Measurement of springback

Springback, the elastically-driven change of shape of a part after forming, has been measured under carefully-controlled laboratory conditions corresponding to those found in press-forming operations. Constitutive equations emphasizing low-strain behavior were generated for three automotive body alloys: drawing-quality silicon-killed steel; high-strength low-alloy steel; and 6022-T4 aluminum. Strip draw-bend tests were then conducted using a range of die radii (3<R/t<17), friction coefficients (0<μ<0.20), and controlled tensile forces (0.5<F_b/F_y<1.5). Springback angles and curvatures were measured for bend and bend–unbend areas of the specimen, the latter corresponding to the “sidewall curl” region, which dominates the geometric change and the dependence on process variables. Friction coefficient and R/t (die-radius-to-sheet-thickness) greater than 5 have modest but measurable effects over the ranges tested. As expected, strip tension dominates the springback sensitivity, with higher forces reducing springback. For 6022-T4, springback is dramatically reduced as the tensile stress approaches the yield stress, corresponding to the appearance of a persistent anticlastic curvature. The presence of this curvature, orthogonal to the principal curvature, violates the simple two-dimensional models of springback reported in the literature. The measured springback angles and curvatures are reported both in graphical summary and tabular form for use in assessing analytical models of springback.