International Journal of Metallurgical & Materials Science and Engineering (IJMMSE) ISSN 2278-2516 Vol.

3, Issue 1, Mar 2013 , 49-56 TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.

STUDY THE EFFECT OF HEAT TREATMENTS ON SPRING-BACK IN U- BENDING PROCESS

MUHAED S. JAFAR & SHAKIR M. GATEA Materials Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, University of Kufa, Al-Kufah, Iraq

ABSTRACT
Heat treatments have significant effect on the mechanical properties of low carbon steel. Also the bending dies have an importance in the sheet metals product industry. Moreover, the spring-back of the sheet metal should be taken into consideration in the bending die design. The amount of spring-back should be known in order to produce bent sheet metal parts within acceptable tolerance limits. In this research, an experimental study has been carried out on the determination of spring-back of bent heat treated AISI 1023 steel sheet metal with 165x50x1 4mm dimensions. Hence, the amount of spring-back of the steel sheet with different heat treatments was obtained on a modular U bending die, which was designed and constructed, and the spring-back graphics were plotted. The results showed that the as-rolled specimen has the greatest value of maximum load and smallest value of spring-back. While the full annealed specimen has the lowest maximum load and highest spring-back value. The effects of heat treatments on spring-back were discussed in detail.

KEYWORDS: U-Bending, Heat Treatment, Spring-Back INTRODUCTION

Bending is the process of placing a sheet of metal over the matrix on the press bed where the sheet is bent around the tip of the punch as it enters the die [1]. When the load is removed, the material tries to retrieve its original form and the material bent expands backwards with some amount of stretching. This behavior of the material is called "spring-back". One of the most important problems in U bending dies is the control of the spring-back. It is known that different springbacks are possible regarding die design and convenience of the material [2]. Most of the engineering properties of metals and alloys are related to their structure. Equilibrium structure can be predicted for an alloy with the help of an equilibrium diagram such as steel equilibrium diagram. Mechanical properties can be changed by varying the relative proportions of micro constituents (such as change from to Pearlite, to Fe3C or change in chemical composition in the case hardening treatment). And by refining and coarsening grain size. In practice, change in mechanical properties is achieved by process known as heat treatment. [3] Heat Treatment (time and temperature) Microstructure Mechanical Properties

This process consists of heating a metal or alloy to a specific predetermined temperature, holding at his temperature for required time, and finally cooling from this temperature. All operations are carried out in solid state. Sometimes, it becomes necessary to repeat these operations to impart some characteristics. [4] Heat Treatment may be undertaken for the Following Purposes: [3] Improvement in ductility Relieving the internal stresses Refinement of grain size

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Increasing hardness or tensile strength and achieving changes in chemical composition of metal surface as in the case of case-hardening

EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES Selection the Materials to be used

Low carbon Steel: AISI 1023 Low carbon steel sheet (1.4mm) in thickness was used, due to its wide applications and economical considerations. This steel was analyzed in (Nasser State Company for mechanical industries), using (OE Spectrometer) type ARL3460. Table 1 shows the chemical composition of low carbon steel used. Table 1: Chemical Composition of Low Carbon Steel Element Low Alloy Steel Actual NominalAISI 1023 C% 0.23 0-0.25 Si % 0.01 0-0.7 Mn % 0.25 0-0.4 Ni % 0-0.5 Si % 0-0.6 Mo % 0-0.2 Fe % Remain Remain

Specimen Preparation
The specimens were prepared by cutting the steel sheet into small blank with dimensions shown in figure1.

Heat Treatments
Full Annealing In This Process, Two Specimens were heated to 850oC in electrical furnace and hold [10 minute], then cooling in furnace. Normalizing Heated the two Specimens to 870oC in furnace, and holding for [10 minute] then cooling in still air. Quenching o Water Quenching In this Heat Treatment, the Specimens were heated to 870oC, held for [10 minute] then quenched in water. o Oil Quenching Heated the two Specimens to 870oC in furnace, holding for [10 minute] then quenched in oil. Bending Process The prepared specimens then bended, figure 2 shows the sequence of bending process.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

The results of the experiments are presented in table 2, spring-back graph also have been drawn (Figure 3). Figure 4 shows the variation of the bending force with the punch stroke (displacement) under different heat treatments.

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Table 2: The Values of Maximum Load and Spring-Back Heat Treatments As-rolled Full annealing Normalizing Oil quenching Water quenching Maximum Load 5 0.82 2.1 4.14 4.52 SpringBack 3 4.5 3.9 6 9

The as-rolled specimen shows the greatest value of maximum load and smallest value of spring-back, this is due to the high strength of as-rolled sheet specimen which resulted from the production method of this type of steel by cold rolling. Cold rolling considered a cold working process which strengthens the metal by plastic deformation, Figures (5 a) and (5 b) demonstrate how steel, brass, and copper increase in yield and tensile strength with increasing cold work. The dislocation density in a metal increases with deformation or cold work, because of dislocation multiplication or the formation of new dislocations. Consequently, the average distance of separation between dislocations decreases the dislocations are positioned closer together. On the average, dislocationdislocation strain interactions are repulsive. The net result is that the motion of a dislocation is hindered by the presence of other dislocations. As the dislocation density increases, this resistance to dislocation motion by other dislocations becomes more pronounced. Thus, the imposed stress necessary to deform a metal increases with increasing cold work. In the case of full annealed specimen, the value of maximum load is the lowest and the value of spring-back is the highest. Where the steel is initially heated to produce homogeneous austenite (FCC phase), then allows the steel to cool slowly in a furnace, producing coarse pearlite (Figure 6) provides relatively low strength and good ductility. In the normalizing case, the value of maximum load is slightly increased and the spring-back decreased related to full annealing this is due to the fine pearlite structure which produced from normalizing process where the faster cooling in still air gives fine pearlite (Figure 7) and provides higher strength. Figure 8 shows the typical properties obtained by annealing and normalizing of plain carbon steels. Quenching increases the strength of steel, but the maximum strength and hardness of steel is related to carbon content rather than to the quench heat treatment. The low carbon AISI 1023 has complicated CCT diagram as shown in figure 9 and it is very difficult to obtain 100% martensite by quenching so it shows lower value of maximum load than asrolled steel, where the structure produced from quenching was proeutectoid ferrite and martensite as shown in figure 10. The value of spring-back is the greatest due to the excessive distortion produced in the sheet after quenching process because of its low thickness.

CONCLUSIONS
The U-bending die was designed and fabricated then the specimens before bending process were subjected to different heat treatments, the effect of heat treatments on spring-back in U- Bending Process was studied from which the following conclusions can be drawn: The ability of the heat treatments to change the spring back values was evident in the bended part, the heat treatments were increases the value of spring-back and decrease the yield stresses.

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Resistant forces of plastic deformation were increased with the lower values of spring-back, so that the part that has high value of spring-back flows faster than the part with low value of spring-back.

In quenching; failure was observed in the bended part and the value of spring-back is the greatest due to the excessive distortion produced in the sheet after quenching process because of its low thickness.

REFERENCES
1. 2. Kalpakjian S. Manufacturing engineering and technology. USA: Prentice Hall yay; 2000. zgr Tekaslan, Nedim Gerger, Ulvi eker "Determination of spring-back of stainless steel sheet metal in V bending dies", J.Materials and Design 29 (2008) 10431050. 3. Ashby, Michael F. and Jones, David R. H. Engineering Materials 2 (with corrections ed.). Oxford: Pergamon Press, (1992). 4. 5. 6. Dell, K.A., Metallurgy Theory and Practical Textbook. American Technical Society, Chicago, 1989, pp. 351-353. William D. Callister, Jr and David G. Rethwisch "Materials Science and Engineering", Eighth edition, 2011. Donald R. Askeland and Pradeep P. Fulay "Essentials of Materials Science and Engineering, Cengage Learning, Second edition, 2009. 7. Komgrit Lawanwong and Varunee Premanond, "The Study Reduction of Spring-back in U Bending Die Process", 2nd International Conference on Mechanical and Electronics Engineering (ICMEE 2010). 8. Cho-Pei Jiang and Chang-Cheng Chen, Development of Micro V-bending System for Investigation Grain Size Effect of thin metal sheet, Second International Conference on Computer Engineering and Applications, 2010. 9. Zhang Dongjuan, Cui Zhenshan, Ruan Xueyu, Li Yuqiang, An analytical model for predicting spring-back and side wall curl of sheet after U-bending, Computational Materials Science 38 (2007) 707715.

APPENDICES

Figure 1: The Steel Blank

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(A)

(B)

(C) Figure 2: The Sequence of Bending Process

(D)

Figure 3: The Effect of Heat Treatments on Spring-Back Values

Figure 4: The Effect of Heat Treatments on Punch Force

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Muhaed S. Jafar & Shakir M. Gatea

Figure 5: For 1040 Steel, Brass, and Copper, (a) the Increase in Yield Strength, (b) the Increase in Tensile Strength [5]

Coarse Pearlite Proeutectoid Ferrite

Figure 6: The Microstructure of Annealed Specimen (X 400)

Fine Pearlite Fine Pearlite

Proeutectoid Ferrite

Figure 7: The Microstructure of Normalized Specimen (X 400)

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Figure 8: The Effect of Carbon and Heat Treatment on the Properties of Plain Carbon Steels [6]

Figure 9: The CCT Diagram for a Low-Alloy, 0.2% C Steel [6]

Figure 10: The Microstructure of Quenched Specimen (X 400)