Formability limits by fracture in sheet metal forming

• New experimental methodology to determine the fracture loci in sheet metal forming.
• Revisiting the fracture forming limit line in the light of thickness reduction and stress triaxiality.
• Characterization of the in-plane shear fracture forming limit line on the basis of critical distortion and plastic shear work per unit of area.

The aim of this paper is twofold: first, to revisit the forming limit diagram (FLD) in the light of fundamental concepts of plasticity, damage and ductile fracture mechanics and, second, to propose a new experimental methodology to determine the formability limits by fracture in sheet metal forming. The first objective makes use of the theory of plasticity applied to proportional strain loading paths, under plane stress conditions, to analyze the fracture forming limit line (FFL) and to introduce the shear fracture forming limit line (SFFL). The second objective makes use of single point incremental forming (SPIF), torsion and plane shear tests to determine the experimental values of the in-plane strains at the onset of fracture. Results show that the proposed methodology provides an easy and efficient procedure to characterize the formability limits by fracture in sheet metal forming. In particular, the paper shows that the FFL determined by means of tensile and conventional sheet formability tests is identical to that determined from SPIF tests on conical and pyramidal truncated specimens. The new proposed approach is expected to have impact in the established methodologies to outline the formability limits on the basis of the forming limit curves (FLC's) at the onset of necking.