Stress and residual stress distributions in plane strain bending

Stress and residual stress distributions in bending are important in calculating springback and loading capacity of a sheet-metal bending part. Great differences have been found in springback prediction with the same input (benchmark problems) among different researchers. In order to find out the root cause of these differences, stress and residual stress calculation methods in plane strain bending are briefly reviewed or developed. The influence of deformation theory and incremental theory, repeating bending, unbending and re-bending, cyclic material models and springback calculation methods on the stress or residual stress distributions are examined and shown to be large. This emphasizes the importance of careful selection of these variables in a simulation model in addition to other general input variables, such as material properties, tool geometry and friction condition. This fact;also helps to explain the great differences among different research results, and presents a challenge to both the programmers and the users of finite element packages. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd.