Numerical simulation for determination of limit strains of a cold rolled and solution treated Nimonic C-263 alloy sheet

Nimonic alloys are Ni-base superalloys used for several high temperature applications, notable among them are the components in space vehicles, rocket engines, submarines, nuclear reactors, chemical processing vessels and heat exchange tubing as they exhibit excellent mechanical strength and creep resistance at high temperatures. Hence, evaluation of their formability characteristics is of utmost importance to make them into several useful components. Limit strains or forming limit curve is one of the parameters that indicates the formability, especially the drawability of sheet metal for deep drawing applications. In this paper, the limit strains of Nimonic C-263 alloy is investigated and presented using an explicit finite element code LSDYNA 3D. The material properties and the material model are evaluated by conducting tensile tests. The limit strains obtained from the simulation are verified by the analytical equations developed using vertex theory. The results tally within +/10% error.