Material Models for Simulation of Superplastic Mg Alloy Sheet Forming

Accurate prediction of strain fields and cycle times for fine-grained Mg alloy sheet forming at high temperatures (400-500 °C) is severely limited by a lack of accurate material constitutive models. This paper details an important first step toward addressing this issue by evaluating material constitutive models, developed from tensile data, for high-temperature plasticity of a fine-grained Mg AZ31 sheet material. The finite element method was used to simulate gas pressure bulge forming experiments at 450 °C using four constant gas pressures. The applicability of the material constitutive models to a balanced-biaxial stress state was evaluated through comparison of simulation results with bulge forming data. Simulations based upon a phenomenological material constitutive model developed using data from both tensile elongation and strain-rate-change experiments were found to be in favorable accord with experiments. These results provide new insights specific to the construction and use of material constitutive models for hot deformation of wrought, fine-grained Mg alloys.