| This thesis examines the development of a small-scale in-plane tensile test capable of replicating strain paths on the left hand side of a forming limit diagram (FLD), from uniaxial tension to plane strain. The process, termed in-plane plane strain (IPPS) tensile testing, can also be employed to evaluate the formability of a sheet material for a multi-stage process. In the current study, tube bending and hydroforming strain paths are examined and replicated using this IPPS setup. Two steel sheet materials are considered herein, a highly formable aluminum killed drawing quality (DQ) steel and a high strength dual phase (DP600) steel.; The research methodology included a parametric finite element method (FEM) study to design the specimen geometry needed to acquire the "pre-strain" bending and "final strain" hydroforming strain paths being replicated at the center of flat sheet specimens. For each of the steel sheets, a series of blanks were pre-strained to varying degrees in the rolling direction (RD) and subsequently strained to failure in the transverse sheet direction (TD). (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
