Novel Method for Combined Tension and Shear Loading of Thin-Walled Tubes

Two simple experiments for probing the plastic response of thin-walled tubes under pure hoop tension and combined tension and shear are described. They both use ring-like specimens with test-sections machined on them. The specimens are placed over two D-shaped mandrels that are parted in a universal testing machine. The first experiment is the Ring Hoop Tension Test, which can be used to obtain the uniaxial hoop response of the tube. The second is the recently proposed Ring Plane-Strain Tension experiment, which can impose stress-states with an arbitrary combination of tension and shear. It is shown that the results of these experiments can be used to probe the yield locus of the tube material and calibrate suitable anisotropic yield functions. The experiments are proposed as complementary to the established tension-internal pressure loading of thin-walled tubes, but can also be used independently, in the absence of the specialized equipment that the latter experiment requires.