Monitoring Fukui Conical Cup Test Using Acoustic Emission

Acoustic emission (AE) is a nondestructive testing technology has been used for monitoring cracks and deformation in several materials. In this study, AE features were used to verify crack formation during Fukui conical cup test of aluminum alloy grade AA2024-T3 sheet and DP440 dual-phase steel sheet. Additionally, the effects of lubricants on the AE signals were investigated. AE sensor, signal amplifier and a data acquisition system were used for data collection and LabView software was used for data processing and feature extraction. Features were extracted from the AE signal gained during this test, including maximum amplitude (AE-Max) and cumulative energy (AE-energy). Initial results suggested that some AE features clearly correlate with fractures and were employed to monitor events encountered during the Fukui conical cup test, utilizing simple AE features for analysis and validation. This ensures the AE technique can be used as monitoring tool during forming process of selected material sheets.