Mechanics and full-field deformation study of the Ring Hoop Tension Test

We investigate the mechanics of the Ring Hoop Tension Test (RHTT), as a means to assess the properties of anisotropic tubes in the hoop direction. This test involves placing a ring extracted from the tube over two close-fitting D-shaped mandrels that are then parted using a universal testing machine. Since the curvature of the ring does not change during loading, the ring undergoes only stretching. We determine the effects of contact pressure, radial stress, and friction between the tube and mandrels using FEA simulations. The effects of the pre-existing thickness eccentricity and of the specimen-making procedure on the recorded RHTT response are also assessed with a combination of experiments and analysis. We tested tubes from Al-6061-T4 with a diameter/thickness ratio of 20. We found that as the friction increases beyond 0.1–0.15, the state of uniaxial tension is deteriorated, indicating that care must be taken to minimize the tube-mandrel friction. We determined that although these tubes have a relatively large thickness eccentricity (±4% of the nominal thickness), this had no effect on the recorded results. We showed that the tubes should not be turned to remove that eccentricity, as the machining process induces damage that is noticeable in the results. We found that the contact pressure and the contact-induced radial stress cause limited deviations from uniaxial tension, comparable to the case of a tube under axial load and internal pressure which is often used for assessing the material properties in the hoop direction. Central in our analyses is the knowledge of the hoop strain field, which was assessed using 3D Digital Image Correlation. We propose a data reduction procedure for RHTT that accounts for all the above effects. Finally, with all effects accounted for, we establish the anisotropy of the extruded Al-6061-T4 tubes studied.