Journal of Materials Processing Technology 177 (2006) 142–145 Finite element analysis and formability of non-isothermal deep drawing of AZ31B sheets Tyng-Bin Huang a,∗ , Yung-An Tsai a , Fuh-Kuo Chen b a Department of Mechanical Engineering, St. John’s University, 499, Sec. 4, Tam King Road Tamsui, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC b Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Section 4, 1 Roosevelt Road, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC Abstract Magnesium alloys exhibit poor formability at room temperature, but the formability can be improved at elevated temperature. In this study the formability and non-isothermal deep drawing at elevated temperature of magnesium alloy AZ31B sheets is studied by experiment and finite element analysis. The forming temperature, lubricant and sheet thickness are considered in this study. The experimental results indicate that the highest limit drawing ratio (LDR) is at a forming temperature of 260 ◦ C for 0.58 mm thick AZ31B sheet, and the highest LDR is 2.63. The highest LDR is at a forming temperature of 200 ◦ C for 0.50 mm thick AZ31B sheet, and the highest LDR is 2.5. The experimental data shows a good agreement with the simulation results. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Deep drawing; Magnesium alloy AZ31; Finite element; Formability 1. Introduction Due to the low density and high specific rigidity, magnesium alloys have the potential to reduce the weight of structural parts [1,2]. The formability of magnesium is low at room temperature because of the hexagonal closed packed (HCP) crystal struc- ture. Therefore, die casting is mostly utilized for fabrications with magnesium alloys in industries. When compared to die casting, sheet metal forming shows better mechanical proper- ties. However, warm deep drawing can improve the formability of magnesium alloy sheets because the pyramidal plane of mag- nesium HCP crystal structure will be operated by thermal acti- vation and which results in good formability with warm forming [3–5]. In this study the formability and non-isothermal deep drawing at elevated temperature of magnesium alloy AZ31B sheets are studied by experiments and finite element analysis. The forming temperature, lubricant and sheet thickness are considered in this study. The commercial FEM code MSC Superform was used to simulate the deep drawing processes. Punch load and tempera- ture distribution were obtained to validate the FEM simulation results. ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +886 2 28013131x6715; fax: +886 2 28013143. E-mail address: tbhuang@mail.sju.edu.tw (T.-B. Huang). 2. Experiment and FEM model 2.1. Experiment Circular cup drawing tests were performed to determine the LDR and formability of magnesium alloy. Fig. 1 shows the schematic diagram of the tool. Tests were conducted with cir- cular blanks of various diameters to determine the LDR for a given temperature. The diameters of the blank ranged from 55 to 110 mm with intervals of 5 mm. Tests were performed at 100, 150, 200, 230, 260 and 300 ◦ C. The punch load and stroke were obtained by pressure transducer and potential meter. Two surface thermocouples were used to measure the temperature distribu- tion of drawn cup, as shown in Fig. 1. Punch load, stroke, and temperature were recorded by a data acquisition card. Punch load and temperature distribution were obtained to validate the FEM simulation results. AZ31 magnesium alloy sheets of 0.58 and 0.50 mm thicknesses were used in the current research. Mean- while, two kinds of lubricants (molybdenum disulfide and TYE press lubricant oil no. 5) were used to investigate the influence of lubricants to formability. Fig. 2 shows the setup of deep drawing system for this research. Electric heaters are used for heating the die and blankholder. The electric power input to the heaters are con- trolled by PID controllers and thermocouples buried in the die and blankholder, and they maintained the tools at a specified tem- perature. Insulation plates and water-cooled plates are used to 0924-0136/$ – see front matter © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2006.04.088