalloyed steel with
three different boron levels (20, 40, and 60 ppm) at 1150, 1100,
and 1050 C, and performed hot cylinder compression tests 2. Summary of hot cylinder compression
over wide temperature (900e1100 C) and strain rate (0.1e10 s tests (five materials)
1
) ranges. Spezzapria et al. [6] studied the effects of prior
microstructure and heating rate on the kinetics of austenitic In previous studies, five materials including AISI 1025
transformation of the 39NiCrMo3 steel using different prior (20e500 C) [16], AISI 52100 (900e1200 C) [17], AA6082
microstructures in the wide range of heating rates. Menapace (20e300 C and 350e550 C) [18], the Tie6Ale4V titanium alloy
[7] compared the hot deformation behaviors of four different (500e800 C) [19], and the AZ61A magnesium alloy
steels (under as-cast conditions) using hot cylinder compres- (250e400 C) [20] were characterized by hot cylinder
sion tests at temperatures of 1100e1200 C and strain rates of compression tests using a Gleeble 3800 (AISI 52100) or 3500
0.12e2.4 s1. Zheng [8] investigated the combined effects of Nb tester. The height: radius ratios of all cylinder specimens were
and B on the hot ductility of 25CrMo alloy steel at tempera- the same, although the initial radii of AISI 1025, AISI 52100,
tures of 700e1100 C at a strain rate of 0.5 s1. Gao [9] exam- AA6082, Tie6Ale4V, and AZ61A are 5.0, 5.0, 5.0, 3.9, and
ined the effects of titanium on the hot deformation behaviors 5.0 mm, respectively. Several specimens that were cylinder-
of titanium-free and titanium-treated boron microalloyed compressed at a strain rate of 1 s1 are shown in the left
steel at temperatures of 850e1100 C and strain rates of panel of Fig. 1, whereas their corresponding predicted shapes
0.1e10 s 1. Hu [10] compared two medium-carbon steels (in are given on their right side. Our experience of the experi-
terms of activation energy at different strains) by fitting data ments and flow characterizations suggests that temperature
from cylinder compression tests. Wei et al. [11] compared low- compensation may significantly affect the final flow curves
and medium-carbon niobium microalloyed steels at temper- depending on the material properties, and that the effect of
atures of 900e1100 C and strain rates of 0.01e10 s1 using hot friction cannot be neglected when temperature compensation
cylinder compression tests, to reveal softening behaviors. is minimal or the thermal conductivity of the material (the k
Note that the above literature is not exhaustive; there are value) is large (Table 1). This is the case for AA6082, for
many other relevant papers. example. Temperature effects are especially crucial for the
Other comparative studies focused on flow behaviors to AZ61A and Tie6Ale4V alloys. The AA6082 alloy exhibits very
identify optimal materials (among several candidates) for different behavior. Thus, we analyzed the effects of temper-
particular applications [11,12]. For example, Park et al. [13] ature on flow behavior and formability in detail.
studied materials with cryogenic applications, including ASSs, Fig. 2 shows flow curves at selected sample strain rates.
aluminum alloys, and nickel alloys, at various temperatures The full, well-validated flow data can be found in related
(163 to 20 C) and strain rates (0.00016e0.01 s1), and re- studies [16e20]. The thermal properties of the test materials
ported the temperature- and strain rate-dependent properties are summarized in Table 1 including the k values and volu-
revealed by tensile tests. Notably, numerous paramteric metric heat capacities (rc values). The friction coefficients
studies on the formability of the materials have been between the specimens and tools were assumed to be 0.1 for
accomplished to find the optimal working conditions. AISI 1025 and AA6082 at the temperature range of cold metal
However, few researches have been made to evaluate the forming [16] and 0.3 for all other materials at elevated tem-
formability or macroscopic instability of the bulk materials, peratures [18e21]. It is noted that the friction effects in the
based on metallurgical [14,15] and mechanical [16] back- cylinder compression tests may not be considerable because
grounds. Prasad et al. [14] employed the strain rate sensitivity the friction-induced deformation heterogeneity causing the
to partition the stress power generation into either heat or compression load can lead to its decrease owing to the
microstructural change and obtained the processing map decreased contact area between the material and tool [18].
using on the energy dissipation information from the flow Finite element (FE) predictions corresponding to the
function. Joun et al. [16] calculated the macroscopic instability experimentally deformed shapes in Fig. 1 were obtained using
index with an emphasis on the stroke softening of the mate- an axisymmetric thermoviscoplastic FE method [22], based on
rial weighted by the stress power using the predicted state the flow curves in Fig. 2 and thermal conditions and properties
variables during metal forming. listed in Tables 1 and 2 (see the right panel of Fig. 1). The colors
It is noted that there have been few comparative studies in Fig. 1 indicate the effective strains. Comparison of the
on material flow behaviors in terms of forgeability and experimental and predicted (deformed) shapes indicated that
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Fig. 1 e Experimentally deformed selected cylindrical specimens and predicted shapes with effective strain at the final
stroke. (a) Tie6Ale4V at 650 C (reduction 41%); (b) AISI 1025 at 200 C (reduction 42%); (c) AA6082 at 400 C (reduction 40%);
(d) AZ61A at 325 C (reduction 50%).
the flow models obtained in previous studies can be used for phenomena complicate warm forging of the Tie6Ale4V alloy
further comprehensive study. [19] and hot forging of the AZ61A alloy [20], as shown in Fig. 3.
Fig. 1 shows that the Tie6Ale4V alloy at 650 C and AZ61A On the contrary, AISI 1025 at 200 C shows typical barreling
alloy at 325 C exhibited excessive barreling, especially around during cylinder compression near room temperature and
the mid-plane of symmetry. Barreling is associated with clear favorable formability. The smooth barrel shape reflects the
macroscopic instability. The “maximum radius points” are not effects of both friction and strain-hardening on flow behavior.
near the mid-plane of symmetry and the radii of the upper These factors tend to expand the plastic deformation region to
and lower specimen-tool interfaces are distinctly different, distances beyond the major plastic-deforming region (indi-
reflecting poor formability of both materials attributable to the cated by the shear bands arising on cylinder compression).
flow behavior. The shear band connecting the central spot to Such flow features increase the macroscopic stability of the
the edge, where folding may occur, is severely deformed in the material under plastic deformation. The deformed pattern of
AZ61A alloy, which is associated with excessive deformation AA6082 at 400 C is between the Tie6Ale4V (650 C) or AZ61A
along the shear band and fracture of the barreled region. Such (325 C) alloy and AISI 1025 (200 C), as shown in Fig. 1.
Fig. 2(a) shows that the Tie6Ale4V alloy does not exhibit
strong flow stress dependence on strain. However, all flow
curves (except those at small strain rates and 500 C) exhibit
Table 1 e Thermal properties of the tested materials. distinct peak stress points over a relatively wide range of strains.
Material Temperature ( C) rc (Ws/(mm3 C) k (W/(mm C) On the contrary, as shown in Fig. 2(b), AA6082 does not exhibit
Tie6Ale4V 650 0.00301 0.016 typical strain softening after strain hardening at elevated tem-
AA6082 400 0.00244 0.160 perature. Notably, some strain softening is apparent near room
AISI 52100 1000 0.00510 0.027 temperature, leading to some macroscopic instability during
AZ61A 325 0.00191 0.082 cold forging or cylinder compression [23,24].
AISI 1025 200 0.00416 0.047 Fig. 2(c) shows that the flow curve of AZ61A is highly
AA6082 100 0.00244 0.160
dependent on temperature (because the peak stress is
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Fig. 2 e Experiment and temperature-corrected flow curves of the materials. (a) Tie6Ale4V; (b) AA6082; (c) AZ61A; (d) AISI
1025.
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Fig. 3 e Failure cases of materials. (a) fractured Tie6Ale4V warm-forged at 650 C [19]; (b) a fractured AZ61A specimen
cylinder-compressed at a 20 s¡1-strain rate and 400 C.
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Fig. 4 e Predictions of deformation and metal flow lines. (a) Tie6Ale4V at 650 C; (b) AA6082 at 400 C; (c) AISI 52100 at
1000 C; (d) AZ61A at 325 C; (e) AISI 1025 at 200 C; (f) AA6082 at 100 C.
simulation data employed to obtain the FE predictions in where folding may occur, while the metal flow lines of all
Fig. 1. The sample temperatures were based on the tempera- other materials show no discontinuities. A macroscopic dif-
tures for cold forging (AA6082, 0e200 C; AISI 1025, 0e400 C), ference in the sample strain rate causes the temperature to
warm forging (Tie6Ale4V, 500e800 C), and hot forging increase greatly, especially in severely deformed regions,
(AA6082, 300e500 C; AISI 52100, 900e1150 C; AZ61A, because of the lower thermal conductivity or smaller ratio of
250e400 C). the volumetric heat capacity to flow stress.
The deformed shapes and metal flow lines predicted at To quantitatively evaluate the deformed profiles of cylin-
strain rates of 1 and 10 s1 are compared in Fig. 4. The drical specimens (height (H0 ) ¼ 15 mm, radius (R0 ) ¼ 5 mm),
Tie6Ale4V [Fig. 4(a)] and AZ61A [Fig. 4(d)] alloys exhibit the normalized barrel profiles of the six test cases of Fig. 5
distinct discontinuities in the metal flow lines at corners (predicted at a 10 s1-strain rate) are compared in Fig. 5,
2804 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 3 ; 2 3 : 2 7 9 8 e2 8 0 9
Fig. 6 e Geometrical parameters used to quantify the barrel profile. (a) initial; (b) final.
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Table 5 indicates that the values for AA6082 and AZ61A are conditions. The values of NV =M4 (the viscous heating insta-
larger than those for the other test materials. The ND value of bility index; VHII) are also summarized in Table 5, where
AA6082 is high because of the elevated thermal conductivity, AZ61A (325 C) and Tie6Ale4V (650 C) show larger VHII values
whereas that of AZ61A is high because the volumetric heat than the other materials. Notably, the VHII hierarchy of the
capacity is the lowest among all materials tested. We also test materials was almost the same as that of the CCEF (Table
derived the thermal conductivity values multiplied by the 3).
volumetric specific heat capacities (k rc values). Only the Fig. 7 compares the predicted temperature distributions
AA6082 alloy had a high value, emphasizing that it generates at 35% reduction, strain rates of 1 and 10 s1, and selected
less heat during plastic deformation than the other test ma- temperatures. Only the AA6082 alloy showed no distinct
terials, although AA6082 thermal conduction increases shear band connecting the central spot to the corner of the
rapidly. The relatively low ND values of Tie6Ale4V and AISI specimen-tool interface, where folding may occur. This
52100 are attributable to their low thermal conductivities. phenomenon is related to the very high krc of the AA6082
NV refers to weighted heat generation. This weight is the alloy (Table 5); krc is a measure of thermal diffusion or
inverse of the volumetric heat capacity, such that it can be temperature uniformity. At the 10 s1 strain rate, the tem-
referred to as “accelerated heat generation”. Table 5 shows perature patterns of Tie6Ale4V, AISI 52100, and AISI 1025 are
that the NV values can be divided into three classes. Only the identical. However, the difference between the minimum
Tie6Ale4V alloy belongs to the highest class. The AZ61A and maximum temperatures of the Tie6Ale4V alloy is very
alloy, AISI 1025 at 200 C, and AA6082 at 100 C are in the large, while the flow stress decrement per unit temperature
middle class. The other materials have low NV values. The rise (FSPUT) (4D ) is very high (Table 6). This triggers local
remarkable NV value of Tie6Ale4V is attributable to the folding and thus creates a larger maximum radius than that
relatively high flow stress that developed during warm of Tie6Ale4V [Fig. 7(a)].
forming. The NV value of a useable material must be high at On the contrary, the temperature distribution patterns of
room temperature, or in the cold working temperature range AA6082 and AZ61A, at both 100 C and 400 C, are almost the
(AISI 1025, 200 C; AA6082, 100 C). However, AZ61A has a same, and are characterized by weak shear bands. However,
large NV value even in the hot forming temperature range, for the AZ61A alloy, a large difference in flow stress between
especially compared with AA6082 and AISI 52100 at elevated the near-dead metal zone and other regions is evident
temperatures. because of the high FSPUT value and the relatively large NV
Here, we define the “adjacency coefficient (M4 )” of the compared to the AA6082 alloy (Tables 5 and 6).
temperature of a material as the melting temperature (4m ), as It is apparent that FSPUT greatly influences material
follows: formability. Therefore, this parameter was used to weight the
NV value when defining an index of formability. The values of
j4 4m j this 4D NV , termed the temperature softening formability
M4 ¼ (5)
4m
index (TSFI), are summarized in Table 5. A comparison of
This is a measure of the “hot shortness” probability and 4D NV and NV =M4 reveals some similarity in terms of the order
difference between metalworking conditions according to of magnitude (Table 5). The former value can replace the VHII
temperature. The inverse serves as a weight discriminating value. Also, in Table 3, the TSFI value exhibits the same
hot or warm forming conditions from cold metalworking pattern as the CCEF value.
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Fig. 7 e Predicted temperatures during cylinder compression at selected strain rates. (a) Tie6Ale4V at 650 C; (b) AA6082 at
400 C; (c) AISI 52100 at 1000 C; (d) AZ61A at 325 C; (e) AISI 1025 at 200 C; (f) AA6082 at 100 C.
Table 6 e Average flow stress decrement per unit temperature rise at a fixed strain of 0.3.
Material (Temp. range, C) Strain rate (s1) Flow stress (MPa) 4D (MPa/ C)
Lowest temperature Middle temperature Highest temperature
Tie6Ale4V (650e820) 10 707 566 e 1.56
AA6082 (400e420) 10 78 76 73 0.27
AISI 52100 (1000e1030) 10 203 194 186 0.54
AZ61A (325e365) 10 158 134 110 1.21
AISI 1025 (200e265) 10 516 510 504 0.19
AA6082 (100e175) 10 326 308 290 0.49
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