This paper presents an investigation on the forming characteristics of the tailor rolled blank of an aluminum alloy (Al-TRB) during three-point bending at room temperature through experiments and finite element simulations. The strain distribution, spring-back characteristics, and metal flow law of 6000 series Al-TRB during three-point bending are explored. The prepared Al-TRB has good bending properties, and no surface cracks appear in the bending region of the Al-TRB when bent to 180°. Surface roughening occurs on the outside of the bending region. Since the strain in the thick zone is greater than that in the thin zone, the surface roughening in the thick zone is more obvious than that in the thin zone. The spring-back angle in the thin zone is higher than that in the thick zone after three-point bending, and the overall spring-back angle of Al-TRB becomes larger with an increasing bending angle. When the transition zone of Al-TRB is centered and the length of the transition zone is certain, as the length of the equal-thickness zone increases, the spring-back angle of the thin zone is larger, while the spring-back angle of the thick zone is smaller. Under the premise of a certain total length of Al-TRB and the length of the transition zone, the larger the length proportion of the thin zone, the larger the overall spring-back angle of Al-TRB, and the larger the length proportion of the thick zone, the smaller the overall spring-back angle of Al-TRB. In addition, a slight metal flow phenomenon exists during three-point bending, which shows that the metal in the bending region will flow to the thick zone, and the metal at the edge will flow to the thin zone. At the same time, there are localized thickening and thinning phenomena in Al-TRB. This study is helpful because it provides theoretical guidance for designing molds for the actual production of Al-TRB parts for automotives.
Keywords: aluminum alloy; metal flow; spring-back characteristic; tailor rolled blank; three-point bending.