Journal of Materials Processing Technology 132 (2003) 365–368

Short communication
Effect of tool temperature on the reduction of the
springback of aluminum sheets
Y.H. Moon*, S.S. Kang, J.R. Cho, T.G. Kim
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan National University, Pusan 609-735, South Korea
Received 19 September 2001; received in revised form 20 March 2002; accepted 9 September 2002

Abstract

The effect of tool temperature on the reduction of springback amount of aluminum 1050 sheet has been investigated in this study. As the
springback phenomenon is caused by elastic recovery of deformed sheet, the control of elastic recovery is important in decreasing the amount
of springback. Therefore, any combination of tool temperature that can reduce elastic recovery can be effective in reducing the amount of
springback. The experimental verification of U-bent aluminum 1050 sheet shows that the combination of hot die and cold punch can reduce
the amount of springback up to 20% when compared to conventional room temperature bending test.
# 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: U-bending; Springback; Al-1050 sheet; Tool temperature control

1. Introduction bending to large curvature bending, from pure bending to

stretch bending [1–6]. The stress distribution in a sheet metal
Sheet metal bending is one of the most widely applied bending part before unloading decides the magnitude and
sheet metal forming operations. In the fabrication of sheet direction of springback of the part after unloading. If this part
metals, the elastic recoveries after unload causes the spring- is to be further formed at subsequent operation, this residual
back phenomenon in which the radius of curvature in stress distribution left by a previous operation will affect the
bending increases after the bending moment is removed. stress distribution of the part in the subsequent operation, and
Therefore, the precise prediction of springback is a key to hence the springback of the part after the last operation.
assessing the accuracy of part geometry. Springback is The behavior of metal sheets in press forming dies often
influenced by several factors, such as sheet thickness, elastic appears to be affected by temperature [7–12]. The actual
modulus, yield stress, work hardening exponent, etc.; the temperature is largely determined by the press speed, the
inaccurate definition of the dependence of springback on the metal thickness, temperature of the tooling components and
above parameters can cause products loss due to scrapping the lubrication. The strength of metals decreases when it is
or reworking. Therefore, sound operation is strongly related heated. This well-known effect has been used to advantage in
to the capabilities of adapting the operational conditions to many metal forming operations, but it has been generally
reflect variations in raw material properties. In bending ignored in sheet metal forming. However, the decrease in
systems, this means that close tolerances can be obtained strength is substantial at even the small temperature increases
by compensating for springback using the actual mechanical encountered in aluminum sheet metal forming [7–9].
and geometrical properties of materials under deformation. Therefore, the effect of tool temperature on the reduction
The design and control of a bending process depends not of springback amount of aluminum 1050 sheet has been
only on the workpiece material, but also on the condition at investigated in this study. Emphases are placed on the
the tool–workpiece interface, the mechanics of plastic defor- reduction of springback amount in terms of combination
mation and the equipment used. of die and punch temperature.
Numerous fundamental studies have been conducted over
the years in an attempt to obtain a basic understanding of
springback behavior. These research activities have been 2. Experimental procedure
extended from elasticity to plasticity, from small curvature
Commercially available Al-1050 aluminum sheets with
*
Corresponding author. thickness of 0.8 mm are used for test materials. The specimen

0924-0136/02/$ – see front matter # 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 9 2 4 - 0 1 3 6 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 9 2 5 - 1
366 Y.H. Moon et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 132 (2003) 365–368

Fig. 1. Schematic drawing of the bending test equipment.

dimensions were 140 mm length and 100 mm width with the An operational sequence is arranged for the tests and the
length direction in the rolling direction. The punch and die amount of springback is measured as function of test vari-
used for the tests are schematically shown in Fig. 1. ables. Experimental variables in this study are described in
To reduce the punch temperature to
10 to
15 8C Table 1.
special air cooling device is used. The punch has been bored As the die and punch temperatures, described in Table 1,
out and a baffle is inserted to increase the cooling efficiency are set-up temperatures, some discrepancies may exist
of frigid air. In addition, electric-cartridge type heaters are between set-up temperature and actual sheet temperature.
attached to the die to raise the temperature. For the uni- In case of normal punch without frigid air, the initial set-
formity of temperature, test blank has been held for one up temperature is 25 8C. But punch may be heated up by heat
minute before the test start. of sheet during the bending process. Therefore actual tem-
Proper tool steel with appropriate mechanical properties perature of punch may depend on the temperature of
and hardening treatment was used for the materials of the deforming sheet. In case of cold punch, the initial set-up
punches and dies. The tools were ground to an appropriate temperature is
10 8C. As the frigid air consistently flows
surface finish and a final hardness of 64 HRC. The width of from inlet to outlet of punch, contact temperature of
10 8C
the punch was 100 mm having a corner radius of 6 mm. The is maintained even in the heated sheet. Various punch speeds
die walls were parallel. In parallel-wall dies, the die- are applied to investigate the deformation rate effect on the
entrance radii R were 6 mm. Tests were carried out by a springback reduction.
10 t hydraulic sheet forming test machine with a device to
control and display punch load and punch stroke. In this
machine, the punch is mounted on the upper shoe and the die
on the lower shoe of the machine. The range of crosshead
speed was 1–10 mm/s.
On the U-bent test sheet, the experimental data were taken
at two locations—the base width, A, taken at 1 mm above the
channel bottom and the other, opening distance, B, at the top of
the channel. Springback, in terms of angle, was computer by
Fig. 2. Schematic drawing of specimen after bending.
B
A
y ¼ tan
1 (1)
2W
where W is the side wall length of the channel as shown in Table 1
Fig. 2. Experimental conditions
To examine the temperature dependency of Al-1050, high Sheet dimension (mm) thickness, width, length 0.8, 100, 140
temperature tension tests by using radiant heating system Clearance (%) 20
and low temperature tension tests by using liquid nitrogen Punch temperature (8C)
10, 25
are also performed. Fig. 3 shows the variation of yield stress Die temperature (8C) 25, 100, 200
Ram speed (mm/s) 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10
with temperature.
 Y.H. Moon et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 132 (2003) 365–368 367

Fig. 3. Variation of yield stress with temperature.

Experiments were carried out at various combinations of magnitude and direction of springback of the part after
tool temperatures progressively until the optimum process unloading. The combination of hot die with cold punch
condition that can minimize the amount of springback was changes the stress distribution in thickness direction, and the
obtained. reduction of elastic recovery after unloading due to the
temperature differences between both side of the sheet is
responsible for the decrease in springback.
3. Results and discussion Fig. 4(a) shows the effect of punch temperatures on the
springback amounts at the condition of non-heated die. As
An operational sequence was arranged for the test and shown in the figure, the springback amount is reduced when
preliminary test, and average values were obtained at given using cold punch (
10 8C). Fig. 4(b) shows the effect of
test conditions. Fig. 4 shows the measured springback punch temperatures on the springback amounts at the die
amounts at various combinations of tool temperatures. temperature of 100 8C. As shown in the figure, the spring-
As shown in the figure, the springback amounts are back amount is reduced when using cold punch (
10 8C) at
significantly influenced by tool temperature. The springback the ram speed range of below 6 mm/s. Fig. 4(c) shows the
amount is increased with ram speed and its sensitivity on the effect of punch temperatures on the springback amounts at
ram speed is increased in the order of die temperature of 25, the die temperature of 200 8C. In this case, the springback
100 and 200 8C. amount is reduced when using cold punch (
10 8C) at the
With increasing die temperature, the overall amount of ram speed range of above 4 mm/s.
springback is decreased due to the lowered flow stress at The effect of cold punch on the reduction of springback
elevated temperatures. And, the sensitivity of springback amount shown in Fig. 4 clearly shows that a proper ram
amount on the ram speed is increased with die temperatures. speed is important for the reduced springback.
The strain rate sensitivity [13] of metal is quite low at room In case of Fig. 4(a), the less reductions at higher ram
temperature but it increases with temperature. Therefore, speeds are probably due to the insufficient cooling at higher
higher die temperature with lower ram speed is a favorable ram speeds. But, the effect of cold punch is more compli-
condition for the reduced springback amount. cated at heated dies: excessive ram speeds can cause insuf-
In case of punch temperature, the effect of hot punch is not ficient cooling and/or heating effect on the surface of sheets:
experimentally implemented in this study because the trend whilst insufficient speeds reduce the temperature difference
is similar with that of heated die, but the combination of hot between upper and lower surface of sheets.
die and cold punch, which simultaneously induce high The experimental results shows that tool temperature
temperature at die part (lower side of bending sheet) and control is very effective way in reducing the amount of
low temperature at punch part (upper side of bending sheet), springback, and any combination of tool temperature can
is experimentally investigated. The stress distribution in a reduce springback amount when it has potential to reduce
sheet metal bending part before unloading decides the elastic recovery after unloading.
368 Y.H. Moon et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 132 (2003) 365–368

4. Conclusion

(1) The effectiveness of tool temperature control method

has been experimentally confirmed by actual measure-
ment of springback amount of U-bent aluminum 1050.
(2) Hot die is very effective in reducing springback amount
and the combination of hot die and cold punch can reduce
the amount of springback up to 20% when compared to
conventional room temperature bending test.
(3) In case of tool temperature control, proper ram speed is
important for the reduced springback because the
effectiveness of the tool temperature control depends
on how well the metal can be heated or cooled.
(4) The change in stress distribution through the tool
temperature control decides the magnitude and direc-
tion of springback of the part after unloading.

Acknowledgements

This work has been supported by the Research Grant

which is financed by Department of Mechanical Engineer-
ing in Pusan National University.

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