Integrated Hydraulic Bulge and Forming Limit Testing Method and Apparatus for Sheet Metals

Abstract

This paper proposes an integrated hydraulic bulge and forming limit testing method and apparatus for sheet metals. By placing a PU (Polyurethane) plate between molds and uniformly applying hydraulic pressure to sheet metals, a biaxial stress-strain relationship and forming limit diagram (FLD) displaying both left and right sides were acquired using the same apparatus. An uniaxial tension test and traditional drawing test were conducted to compare the results obtained from the proposed hydraulic bulge and forming limit testing methods, respectively. A close correlation between the results of the stress-strain relationship and FLD in both comparisons verified the feasibility and capability of this integrated hydraulic testing method and apparatus for use with sheet metals.