Implementation of taguchi approach on investigation of formability for Al 8011 sheets at elevated temperatures

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ABSTRACT

Sheet metal forming a critical manufacturing process in automotive, aeronautic, and industrial sectors. Due to their attractive quality and light weight in comparison with all other alloys, aluminium-based alloy sheets have overtaken other alloys in some applications. Formability refers to the ability of sheet metals to be formed into various shapes without fracture. The formability of sheet is determined by the material’s properties, forming variables, sheet width. The use of orthogonal arrays in Taguchi experiments allows the effects of multiple parameters to be studied efficiently. In this manuscript, the forming limit diagram for Al 8011 sheets of 1 mm and 1.2 mm thickness was evaluated using a Taguchi orthogonal array at 150°C and 450°C. These specimens are cut in two different directions (0° and 90°) to the rolling direction, and experiments are undertaken out at a strain rate of 0.001/s ⁻¹. It has been observed that specimens from the transverse direction is one of the strongest. The formability characteristics of Al 8011 alloy sheet have been observed to change with temperature and thickness using FLD. The fracture micrographs are studied using scanning electron microscopy. The comparative analysis of these data showed that the material’s formability has dramatically increased.

KEYWORDS:

• Al 8011 alloy
• elevated temperature
• taguchi orthogonal array
• forming limit diagram (FLD)
• LDH

Future scope

To meet yet more stringent fuel efficiency requirements while being commercially viable, automotive designers are still searching for new innovations to lessen vehicle load and production costs. The use of TWBs is an incentive to satisfy these apparently contradictory criteria. TWBs of Al 8011 alloy with other alloys is the future scope of the work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).