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The influence of sheet thickness on sheet metal forming limits is a controversial issue; while some investigations indicate the considerable influence of thickness on forming limit diagrams (FLDs), others suggest that it is of negligible importance. In the present work, it has been demonstrated that if the thickness-reduction process is chosen so as not to alter the micro structure of the material, the forming limits do not change with variations of thickness. A material which has extensive usage in sheet metal forming processes of automotive industry (St14) has been provided. The initial thickness of the sheet is 1.5mm and using grinding process (which does not alter the microstructure) the initial thickness is reduced to different thicknesses, namely 1 and 0.5mm. Afterwards, the FLDs for all three thicknesses were determined using standard test methods. The FLDs for specimens which were ground to various thicknesses differ slightly.

A theoretical forming limit stress diagram (FLSD) for necking prediction which is based on the strain gradient theory of plasticity in conjunction with the M-K approach was represented and used in tube hydroforming. This approach introduces an internal length scale into conventional constitutive equations and takes into account the effects of deformation inhomogeneity and material softening. The nonlinear second order ordinary differential equation of the thickness of tube has been solved by collocation method. It has been shown that this method overcomes the imperfection sensitivity encountered in the conventional M-K method. The predicted FLSD has been compared with published experimental hydroforming stress limit diagram and good agreement was found between them. The purpose of this work is the implementation of the forming limit stress diagram determined by the proposed methodology to obtain suitable load path in tube hydroforming.