A new approach for evaluating sheet metal forming based on sheet drawing test. Application to TRIP 700 steel

Sheet formability has usually been evaluated by experimental tests that act under different conditions to those the material is subjected to during industrial processing. The different variables acting on the process are not split up sufficiently to be separately analysed. In this work, a new approach to evaluate formability in pure shear deformation has been developed. For this purpose, a new apparatus has been devised to do drawing tests to thin sheets which permits the calculation of deformation work as a function of the drawing strain. Moreover, the coefficient of friction under high pressure values can be modelled. One application to TRIP 700 steel and the friction results have been considered up to an apparent pressure of 1900 MPa. Deformation work has been analysed and inhomogeneity deformation has been evaluated in terms of redundant work as a function of the geometry of the die. The obtained results agree with the theory of plasticity and demonstrate the utility of the methodology presented herein.