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Strain-controlled bulge test

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Abstract

A closed-loop approach is adopted to implement strain rate control during the bulge test. Due to the difficulty of measuring strains directly, the technique is based on the conversion of displacement measurements to the corresponding strains using the plane-strain formulation. The necessary temporal evolution of the midpoint displacement of a rectangular diaphragm is derived under the condition of constant strain rate and is imposed as a control criterion. The technique is demonstrated on 500-nm-thick Au diaphragms by applying strain rates ranging from 2 × 10−6 to 2 × 10−4 s–1. By measuring the corresponding yield strength values, a strain rate sensitivity of 0.11 is obtained, which is close to what was previously reported on similar specimens using the microbending test.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Koc University (KU). B.E.A. wishes to thank N. Veryeri, M.Sci., of Veryeri Makina for designing the testing apparatus. Help from A. Yetistiren and I. Veryeri of KU and O. Gurkan of Ziya Atolyesi for building the apparatus is acknowledged. X-ray diffraction work was carried out by Prof. H. Maier of Paderborn University. Prof. D. Canadinc of KU is thanked for discussions regarding microstructural aspects.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Engineering, Koc University, Rumeli Feneri Yolu, 34450, Sariyer, Istanbul, Turkey

    B. Erdem Alaca & K. Bugra Toga

  2. Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department, Middle East Technical University, 06531, Ankara, Turkey

    Orhan Akar & Tayfun Akin

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  1. B. Erdem Alaca
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  2. K. Bugra Toga
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Correspondence to B. Erdem Alaca.

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Alaca, B.E., Toga, K.B., Akar, O. et al. Strain-controlled bulge test. Journal of Materials Research 23, 3295–3302 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.2008.0395

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