Mechanical Properties Involved in the Micro-forming of Ultra-thin Stainless Steel Sheets

The objective of this paper is to characterize the mechanical behavior of an ultra-thin stainless steel, of 0.15-mm thickness, that is commonly used in the manufacturing of miniature connectors. The main focus is the relationship between some microstructural features, like grain size and surface roughness, and the macroscopic mechanical behavior investigated in uniaxial tension and simple shear. In tension, adaptations to the very small sheet thickness, in order to hold the specimen under the grips, are presented. Yield stress, initial elastic modulus, and evolution of the loading-unloading slope with plastic deformation were evaluated. Moreover, the kinematic contribution to the hardening was characterized by monotonic and cyclic simple shear test and reproduced by a mixed hardening law implemented in Abaqus finite element code. Then, the evolution of surface roughness with plastic strain, both in tension and simple shear, was analyzed. It was shown that in the case of an ultra-thin sheet, the stress levels, calculated either from an average thickness or when considering the effect of the surface roughness, exhibit a significant difference. Finally, the influence of surface roughness on the fracture of a tensile specimen was also investigated. (C) The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society and ASM International 2015