Prediction of fracture in hub-hole expansion process using new ductile fracture criterion

새로운 연성파괴기준을 이용한 허브홀 확장과정에서의 파단 예측

A hole expansion process is an important process in producing a hub-hole in a wheel disc of a vehicle. In this process, the main parameter is the formability of a material that is expressed as the hole expansion ratio. The hub-hole expansion process is different from conventional forming processes or hole flanging processes from the view-point of its deformation mode and forming of a thick plate. In the process, a crack is occurred in the upper edge of a hole as the hole is expanded. Since prediction of the forming limit by hole expansion experiment needs tremendous time and effort, an appropriate fracture criterion has to be developed fur finite element analysis to define forming limit of the material. In this paper, the hole expansion process of a hub-hole is studied by finite element analysis with ABAQUS/standard considering several ductile fracture criteria. The fracture mode and hole expansion ratio is compared with respect to the various fracture criteria. These criteria do not predict its fracture mode or hole expansion ratio adequately and show deviation from experimental results of hole expansion. A modified ductile fracture criterion is newly proposed to consider the deformation characteristics of a material accurately in a hole expansion process. A fracture propagation analysis at the hub-hole edge is also performed for high accuracy of prediction using the new fracture criterion proposed.