Deformation Behavior of Reverse Deep Drawing of 5A06 Aluminum Alloy Plate

The limit drawing ratio is influenced by the bending and unbending effect during reverse deep drawing of plate. The 5A06 aluminum alloy plate widely applied in aerospace industry was used, and the reverse deep drawing of the 4.5mm thick plate was investigated experimentally and numerically. The stress and strain distributions of plate were analyzed, the deformation behaviour was discussed for three types of cross section of die during the reverse deep drawing process; moreover, the changing rule of strain paths with the die profile was also discussed. Results show that a maximum radial stress is induced by the bending effect at the transient region between the inside die radius and straight wall, where a radial stress and strain gradient along the thickness direction appears and the fracture is easy to occur. For the semi-circle profiled die structure, the limited punch stroke is 203mm which is increased by 40% than that for the die with a planar profile section. The semi-circle profiled die structure can reduce the bending effect, effectively reduce the stress gradient and the maximum stress value in the transient region, and is helpful to improve the limit drawing ratio of the 5A06 aluminum alloy plate.