Fracturing in a tight radius during stretch bending has become one of the major manufacturing issues in stamping advanced high strength steels (AHSS), particularly for those AHSS with a tensile strength of 780 MPa or higher. Computer simulations often fail to predict this type of fracture, since the predicted strains are usually below the conventional forming limit curve. In this study, a laboratory stretch-forming simulator (SFS) is used to simulate the stretch bending of AHSS in stamping to develop a possible failure criterion for use in computer simulations. The SFS simulates the stamping process when sheet metal is drawn over a die radius with tension applied. Various sizes of die radius are used during the experiment, and the shear fracture phenomenon can be recreated using this test for a given material and gauge. It is found that shear fracture depends not only on the radius-to-thickness ratio but also on the tension/stretch level applied to the sheet. The experimental data show that a critical radius-to-thickness ratio for shear fracture exists for any given material and gauge, but this ratio is not unique and it depends upon the amount of tension imposed during the bending.

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