Influence of melt-treatment on material constants of aluminum sheet used for easy-open can during hot deformation
(College of Materials Science and Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350002,China)
Abstract: The isothermal compression test at elevated temperature was carried out for aluminum sheets prepared by different melt-treatment methods with aid of dynamic hot/mechanical simulation experimental technology. The material constants of hot deformation have been solved by multivariate regression directly. Influence of metallurgy factors on the constants was analyzed. The results show that at some strain, the relationship of sheets’ flow stress with deformation temperature and strain rate can be expressed more suitably with Arrhenius equation modified by hyperbolic sine function. Structure factor A1, stress-level coefficient α, strain rate sensibility exponent m and deformation activation energy Q all increase with increment of strain, while stress exponent n decreases gradually. The bigger α value or the smaller n value is, the more obvious the dynamic softening is, but the α value will increase for the metallurgy defects existing in the sheets. Influence of melt-treatment on Q depends upon the synthesis effect of all kinds of metallurgy defects. The Q and n values of the sheet prepared by high-efficient melt-treatment are the least, while the m value is the biggest, and the sheet can deform easily and evenly.
Key words: aluminum sheet; easy-open can; material constants; melt-treatment; hot compression deformation