Springback After the Lateral Bending of T-Section Rails of Work-Hardening Materials

This paper studies the springback after the lateral bending of T-section rails, considering the work-hardening materials. A linear-hardening model and an elastic-plastic power-exponent hardening model of the material are adopted and compared with the real experimental stress-strain curve obtained from the uniaxial tension tests. The analytical formulas for the springback and residual curvatures are given. The numerical results indicate that the material hardening directly affects the accuracy of springback prediction compared with the experimental results. Besides, springback prediction is not sensitive to hardening parameters in the beginning of elastic-plastic bending deformation. Although there is an apparent yield stage in the true stress-strain curve, the adopted hardening models can achieve an allowable relative error, if hardening parameters are properly selected.