Enhancement of bending formability of brittle sheet metal in multilayer metallic sheets

The formability of multilayer metallic sheets is evaluated by tensile, V-bending, hat bending and hemming tests. A monolithic type-420J2 stainless steel sheet cannot be formed because of poor elongation as small as 1.7%. Marked enhancement of the bending formability was observed in the bending of type-420J2 stainless steel sheets when they are layered by type-304 stainless steel sheets and composed into a multilayer metallic sheet. The mechanism of the enhancement of the formability of type-420J2 stainless steel in a multilayer metallic sheet is investigated analytically by focusing on the delay of the initiation of necking, and by performing stress analysis by finite element method (FEM).