Journal of Material Science and Technology Research

Articles

Vol. 13 (2026)

Development and Preliminary Validation of a Thermally Controlled Modular V-Bending Device: Effect of Punch Radius on ZE10A Magnesium Alloy Sheet

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31875/2410-4701.2026.13.06
Submitted
August 11, 2026
Published
2026-08-10

Abstract

The assessment of the formability of magnesium alloy sheets requires testing devices capable of controlling geometric and thermal parameters, since small variations in the bending radius may significantly affect the occurrence of surface cracks. The aim of this work was to develop and preliminarily validate a modular device for V-bending tests with different punch radii, enabling the comparative evaluation of sheet-metal formability. The system was designed to be coupled to a universal testing machine and allows punch replacement while maintaining controlled conditions of temperature, displacement rate, and specimen positioning. As a case study, bending tests were carried out on ZE10A magnesium alloy sheet, commercially known as Elektron® 717, with a nominal thickness of 1.40 mm, at a nominal tool temperature of 175 °C and a soaking time of 20 s. Punch radii of 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 mm were evaluated, corresponding to approximate R/t ratios of 0.36, 0.71, and 1.07, respectively. Surface damage was quantified by macroscopic inspection and image analysis using ImageJ software, considering the total visible-crack length and its normalized value relative to specimen width. A progressive reduction in surface damage was observed with increasing punch radius. For the 0.5 mm radius, the normalized total visible-crack length reached 84.06% of the specimen width, whereas the 1.0 mm radius resulted in 58.76%. For the 1.5 mm radius, no visible surface cracks were observed under the evaluated condition. Therefore, the device was shown to be sensitive to variations in the geometric severity of bending and suitable as an experimental platform for future studies involving different processing conditions, cutting orientations, and complementary microstructural analyses. One-way analysis of variance confirmed a significant effect of punch radius on the normalized crack-length response (p < 0.001). Although validated using ZE10A, the modular architecture is potentially adaptable to comparative testing of other metallic sheet materials.

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