Fracture prediction in non-isothermal viscous pressure bulging of aluminum alloy sheet using ductile fracture criterion

The failure of AA3003 aluminum alloy sheet metal was predicted for non-isothermal viscous pressure bulging (VPB). Utilizing the coupled thermo-mechanical finite element method combined with ductile fracture criterion, the calculations were carried out for non-isotherm VPB at various temperatures and the influences of the initial temperature of viscous medium on failure mode of bulge specimens were investigated. The results show that the failure modes are different for the non-isothermal VPB with different initial temperatures of viscous medium. For the non-isothermal VPB of AA3003 aluminum alloy sheet with initial temperature of 250 °C, when the initial temperature of viscous medium ranges from 150 to 180 °C, the formability of sheet metal can be improved to a full extent. The validity of the predictions is examined by comparing with experimental results.