Abstract
A new sheet metal testing procedure has been developed that is simple to perform and that can serve as an adjunct to tensile
testing for evaluating the formability of a wide range of sheet metals. The method is called Continuous Bending under Tension
(CBT) and results in percentage elongations that significantly exceed those obtained in tensile testing and correlate better with
the type and amount of deformation found in certain sheet metal forming operations. The mechanism by which CBT enhances
formability can be exploited in innovative processes that are especially useful in automotive manufacturing. A novel CBT testing
machine has been developed and preliminary experiments have been performed on an automotive aluminium alloy (AA6022-
T4). These experiments demonstrated doubling of the potential strain that can be induced before failure