Components with Optimised Properties due to Advanced Thermo‐mechanical Process Strategies in Hot Sheet Metal Forming

The increasing demand for car body structures with optimised energy absorption capacity and the ability to maintain their structural integrity even under the highest dynamic load has stimulated the development of new thermo‐mechanical process routes for the production of pressed and roll‐formed sheet metal parts in order to combine both extreme formability and a highest level of strength for the final product. These process routes offer a high potential for further improvements in the field of strength‐strain correlation and load adapted property distribution of the components, as well as an enhanced process productivity. A new type of thermo‐mechanical tailored processing of sheets and profiles is presented, based on the adequate application of differential heating and cooling strategies. By the control of local microstructural effects, the components develop a property distribution adapted to complex load situations. New tooling concepts complement these developments in order to ensure high process efficiency and reliability.     

Material Flow Control and Optimization in High‐Pressure Sheet Metal Forming by Active‐Elastic Tools

High‐pressure forming of metal sheets is an innovative forming technology for the production of complex components and offers high potentials to improve the properties and qualities of sheet metal parts. This report describes investigations of a newly developed active‐elastic tool system referred to as ACTEC system. Unlike the use of a comparable semi‐rigid tool system, the ACTEC system shows improvements with respect to the material flow in the flange area and reduced sheet thinning in critical corner regions of the workpiece. In addition, the clamping forces respectively sealing forces necessary to avoid leakage in the tool system during the forming process can be reduced. Moreover, the specific design of the ACTEC‐system as well as current experimental examinations are presented and discussed.     

Efficient Modelling and Simulation of Process Chains in Sheet Metal Forming and Processing

The ultimate aim of this work is the development of methods for the simulation of manufacturing process chains such as forming→cutting→heat treatment→joining, providving maximal efficiency without significant loss of accuracy. In the current work, we make the first step in this direction by considering the case of forming of the new high strength steel LH®800. The work begins with a characterization and metallographic investigation of this new steel. Following this, a combined hardening model appropriate for this steel is formulated and identified. The identified model is then validated with the help of the finite‐element simulation of draw‐bending. On this basis, the model was then used to simulate cup deep‐drawing. This process was also simulated with a so‐called one‐step solver which is much faster than the finite element simulation. The results of these two simulations are compared with the results of the deep‐drawing experiment.     

Transformation Induced Martensite Evolution in Metal Forming Processes of Stainless Steels

Because of their high corrosion resistance and deformation characteristics, the industrial application of stainless steels is of high importance. During deep drawing processes, phase transformation of austenite to martensite occurs, which leads to an increased strain hardening of the material. The phase transformation depends on alloying constituents, transformation temperatures, stresses and strains. Consequently, in the design of deep drawing processes of stainless steels the phase transformation has to be considered. This paper presents a mathematical model for the calculation of the martensite evolution depending on temperatures, stresses and strains. The precise simulation of deep drawing processes of stainless steels can be enabled by the implementation of this model into commercial FE‐programs.     

Modelling and Closed‐loop Control of Complex Tube Forming Based on an Optimized Application of Martensite Formation in Austenitic Stainless Steels

Metastable austenitic steels undergo deformation‐induced martensitic transformation which can lead to a distinct increase of fatigue strength at an optimal volume fraction of martensite. This effect was used in the present study to define the local strength behaviour of a structural component part for the very high cycle fatigue (VHCF) regime. The investigation was on a discontinuous two‐stage forming process that consists of U‐O‐forming and rotary draw bending and results in a cross tube of a trailer coupling as exemplary dynamically loaded component. The volume fraction of martensite can be adjusted by means of plastomechanical simulation of the forming process and its parameters as part of the online process control. The formation of martensite shows a strong dependence on forming parameters (e.g. temperature and strain‐rate) and batch variations. These disturbance variables can only be taken into account by a closed‐loop control. Non‐isothermal material models were analysed according to their simulation accuracy of the martensite evolution. For the online control various hierarchical mathematical models were studied with regard to time effort and model error.     

Properties of Large‐Scale Structure Workpieces in High‐Pressure Sheet Metal Forming of Tailor Rolled Blanks

In order to manufacture components optimised in regard to lightweight construction, the use of innovative forming processes like high‐pressure sheet metal forming (HBU) in combination with the use of tailor rolled blanks (TRB) as innovative semi‐finished material is a promising solution. Fundamental investigations on the HBU of TRB have been carried out in a joint research project at the Institute of Forming Technology and Lightweight Construction (IUL), University of Dortmund, and the Institute of Metal Forming (IBF), RWTH Aachen. The experiments performed with cylindrical parts have provided basic knowledge on the sheet material flow and resulting part properties. To achieve sufficient process reliability, a non‐adjustable as well as an adjustable seal system have been tested and proved to be suitable solutions, depending on thickness ratio and thickness gradient within the TRB. In order to demonstrate the lightweight potential of this process chain, a forming tool for an automotive body structure has been designed and tested. The experiments have shown that this large‐scale structure can well be manufactured in the HBU process from a TRB.     

Comparison of Work Hardening Behaviour of Ferritic‐Bainitic and Ferritic‐Martensitic Dual Phase Steels

In this research, the stress‐strain curves of two types of dual phase steels, namely ferritic‐bainitic and ferritic‐martensitic steels with 0.16%C and 1.2% Mn have been obtained using tensile tests. Both steels were intercritically annealed under different conditions and the ferritic bainitic steels subsequently quenched in a salt bath, while the ferritic martensitic steels were water quenched. The stress‐strain data of the specimens were checked using Hollomon's equation. The results showed that both types of dual phase steels had two stages of work hardening and each stage had a different work hardening exponent. The effects of volume fraction of hard phases (bainite and martensite) on ultimate tensile strength, total elongation and work hardening exponent were also investigated. The results indicated that with increasing volume fraction of hard phase the UTS was increased whereas the work hardening exponent and total elongation were decreased.     

Modelling and Numerical Simulation of Ductile Damage in Bulk Metal Forming

A complete set of fully coupled constitutive equations accounting for both combined isotropic and kinematic hardening as well as the ductile damage under anisothermal conditions at finite (visco)plastic strain is developed and implemented into the general purpose Finite Element code for metal forming simulation. First, the fully coupled anisotropic constitutive equations in the framework of Continuum Damage Mechanics are presented. Attention is paid to the strong coupling between the main thermomechanical fields as thermal effects, elasto‐viscoplasticity, mixed hardening, ductile isotropic damage and contact with friction. The associated numerical aspects concerning both the local integration of the coupled constitutive equations as well as the (global) equilibrium integration schemes are presented. The local integration is outlined thanks to the Newton iterative scheme applied to a reduced system of two differential equations. For the global resolution of the equilibrium problem, the classical dynamic explicit (DE) scheme with an adaptive time step control is used. A fully adaptive 2D methodology with mesh and loading sequences adaptation based on some appropriate error estimates is used. For 3D simulations only a constant appropriately refined 3D mesh is used. Various 2D and 3D examples are given in order to show the capability of the methodology to predict the ductile damage initiation and growth during metal forming processes.     

Process Modeling and Optimization in Sheet Metal Forming – Selected Applications and Challenges

This paper presents an overview on the application of FE simulation as a virtual manufacturing tool in designing process for manufacturing sheet metal parts. Input parameters to simulate a process are key elements in successful simulation for process design. In this paper several methods to determine input parameters for process simulation are discussed. Practical examples of application of FE simulation are presented for improvement of existing and/or designing new forming processes for manufacturing sheet metal parts.     

Microstructural Evolution and Change in Hardness of S30432 Heat‐resistant Steel during Creep at 650 °C

The microstructural evolution of S30432 heat‐resistant steel during creep at 650 °C and its effect on the change in hardness was investigated. The change of hardness during creep of S30432 at 650 °C can be divided into three stages. These are related to the precipitation and coarsening of ε‐Cu and M₂₃C₆ carbides, decrease in the number of twins and increase in grain size. The precipitation of ε‐Cu dominantly contributes to the significant hardening at stage I, and the coarsening of ε‐Cu is the key factor to decrease the hardness at stage II. At stage III, the hardness hardly changes since the microstructure of S30432 tends to be stable in the long‐term creep range.