Prediction of localized thinning in sheet metal using a general anisotropic yield criterion

The forming limit diagram (FLD) is a useful concept for characterizing the formability of sheet metal. The ability to accurately predict the FLD for a given material has been shown to depend on the shape of the selected yield function. In addition, both experimental and numerical results have shown that the level of the FLD is strongly strain path dependent. In this work, a combination of Marciniak-Kuczynski (M-K) analysis and a general anisotropic yield criterion developed by Karafillis and Boyce is used to predict localized thinning of sheet metal alloys for linear and nonlinear strain paths. A new method for determining the constants in the yield criterion is proposed. The optimal values are obtained by fitting the initial yield stresses and calculated FLD under linear strain paths with the experimental measurement. Using this approach, accurate yield functions can be defined for both Al2008-T4 and Al6111-T4. Comparisons of computed FLDs with the experimental data of Graf and Hosford show good agreements.