Analysis of cup earing for AA3104-H19 aluminum alloy sheet

A crystal plasticity based finite element model has been developed to simulate the earing in deep drawing. The crystallographic texture of a commercial can body alloy AA3014-H19 aluminum sheet has been analyzed by X-ray diffraction and electron back scatter diffraction (EBSD) techniques. The measured texture data were incorporated into the FE cup forming model, while the constitutive response at an integration point was described by the single crystal plasticity theory. It has been found that the initial texture and the spatial distributions of different texture components, which are determined by the re-roll texture after hot rolling and the subsequent cold rolling reduction, are the critical factors for earing. The earing is initiated at a very low strain during deep drawing and it intensifies with increasing draw without change of overall profile. The different earing types, i.e., Types-A, B and C, are likely be caused by the grain/texture band formed in the cold rolling process. While such banding becomes extensive due to the sheet thermo-mechanical processing, Types- B and C earing profiles are generated.