Models for ductile damage and fracture prediction in cold bulk metal forming processes: a review

Ductile damage and fracture prediction in real size structures subjected to complex loading conditions has been of utmost interest in the scientific and engineering community in the past century. Numerical simulations with nonlinear finite element (FE) codes allow investigating various complicated problems for damage and fracture prediction in real scale models, which is an important topic in many industries, including metal forming industry. For all industrial cold forming processes, the ability of numerical modeling to predict ductile fracture is crucial. However, this ability is still limited because of the complex loading paths (multi-axial and non-proportional loadings) and important shear effects in several forming processes. The development robust damage and fracture prediction models is essential to obtain realistic results for both geometry precision and mechanical properties. The present article reviews the models in three approaches of ductile damage, namely: uncoupled phenomenological model (or fracture criteria), coupled phenomenological models, and micromechanics-based models, which have been developed to predict ductile fracture in metal forming processes. The objective is to supply to engineers and scientists an overview on a “top-down” procedure to be able to construct predictive tools for metal forming processes.