A Graphical Method to Estimate Forming Limit Curve of Sheet Metals

Since its foundation, the concept of forming limit diagram has been widely accepted in sheet metal forming community as a powerful tool for studying formability. There are pyramid models that were developed to estimate the forming limit curve theoretically, for example, Swift's diffuse necking criterion, Hill's localized necking criterion, Marciniak and Kuczynski model, Modified Maximum Force Criterion, etc.. Implement of these models, however, is a laborious task. To simply the task, this study presents a graphical method to estimate forming limit curve of sheet metal. Some new insights into the Modified Maximum Force Criterion, the Hora method, are discussed. The insights pertain to the use of a graphic tool to estimate limit strains at three critical forming modes in sheet metal forming that are the uniaxial tension, plane strain, and equi-biaxial tension. Connecting three points by linear lines yields to a simple graph of forming limit curve. Method validation is supported by comparing the estimated forming limit curve with experimentally measured data for several automotive sheet metals.