Understand How Your Metal Performs When Shaped

At Secat, we help manufacturers, product developers, and researchers understand how aluminum behaves when shaped, stretched, or strained. Our forming and formability testing services provide data-driven insights to optimize your forming processes, prevent cracking or wrinkling, and guide alloy and process selection for complex parts.

From automotive panels to aerospace components, knowing your forming limits early helps ensure better performance, lower waste, and faster production validation.

What We Do

Secat provides a full range of forming and deformation analysis services designed to evaluate material behavior during shaping operations. Our team uses standardized test methods and advanced modeling tools to predict performance and pinpoint problem areas before they occur.

Our forming capabilities include:

  • Forming Limit Diagram (FLD) Development
    Quantifies how much strain your sheet material can withstand before failure. We test, plot, and interpret FLDs to define the safe forming range for your alloy and processing conditions.

  • Bend
    Characterize how your material performs during fabrication.

  • Hot Compression
    Simulate thermomechanical deformation. Measure flow stress. Characterize microstructural evolution.

Additional Capabilities:

  • Earing Cups

  • Sample preparation for flat and round specimens
  • Olson Cup Testing
  • Strain measurement using gages and digital image correlation

💡 Why It Matters

Forming is at the heart of product development — especially for automotive, aerospace, and packaging applications where light-weighting and precision are critical. Understanding formability helps you:

  • Select the right alloy and temper for your process

  • Minimize trial-and-error during tooling design

  • Reduce material waste and scrap

  • Improve consistency and part quality

  • Shorten development time from concept to production

⚙️ Typical Applications

  • Automotive body and structural components

  • Aerospace panels

  • Consumer packaging

  • Research and alloy development

Why Choose Secat?

  • Independent & Objective: We provide unbiased, third-party data and analysis.
  • Comprehensive Expertise: Decades of experience in aluminum metallurgy and forming behavior.
  • Collaborative Approach: We work closely with customers to interpret data and solve real-world forming challenges.
  • State-of-the-Art Equipment: Advanced testing, DIC analysis, and simulation capabilities all under one roof.

Get Started

Ready to understand how your material forms?
Contact Secat’s team to discuss your project or request a quote for forming limit testing.