Effect of Plastic Anisotropy on the Formability of Aluminum 6016-T4 Sheet Material

Sheet metal formed of lightweight materials such as aluminum sheeting has received great attention related to the reduction of vehicle emissions. This paper evaluates the anisotropic yield locus using Kuwabara’s biaxial tensile tester and stretches formability using Hecker’s hemispherical punch stretching test for aluminum 6016-T4 sheet material. The anisotropic yield locus of the Al6016-T4 sheet measured is fitted well by the modified Drucker yield function. Moreover the best fitting to the experimental stress-strain curve from the tensile test was obtained by taking an appropriate hardening model. Analytical study to predict the stretch formability by using Hora’s Modified Maximum Force Criterion (MMFC) was performed. The predicted forming limit curves (FLC) based on various yield functions were compared with the experiments and discussed.