Consequences of large strain anisotropic work-hardening in cold forging

Abstract The influence of anisotropic work-hardening on the component properties and process forces in cold forging is investigated. The focus is on the material behaviour exhibited after strain path reversals. The work-hardening of three steels is characterized for large monotonic strains (equivalent strains up to 1.7) and subsequent strain path reversals (accumulated strains up to 2.5). Tensile tests on specimens extracted from rods forward extruded at room temperature reveal an almost linear work-hardening for all investigated steels. The application of compressive tests on extruded material gives insights into the non-monotonic work-hardening behaviour. All previously reported anisotropic work-hardening phenomena such as the Bauschinger effect, work-hardening stagnation and permanent softening are present for all investigated steels and intensify with the pre-strain. Experimental results of 16MnCrS5 were utilized to select constitutive models of increasing complexity regarding their capability to capture anisotropic work-hardening. The best fit between experimental and numerical data was obtained by implementation of a modified Yoshida-Uemori model, which is able to capture all observed anisotropic work-hardening phenomena. The constitutive models were applied in simulations of single- and multi-stage cold forming processes, revealing the significant effect of anisotropic hardening on the predicted component properties and process forces, originating in the process-intrinsic strain path reversals as well as in strain path reversals between subsequent forming stages. Selected results were validated experimentally.