Speaker
Description
Modern hot sheet metal forming processes offer the opportunity, especially in the automotive sector, to meet current demands for ultra-lightweight design. Due to the increased formability at the high process temperatures, high-strength aluminium alloys are increasingly coming into the focus of the industry. However, the complex thermo-mechanical interactions within these processes can lead to undesirable microstructural changes that could have a negative impact on the final mechanical properties. The purpose of this work is therefore to investigate the microstructural evolution of age-hardenable aluminium alloys in the course of a modern gas-based sheet metal forming process and to quantify its influence on the resulting mechanical properties. For this purpose, various components were first formed at different process temperatures at laboratory scale and the areas of microstructural interest were identified. Metallographic examinations were performed to visualize the influence of process temperature and deformation on the microstructure. In the next step, artificial aging of the components was performed to increase the mechanical properties. Physical process-route simulations via tensile tests with suitable process parameters showed that the deformation has no significant influence on the final mechanical properties of the material.