Finite element modelling of material deformation and damage by tension under cyclic bending and compression test

Material deformation is determined by strain and stress states resulted from loading conditions applied on the material during the manufacturing process. Different testing methods, for example, uniaxial tensile test and dome test have been used to predict material deformation behavior during the manufacturing processes. However, under a complex deformation mode, materials display distinct deformation behavior. In double side incremental forming (DSIF) process, it has been widely acknowledged that the material deformation consists of stretching, bending, shearing, compression with cyclic loading. This leads to a significant material formability enhancement comparing to conventional sheet metal forming processes. This phenomenon cannot be explained by using the currently available testing methods because the complexity of the DSIF process prohibits a direct investigation of the influence of individual deformation modes. To simplify the loading conditions and to investigate their individual and interactive effects contributing to the formability enhancement in DSIF, in this study, a novel testing method of Tension under Cyclic Bending and Compression (TCBC) is proposed, through which the effect of stretching, bending, compression and cyclic loading can be independently evaluated. A finite element (FE) damage modelling of the TCBC test was developed by incorporating the shear-modified Gurson-Tvergaard-Needleman (GTN) model into the Abaqus/Explicit solver. The results showed that the damage accumulation in the material was suppressed due to the localized and cyclic material deformation. An enhanced material formability was obtained by using the FE damage modelling and the periodical accumulation of the damage showed that the TCBC test could be a possible representation of the material deformation in DSIF.