Toward development of optimum specimen designs and modeling of in-plane uniaxial compression testing of aluminum alloy 2024 and AISI 1008 steel sheet material.

Tension-compression testing is commonly conducted to understand and predict springback during a stamping process. However, large strains are generally difficult to achieve during the in-plane compression portion of the test. Proper specimen design and control of frictional forces are necessary for obtaining large strains. This paper describes extensive finite element analyses (FEA) and optimization studies (Phase 1) that were conducted to calibrate the model test assembly for three different buckling modes obtained in uniaxial compression tests of aluminum alloy 2024 and American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) 1008 steel specimens. In addition to obtaining these three buckling modes correctly, calibrated FEA model predicted forces matched measured forces reasonably well. Also, a good agreement between computed and measured stress-strain data was demonstrated for one compression experiment. In the Phase 2 optimization study, optimum specimen geometries will be developed by using these verified, optimum FEA model test assemblies in three types of compression buckling experiments.

Insights into Cruciform Sample Design.

Four different cruciform sample designs, based on the work of Abu-Farha et al., were studied in this paper. Key features of this design are a recessed pocket with fillet and re-entrant corners. These samples were shown via digital image correlation to achieve widely differing strain values inside and outside the pocket. From the results of these tests, there are two competing failure mechanisms in the sample. The pocket region is affected by stress concentrations caused by the fillet, and re-entrant notches lead to strain limited constraints similar to diffuse and localized necks in uniaxial samples. Balancing these two constraints determines the success or premature failure of the sample.