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J. Mater. Sci. Technol., Vol.20 No.1, 2004

Investigation of SUS304 Stainless Steel with Warm Hydro-mechanical Deep Drawing

Yongchao XU , Dachang KANG and Shihong ZHANG
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China

Shihong ZHANG

Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China

[ Manuscript received July 30, 2002, in revised form December 9, 2002]

Basing on warm mechanical property of SUS304 stainless steel and hydro-mechanical deep drawing process, warm hydro-mechanical deep drawing process is proposed and discussed with experiments in this paper. The experiments are performed at four dierent temperatures. The results show that the formability of stainless steel is improved under the condition of warm temperature. Warm hydro-mechanical deep drawing raises limiting drawing ratio of SUS304 eectively, and limiting drawing ratio 3.3 is obtained, which is beyond 2.0 with conventional deep drawing. The temperature of 90 C is benecial to the forming of SUS304 stainless steel, the strain-induced martensite is controlled eectively, and the thickness distribution is more uniform.
KEY WORDS: SUS304 stainless steel, Warm hydro-mechanical deep drawing, Forming, Cylindrical cup 1. Introduction Hydro-mechanical deep drawing (HDD) process is an advanced sheet metal forming technology. Since it was invented, HDD has found increasing application in automobile and aircraft manufacturing[1,2] . Dierent from the conventional deep drawing, owing to the uid pressure in the chamber, the advantageous friction is increased between the punch and the sheet metal, and the disadvantageous friction is reduced because of the uid lubrication between the upper surface of die and the sheet metal, which improve the stress status of sheet metal at the punch prole. HDD process overcomes some of the limitations in conventional deep drawing and thereby produces deeper cups with more uniform wall thickness, higher dimensional accuracy and better surface quality[3,4] . On account of the uid, HDD is not suitable for high temperature. As far as SUS304 is concerned , the formability is improved greatly at the temperature from 30 C to 150 C, which is advantageous to deep drawing. In the range from 30 C to 150 C, warm hydro-mechanical deep drawing is easy to perform with respect to uid medium, seal and hydraulic system. In this paper, eect of temperature on hydro-mechanical deep drawing of SUS304 is analyzed by experiments. 2. Experimental The 0.8 mm thick SUS304 stainless steel was employed as the experimental material. The material composition and property parameters are shown in Table 1. Property parameters were studied under the condition of warm temperature, and cylindrical cups were formed in the range from 30 C to 120 C. Table 1 Material composition and property parameters Material C/% Cr/% Ni/% s /(N/mm2 ) /% n SUS304 <0.08 1820 810.5 300 55 0.43 1.1 2.1 Formability of SUS304 between 30 C and 150 C Material property parameters are related to the formability of metal sheet, which can be obtained to describe the law with the temperature by the simple tensile test. The test results are shown in Figs.1, 2 and 3. Figure 1 is the relation between yield stress and temperature, which shows that yield stress s decreases obviously with the increase of temperature. The key property parameters, coecient of normal anisotropy r-value and hardening index n-value are studied in the range of from 30 C to 150 C. At the temperature of 90 C, n-value is the least, and r-value tends to increase with the rise of temperature (see Figs.2 and 3). This will be benecial to deep drawing. From the property parameters above, it can be concluded that warm hydro-mechanical deep drawing will be practicable.
Ph.D., to whom correspondence should be addressed, E-mail: yongchaoxu@hotmail.com.

Fig.1 Relation between yield stress and temperature

Fig.2 Relation between hardening index and temperature

Fig.3 Relation between coecient of normal anisotropy and temperature 2.2 Warm hydro-mechanical deep drawing The sketch of warm hydro-mechanical deep drawing is

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Fig.4 Sketch of warm hydro-mechanical deep drawing

Fig.6 Relation between drawing ratio and temperature

Fig.5 Relation between drawing force and temperature shown in Fig.4. In the set-up, the diameter of punch and the radius of punch prole are 30 mm and 5 mm, and the diameter of die opening and the radius of die prole are 32.4 mm and 8 mm. The dened gap is 0.9 mm between the blankholder and the die. The maximum chamber pressure is controlled by means of a valve. The chamber is lled with uid medium, electric heater being installed in the area of ange. Being symmetry of cylindrical cup, the ange is heated uniformly to ensure the same temperature everywhere. For the warm hydro-mechanical deep drawing, build-up of the initial pressure results from the speed and the viscosity when the punch penetrates into the die, so silicone oil is chosen as the uid medium. The viscosity of silicone oil is high, superior to conventional hydraulic oil even at the temperature of 120 C, which is helpful to the foundation of pressure in the chamber. What is more, silicone oil is not easy to decompose at 300 C, which would not pollute the environment. 2.3 Results and analysis of HDD The results of experiment are satisfactory. Deep drawing force decreases as the temperature rises (see Fig.5), because strain-induced martensite is controlled eectively when processed, and work hardening and strength of phase transformation are weakened. On the other hand, for low coecient of heat transmission of SUS304 stainless steel, the adhesion to mould due to friction is eliminated because the uid lubricates and ows under the ange. The surface of cups is very good. With warm hydro-mechanical deep drawing, the forming limit is raised eectively. Limiting drawing ratio at dierent temperature is shown in Fig.6. Limiting drawing ratio 3.3 at the temperature of 90 C can be obtained, which is greatly beyond limiting drawing ratio 2.0 with conventional deep drawing. From the Fig.6, compared with conventional deep drawing, limiting drawing ratio is raised obviously because warm hydro-mechanical deep drawing is eective to reduce deformation stress at the ange, and to improve stress status of sheet metal at the punch prole owing to the advantageous friction between sheet metal and punch. For SUS304 stainless steel, the temperature of 90 C is optimum because property parameters, n-value and r-value, are in favor of deep drawing, and as far as the microstructure is concerned, straininduced martensite is controlled eectively at the temperature of 90 C. Besides, the wall thickness of cups was measured. Because the formability is improved under the condition of

Fig.7 Thickness thinning ratio at dierent temperatures

Fig.8 Formed cups with warm hydro-mechanical deep drawing 90 C, thinning ratio of cups is reduced (see Fig.7), drawing ratio of measured cups being 2.95 in Fig.7. The result shows that thickness is more uniform at the temperature of 90 C. Formed cups at dierent temperatures are shown in Fig.8. 3. Conclusion The formability of SUS304 is improved under the condition of temperature of 90 C. The important property parameters, n-value and r-value are in favor of deep drawing. At the temperature of 90 C, limiting drawing ratio is raised to 3.3 greatly beyond the forming limit 2.0 with conventional deep drawing. The temperature of 90 C is preferable, straininduced martensite is controlled eectively, working hardness and strength of phase transformation are weakened. Warm hydro-mechanical deep drawing provides a new method for SUS304 stainless steel.
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