STEEL AND ALUMINUM ALLOY SHEET METAL WERE EXAMINED FOR THE EFFECTS OF STRAIN RATE, BY FORMING DOME-SHAPED SPECIMENS AT THREE DIFFERENT CONSTANT SPEEDS. BLANKS WERE ALSO FORMED IN A STEP-WISE MANNER TO LET THE MATERIAL RELAX. ALL PARTS WERE FORMED TO FAILURE, AND THE STRAIN ON THE FORMED DOMES WAS MEASURED USING A SQUARE GRID PATTERN APPLIED PRIOR TO FORMING. RESULTS WERE COMPARED WITH PUBLISHED VALUES OF STRAIN RATE SENSITIVITY. FOR LINEAR FORMING OPERATIONS STEEL AND ALUMINUM BEHAVED AS EXPECTED, BUT FOR THE STEP-WISE OPERATION NO CHANGES OF SIGNIFICANCE IN THE FORMABILITY WERE FOUND.