Sheared Edge Formability Characterization of High Strength Aluminum Alloys at Room and Elevated Temperatures using Hole Expansion Tests

Abstract

High strength 6000- and 7000-series aluminum alloys have significant potential for automotive light weighting due to their high strength-to-weight ratios. Alternate thermal processing routes and warm forming operations with rapid heating to 150 - 300°C are being explored to expand their forming process windows. While the constitutive and formability behavior of these alloys at elevated temperatures is an active area of research, limited data is available on their sheared edge stretchability, particularly under elevated temperature forming conditions. To this end, the influence of cutting clearance on the edge fracture limits of two precipitation hardening alloys, AA6013-T4 and AA7075-T6, and a non-heat treatable AA5182-O were first investigated at room temperature using the conical hole expansion test. A 12% clearance was found to be suitable for the three materials and used to process the hole expansion samples prior to warm forming. Microhardness tests were used to characterize the depth and severity of the shear affected zone (SAZ) for the AA7075-T6 before and after the warm forming cycle. The forming temperature was found to increase the hole expansion ratio by approximately 400%, 150%, and 520% for the AA5182-O, AA6013-T4, and AA7075-T6 respectively relative to the room temperature tests. The edge stretchability during W-temper forming of the AA6013 and AA7075 at room temperature was also assessed. It was observed that W-temper forming negatively influenced the hole expansion of AA6013 by approximately 30% relative to the T4 condition. Conversely, the hole expansion ratio for AA7075 when formed in W-temper increased by over 35% with respect to the T6 temper.