Failure in single point incremental forming

This paper revisits the formability limits of single point incremental forming (SPIF) in the light of fundamental concepts of plasticity and ductile fracture mechanics. The paper has a twofold objective of investigating the limiting strain pairs at fracture in parts showing and not showing signs of necking before cracking and of demonstrating that failure by fracture occurs by tension in crack opening mode I. The overall methodology is based on the combination of circle grid analysis, measurement of the ‘gauge length’ strains at fracture and determination of fracture toughness from experimental tests performed with truncated conical SPIF parts and double edge notched test specimens loaded in tension. The work is performed in aluminium AA1050-H111 and is a step towards comprehension of the circumstances under which failure will occur in SPIF. It is shown that fracture strain pairs of truncated conical parts, fracture forming limit lines (FFLs) determined from conventional sheet formability tests and fracture toughness in crack opening mode I can be merged to create a new understanding of plastic flow and failure by fracture above the onset of necking.