Abstract
Metal forming is used synonymously with
deformation, a process during which an object gets changed due to
the applied force. These changes can either be reversible or
irreversible depending on the type of material; size and geometry of
the object and the magnitude of the applied force to the object. This
paper reports the microstructural development after mechanical
forming of steel sheet material by varying the applied loads. The
microstructural evaluations showed that the applied loads employed
caused an increase in the magnitude of the grain sizes in each loaded
specimen. Furthermore, the increase in the grain size of the
microstructure was observed to be directly proportional to the loads
applied. In addition, the microhardness values of the cross sections
investigated were found to increase with the applied loads. Hence, the
grain size growth and the hardness were linearly dependent on the
applied loads, and this implies that there is a correlation between the
applied loads and the resulting microstructure of the material and the
hardness of the material.