RAMESH BALAKRISHNAN et al.
/ (IJAEST) INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADVANCED ENGINEERING SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGIES
Formability Aspects of Aluminium Alloys(Al-4Mg)
RAMESH BALAKRISHNAN
Research Scholar, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Pondicherry Engineering College
Pondicherry, India
rameshh1980@yahoo.co.in
Abstract— The present work focuses on the formability
studies on aluminium alloys(Al-4Mg) of sintered preforms
at various working conditions such as change in Aspect
ratio, Density, Temperature by conducting upsetting test.
The behavior of strength coefficient (k) and strain
hardening exponent (n) have been studied in detail and the
inferences are validated with earlier findings. Further, the
phenomenon of barreling has been studied and correlated
with the results obtained from finite element analysis. The
radius of curvature of the barrel obtained from
experimental work concurs well with the calculated values
and barreling radius determined from finite element
analysis found to be closer to the experimental findings.
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Keywords-Formability;Barreling;Upsetting;Aluminium
alloys;FEA
I. INTRODUCTION
In area of engineering materials, the focus is in developing
new materials and processing technologies to make the
products that are energy efficient, cost effective. Moreover the
materials and process development are becoming increasingly
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challenging and demanding. Innovations bring the new
materials or existing materials in different forms giving new
possibilities of applications and products. In the last decade, a
substantial amount of work has been carried out on aluminium
alloys due to its advantage over light weight and enhanced
performance which makes it suitable for many structural
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applications [1]. Aluminium alloys are used in advanced
applications as their combination of high strength, weight
reduction as the performance of the vehicle improves by
rolling resistance and energy of acceleration, thus reducing the
fuel consumption. Among the aluminium alloys, Al-4mg
posses treasure of noted properties such as age hardenable,
corrosion resistance, ductility that make them a perfect choice
for different industrial applications. Such an alloy can be
converted into any form or intricate shape for instance sheets
or wires, since they are ductile in nature. Earlier most of the
studies were aimed at determining the mechanical properties
of the aluminium alloy viz., Young‟s modulus, yield point,
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Vol No. 2, Issue No. 1, 113 - 118
SENTHILVELAN THIYAGRAJAN
Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Pondicherry Engineering College
Pondicherry, India
tsenthilvelan@hotmail.com
elongation, tensile strength and compressive strength.
Nevertheless, the other parameters of the stress–strain curves
(flow curve), such as strain-hardening exponent (n) and
strength coefficient (k), termed as flow properties, have not
been discussed in detail. These parameters play a vital role in
analyzing the plastic deformation of porous materials [2,3].
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While examining the hot working processes, the flow stress of
material at elevated temperatures is one of the indispensable
information to gain knowledge on the deformation
mechanism. Manufacturing of metal powder components in
aluminum alloys is gaining momentum towards the
applications in the aerospace and automotive industries.Sheet
components from aluminium alloys are especially attractive.
Doraivelu et al. [4] proposed a new yield function by
generating the yield surfaces for various density levels in a
three-dimensional spectrum by employing the principle stress
space using computer graphics. A finite element technique was
used [5] in the prediction of ductile fracture in axi-symmetric
upsetting using continuum damage mechanics and studied the
effect of process parameters, namely, friction, height to
diameter ratio and hence suggested the possibility of
formation of central cavity which increases with height to-
diameter ratio. Hence in this present investigation, behavior of
k and n has been analyzed at various conditions such as
change in aspect ratio, initial density, temperature
II.PROCESSING OF ALUMINIUM ALLOYS BY POWDER
METALLURGY
To fabricate Al-4Mg alloys, Powder Metallurgy (P/M) and
conventional ingot metallurgy, including infiltration technique
are the methods commonly employed. Among them powder
metallurgy technique has major advantage over other
technique due to ease of convenience to obtain homogeneous
distribution of properties especially in the manufacture of
high-temperature materials (refractory vessels), self –
lubricating components(bearings),etc[3]. Hence, P/M has been
chosen to process aluminium alloy. In this present
investigation atomized aluminium powder and Mg powder of
4% was procured from M/s, The Metal Powder Company,
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Vol No. 2, Issue No. 1, 113 - 118

Madurai, India. The aluminium powder was analyzed for its
purity and was found to be 99.7% pure with 0.3% insoluble
impurities. Powder blend was used for the preparation of
compacts of different height to diameter ratios, namely, 0.5
and 1.5 at density of 2.2g/cc and 2.6g/cc. Uni-axial
compaction is widely used in metal forming industries. This
technique usually involves relatively simple steps of blending
powder and subsequent compression of mixture to produce
compacts with stability. Hence this technique has been
employed for fabrication of compact with required parameters
such as density, aspect ratio. It is found that during
compaction, 140KN was employed to achieve a density of
2.6g/cc for an aspect ratio of 0.5. The initial densities, initial
aspect ratios were maintained by precisely controlling the
mass and accurately monitoring the compacting pressure.1%
admixed Zinc sterrate was used to lubricate the top punch,
(σm/σ (m-1)) =(εm/ ε(m-1))n (6)
Taking natural logarithm on either side
ln (σm/ σ (m-1)) =ln(εm/ ε(m-1))n (7)
Strain hardening exponent can be obtained as follows
n= ln (σm/ σ (m-1))/ ln(εm/ ε(m-1)) (8)
A. Barreling phenomenon
When a solid specimen (cylindrical billets which is
prepared through Powder metallurgy route) is compressed
axially between the top and bottom platen, the work piece
material in contact with their surfaces undergoes
heterogeneous deformation resulting in barreling of the
specimen. However the barreling phenomenon that occurs
during upsetting test imposes some restriction on the frictional
conditions and formability properties. The existence of
frictional constraints between the dies and the work piece

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bottom punch, ejection rod and die. The aluminium – 4% Mg
leads to„„Barreling‟‟ of the cylinder. A conical wedge of a
entire surfaces of the compacts were coated to avoid oxidation
relatively un deformed metal is formed immediately below it
during sintering. The coated compacts were dried at the
while the remaining cylinder surfaces undergo high strains and
ambient conditions for a period of 12 h and sintered at the
bulge out in the form of a barrel as depicted in fig 1 where
temperature of 530°C for a period of 60 min in an electric
R=Hf2/4(Db-Dc), Db is a bulge diameter, Dc is contact diameter,
muffle furnace and the sintered compacts were cooled inside

[6].
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the furnace chamber itself till they attained room temperature
Hf is the height after deformation. This demonstrates that the
metal flows most easily towards the nearest free surface which
is the point of least resistance, a well-known principle in
III.THEORETICAL EVALUATION plastic deformation. However, the use of lubricants reduces
The expresion required to analyse flow properties of k and n the degree of bulging, and under conditions of ideal
are discused below: lubrication bulging can be reduced to zero. In the present
True stress(σ)=intanteneous load /instanteneous Area investigation, it has been observed that the general equations
Where σ is the true stress as suggested by Narayanasamy et al[6] for ascertaining the
The axial true strain (ε) is expressed as given below: radius of barreling finds good correlation.
ε=ln(ho/hf) (1)
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where ho is the initial height of P/M preform before
deformation and hf is the height of the preform after
deformation. The strain-hardening exponent value (n) and the
strength coefficient (k) were determined employing the Power
law[2]
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σ=kεn
It is assumed that the consecutive compressive loads were Figure 1 Schematic view of upsetting test
specified as elsewhere [6]1, 2, 3, (m-1), m. Now the above
equation can be rewritten as:
σ(m-1)=(k(m-1))n (2)
n
σm=k(εm) (3)
Subtracting Eq. [3] from Eq. [2], the following expression
can be obtained
(σm- σ (m-1)) =k[(εm)n- (ε(m-1))n] (4)
Above equation can be rearranged as follows
K=(σm- σ (m-1))/[(εm)n- (ε(m-1))n] (5) Figure 2 Flow curve at different density (h/d=1:Temp=303K)
Now dividing equation (3) by (2) we get

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RAMESH BALAKRISHNAN et al. / (IJAEST) INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADVANCED ENGINEERING SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGIES
Vol No. 2, Issue No. 1, 113 - 118

IV.RESULTS AND EXPLANATION geometric work-hardening and the matrix strain hardenings
It can be substantiated from the flow curve (true stress and have taken place in the case of perform with higher density.
true strain) that the behavior of materials could be expressed
in exponential relationship in the following form [2]
True stress=k (true strain)n
Even though the flow curve relation is widely used for
preforms the values of k and n are different from those of
wrought parts when extended to sintered P/M parts. This takes
place due to occurrence of persistent deformation and
densification. Hence k and n could be termed as flow
properties. Conducting upsetting process at different Figure 3 Flow curve at different aspect ratio(temp=303k: density=2.2g/cc)
conditions suggest that strength coefficient(k) and strain
exponent(n) have pronounced effect on the deformation
process and it can be observed from the variation of k and n
values. This is evident from the figure 2 as k value increases
with higher preform density and lower in aspect ratio. whereas

strain hardening exponent (n) value decreases at the above
stated condition gives evidence to the findings observed by the
researchers [7].During upsetting, it is observed that axial stress
is compressive in nature whereas the other stresses such as
hoop stress, tangential stresses are tensile [6].This occurs due
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to extrusion of deformed material around the periphery, in
specific at the centre, it paves the way for movement material
when it reaches plasticity. Hence at lower aspect ratio say 0.5,
the rate of extrusion is minimal when compared to higher
aspect ratio[8]. In specific, when the change in aspect ratio
from 0.5 to 1.5, it is noticed that k value reduces and n value
increases in power law. The decrease in k value is due to
occurrence of bulk forming and adoption of mass constancy
principle. On the other hand, the hike in n value takes place as
the height of preform provides an opportunity to change in
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strain rate due to instability [10]. Subsequently, the
deformation leads to the phenomenon of adiabatic
temperature. Such phenomenon increase the effect of strain
hardening as concluded by Rao[10].
[∂log /∂log σ]t=n (9)
The k value increases with change in density from 0.5 to 1.5 is
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Figure 3 Flow curve at different temperature (h/d=1:density=2.2g/cc)
However, the k value increases since the absence of pores
gives near theoretical density at the high density of preforms.
Furthermore, increase in density gives maximum true stress in
comparison with preforms with lower density in the same
range of strain value. The observations in this present
investigation have been extended to determine the effect of
change in temperature on values of k and n. As suggested by
Senthilvelan et al [3] and Rao[10] that increase in temperature
decreases k value and n value as well. The decrease in k value
is due to occurrence of re-crystallization process where
generation of nucleation happens at particular temperature
called re-crystallization temperature.This increase in the
reduction in grain size serves as an obstacle for increase in k
value and subsequently decrease in n value.It is due to
decrease in hardness of preforms as the grain size shrinks.
Also, it is suggested that process called dynamic softening that
involves dynamic recovery exists and hence ample evidence
suggests that strength and hardness register a drop at high
temperature [1].

in line with the discussion made by the other researchers [6]
that the presence of pores leads to less voluminous dislocation
sinks and hence larger resident heat is accommodated in the
pores which is ascribed to drop in k values. Hence more drop
in k values are observed at lower density. On the other hand, n
value decreases with increase in density as the process of
hardening is absent. Confining the problem pertaining to strain
hardening effect, increase in density of performs, reduces the n
value as it is evident that change of geometric condition
occurs during deformation [5]. This is associated with the
formation of large voids when there is a collision of small
pores, ascribed to the fact that the enhanced levels of
V.FEA CORRELATION
In the present investigation, Finite Element Analysis(FEA)
technique has been used for verification of barreling radius of
the sintered preforms used. This investigation deals with
power law which is ascertained to determine the formability
parameters hence it is of Paramount importance to consider
such a parameter [11] and execute the finite element analysis
for verifying the results obtained during experimental
investigations. For this, L.S.DYANA in ANSYS is appropriate
to run the solution for this dynamic problem. Here, the
tetrahedral element with 10-node (solid 92 in ANSYS library)

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of element size as suggested elsewhere [12] that reduces the Table 1: Experimental results of k,n,barreling radius and barreling radius(FEA)
number of iteration, had been chosen to preform analysis and
the specimen geometry (i.e various aspect ratio) was meshed True k n Barreling Barreling
S.I Conditions stress value value radius from radius from
with moderate size of elements. Such that meshing process MPa MPa experimental Finite
enhances the computational time and accuracy as shown in data(mm) Element
Analysis(mm)
figure 6. 1 T=303K; 140 132 0.18 22.0 21.25
H/d=constant;
D=constant
2 T=773K; 115 112 0.16 22.5 22.15
H/d=constant;
D=constant
3 T=constant; 145 130 0.18 21.5 22.3
H/d=0.5;
D=constant
4 T=constant; 113 108 0.18 21.0 22.3
H/d=1.5;
D=constant
5 T=constant; 125 115 0.19 21.0 22.26
H/d=constant;
D=2.2 g/cc
6 T= constant; 130 120 0.16 21.5 22.9

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Figure 5 Sintered preforms H/d=constant;
D=2.6 g/cc

From the figures 7,8,9,10,11,12 finite element analysis gives

stress distribution across the preform at various conditions
ES suggest that stress distribution is maximum at the edges as
there is a intersection between two areas which is
perpendicular to each other[14].

Figure 6 A Typical Mesh Model

Finite element model was generated with an aspect ratio

of 1.5, 0.5 at density of 2.2g/cc&2.6g/cc as it is decided during
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experimental investigation. In fully dense material, the lateral
spread is high as there is absence of pores such a finding is
depicted in the figures 11,12 hence the barreling formation in
high dense material experience the radius of about one and
half times than low density preforms. Kuhn and Downey [13]
proposed relationship between poison ratio‟s and density for
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sintered materials.
υ=0.5ρa (10)
a---->constant,2 for hot deformation and 1.92 for cold
deformation.From the finite element analysis, it is noted that
there is a good agreement between the barreled preform from
experiments and finite element methods at the above Figure 7 Specimen deformed at Low temperature (303K)
explained conditions as outlined in the Table 1

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Vol No. 2, Issue No. 1, 113 - 118

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Figure 8 Specimen deformed at High temperature (773K) Figure 10 Specimen deformed at High aspect ratio (1.5)
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Figure 9 Specimen deformed at Low Aspect ratio (0.5) Figure 11 Specimen deformed at Low density (2.2g/cc)

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RAMESH BALAKRISHNAN et al. / (IJAEST) INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADVANCED ENGINEERING SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGIES
Figure 12 Specimen deformed at High density (2.6g/cc)
VI. CONCLUSION
In this present study, flow properties such as k and n are
investigated on Aluminium based alloy (Al-4Mg) and the
following conclusions are arrived at:
(1)As the aspect ratio increases from 0.5 to 1.5, k and n value
decreases due to occurrence of bulk deformation
adoption of mass constancy principle.
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(2) The k value increases with increase in density from 2.2g/cc
to 2.6g/cc whereas n value decreases. This is ascertained to the
absence of strain hardening effect as the collision of pores
causes the formation of geometric voids.
(3)The flow properties such as k and n decreases with increase
in temperature from 303k to 773K.This is due to the process
of dynamic softening that takes place as the grain size
increases.
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(4)The radius of curvature of the barrel obtained from
experimental work concurs well with the calculated values and
barreling radius determined from Finite Element Analysis
found to be closer to the experimental findings.
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Vol No. 2, Issue No. 1, 113 - 118
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