SSRG International Journal of Mechanical Engineering - (ICRTESTM) - Special Issue – April 2017
Formability of Sheet Metal Blanks by
Erichsen Cup Test
K. Baba Saheb1 Dr. R. Uday Kumar Dr. P. M. V. Rao
Ph.D Research Scholar, Associate Professor, Professor & Dean of
Department of Mechanical Department of Mechanical Evaluation,
Engineering, Engineering, Department of Mechanical
Vignan University, Vadlamudi, Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Engineering,
Guntur-522213, Andhra Technology, Vignan University, Vadlamudi,
Pradesh, India. Gandipet, Hyderabad-500075, Guntur-522213, Andhra
Telangana, India. Pradesh, India.
Abstract— Sheet metal blanks are used in Hot rolling is a mill process in which rolling
of the metal at a high temperature (above the
almost all the Automotive, Aircraft, Ship and Navy
recrystallization temperature) is done. When the
applications to create complex geometric shaped metal is above its recrystallization temperature, it can
components and to meet the present trends. So that sheet be shaped and formed easily with very less amount of
forces compared to cold working. Hot rolled steel is
metal blank should be formed into the desired shaped cheaper than cold rolled steel because of the fact that
component. This can be achieved by various sheet metal it is often manufactured without any delays in the
process, and therefore the reheating of the steel is not
operations. Before forming the sheet metal blank into the required (it is required in cold rolling). When the
desired shaped component it is necessary to know its metal cools off it will shrink a little thus giving less
control on the size and shape of the finished product
formability.
compared with cold rolling[1]. Hot rolled steel is
Erichsen cup test is one of the currently used used where precise shapes and tolerances are not
required. This method is used in Railway tracks, I-
formability tests, which is carried out to evaluate the ability Beams etc.,
of sheet metal to be formed into useful components
successfully. In this operation the test piece is pressed into
the die by means of a penetrator having a spherical head,
until the fracture is obtained. The depth of penetration
there by obtained is measured as Erichsen number. This
Erichsen number indicates formability index of the sheet
metal.
Keywords— Sheet Metal Blank, Erichsen Test,
Stretching, Forming, Formabiliy and its Index.
I. INTRODUCTION
Rolling is the process of plastically
deforming the metal billet by passing it between the
Fig. 1 Rolling Process
rolls as shown in fig.1. It is most widely used forming
process, which provides very high production and Cold rolled steel is much essentially hot
close control of the final product. rolled steel that has further more processing. The
metal is processed further in cold reduction mills, in
Rolling processes are mainly divided into
which the material is cooled to the room temperature,
1) Hot rolling and 2) Cold rolling. followed by annealing and/or tempers rolling [2].
This process will produce the metal with much closer
dimensional tolerances and with a wide range of
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SSRG International Journal of Mechanical Engineering - (ICRTESTM) - Special Issue – April 2017
surface finishes. This process results in higher yield TIG Welded Sheet (Hot Rolled & Cold Rolled) as
points with better surface finishes. Any projects in show in Fig.4
which tolerances and surface conditions are the major Gas Welded Sheet (Hot Rolled & Cold Rolled) as
factors are cold drawn. There is a continuous demand show in Fig.5
in the industry to produce light weight and high
strength components [1-2]. This experiment was performed on an Erichsen
Welding is the process of joining two or Sheet Metal Testing Machine of model: VET – 20, of
more metal pieces together so that bonding takes the following specifications.
place at their original boundary surfaces. The welded Machine Specifications:
joint is formed by applying heat or pressure or both
with or without filler metal for the formation of sound Size of the sample is 70 × 70 mm
joint. Metal pieces are heated to plastic state and then Thickness of Sample is 0.2 to 2 mm
external pressure is applied to form the joint is said to Least count of micrometric device is 0.01/0.02 mm
be plastic welding or Pressure Welding. The metal One turn of hand wheel is 1.25 mm advance
pieces to be joined are placed side by side and heated Weight of appliance is 20 kgs
to molten state and then allowed to solidify to have a Overall measurement is 450×500×500 mm
permanent joint is said to be molten state welding or Bottom plate is 245×225 mm
Fusion Welding. Though we have many types of Screw holes in bottom plate is Ø12 mm
welding techniques in our paper we selected TIG Distance of screw hole centres is 200×200 mm
welding and Gas Welding Processes for our research
work to weld hot rolled and cold rolled sheets
together and then they are tested for their formability.
Formability can be defined as the ability of
material by which it can be deformed without failure
[8]. More the formability more will be the
deformability before its failure. Formability of a sheet
can be determined in many experimental methods.
Some of the tests are Bending Test, Erichsen
Cup Test, Swift Cup Test, Fukui Cup Test, Hydraulic
(Viscous Pressure) Bulge Test etc.,[9-10]. The
formability characteristics of different sheet metals
such as erichsen number and peak load can be studied
from erichsen cupping tests[1-2]. This test is under
the category of stretching and drawing test [2-3]. The
overall quality and performance of the object formed
depends on the distribution of strains in the sheet
material. Material properties, geometry parameters,
machine parameters and process parameters affect the
accurate response of the sheet material to mechanical Fig.2 Hot Rolled Steel Sheet
forming of the component [4-5].
The material properties affect the formability
because of the fact that the properties of sheet metals
varies considerably during the forming process. As
well as depending on the base metal i.e steel or
Aluminium or copper and on the alloying elements
present, Processing method of metals, heat treatment
and the level of cold work the forming behavior will
be [6-7]. Though we have many types of formability
tests in our paper we discussed formability of sheet
metal by conducting Erichsen Cup Test.
II. METHODOLOGY
In this research the following four sheet
metal specimens of 2 mm thick are considered. On
these specimens Erichsen cup test is performed to
determination of formability.
Hot Rolled Steel Sheet as show in Fig.2
Cold Rolled Steel Sheet as show in Fig.3 Fig.3 Cold Rolled Steel Sheet
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SSRG International Journal of Mechanical Engineering - (ICRTESTM) - Special Issue – April 2017
The Erichsen cup test (Fig.6) is one of the
formability tests, which is performed to evaluate the
formability of metallic sheets and strips to undergo
plastic deformation in stretch forming. The test
consists of forming an indentation by pressing a
punch with a spherical end against a test piece
clamped between a blank holder and a die, until its
failure (crack appears). Then the depth of the cup is
measured. This is used to measured the formability.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
The Erichsen Cupping Test experiment was
performed on various sheet metal blanks individually
and the blanks made by TIG (both hot rolled and cold
rolled) and Gas welding (both hot rolled and cold
rolled). The deformed cups of the 4 specimens of Hot
Rolled Sheet (Fig.7), Cold Rolled Sheet (Fig.8), TIG
Fig.4 TIG Welded Sheet (Hot Rolled & Cold Rolled) welded both hot and cold rolled sheet (Fig.9) and Gas
Welded both cold and hot rolled sheet (Fig.10) are
follows.
Hot Rolled Steel Sheet
Fig.5 Gas Welded Sheet (Hot Rolled & Cold Rolled)
Fig.7 Hot Rolled Steel Sheet after deformation
Fig.6 Principle of Erichsen Cup Test
Cold Rolled Steel Sheet
Thickness of the sheet metal selected is 2 mm
Diameter of the spherical head penetrator is 20mm
Fig.8 Cold Rolled Steel Sheet after deformation
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SSRG International Journal of Mechanical Engineering - (ICRTESTM) - Special Issue – April 2017
In the erichsen cupping test four sheet
metals tested and the Comparative results are shown
in Fig.11
For the same thickness of 2mm Hot
Rolled and Cold Rolled steel sheets the Erichsen
Number (R) was found out to be higher for the Hot
Rolled steel sheet than that of a Cold Rolled steel
sheet.
On the other hand for the same
thickness of 2mm TIG welded sheet (Hot Rolled &
Cold Rolled) and Gas welded sheet (Hot Rolled &
Cold Rolled) the Erichsen Number (R) was found out
to be higher for the TIG welded sheet (Hot Rolled &
Cold Rolled) than that of a Gas welded sheet (Hot
Rolled & Cold Rolled).
From the results it is confirmed that
Fig.9 TIG welded sheet (both hot rolled
Erichsen Number (R) decreases gradually from Hot
and cold rolled) after deformation
Rolled steel sheet to Cold Rolled steel sheet and
followed by TIG welded sheet (Hot Rolled & Cold
Rolled) to Gas welded sheet (Hot Rolled & Cold
Rolled) which indicates the decrease in formability
i.e., bad stretching formability.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
When choosing a material for forming it into
the desired shape, it is important to know the
formability. Formability can be obtained by
conducting Erichsen Cup Test. Following are the few
factors of steel that are been evaluated and concluded
through Erichsen Formability Test.
In the Erichsen cupping test, the cup height
at the fractures is measured. Cup height at the fracture
Fig.10 Gas welded sheet (both hot rolled in mm is measured as Erichsen number. This is used
and cold rolled) after deformation as a measure of formability index.
Erichsen No. for Hot Rolled Steel Sheet =13.90 mm The Erichsen number obtained for Hot
Rolled steel sheet is more than Cold Rolled steel
Erichsen No. for Cold Rolled Steel Sheet= 12.03 mm
sheet metal. Higher in the Erichsen number is higher
Erichsen No. for TIG Welded Sheet (Hot Rolled & formability index. Hence better formability is
Cold Rolled) = 9.24 mm obtained in Hot Rolled steel sheet metals.
Erichsen No. for Gas Welded Sheet (Hot Rolled &
Cold Rolled) = 4.90 mm The Erichsen number obtained for TIG
welded sheets are more than Gas welded sheet
metals. Higher in the Erichsen number is higher
formability index. Hence better formability is
obtained in TIG welded sheet metals.
Comparing the values of Erichsen number
for four specimens, the Erichsen number is high in
Hot Rolled steel sheet metals. So this Hot Rolled steel
sheet metal has better formability nature.
Fig. 11 Comparison of Formability of Sheets
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SSRG International Journal of Mechanical Engineering - (ICRTESTM) - Special Issue – April 2017
V. REFERENCES
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