Speaker
Description
Keywords: Sheet metal forming, high strength steels, Edge formability, Chassis, Pre-strain, Hole tension test
Abstract
There is a high level of uncertainty in the prediction of edge cracking during the design and manufacturing of high strength sheet metal products. Edge ductility is a complex parameter to measure since it is not an intrinsic property of the material, but it also depends on the trimming strategy/parameters that have been applied to the edge (edge preparation method, cutting/punching clearance, etc.). Furthermore, most of forming processes involve more than one operation where the material can be deformed in a first stage, then trimmed or punched and further deformed in a final forming step to obtain the desired shape. Therefore, in order to design a robust and safe forming process able to predict the risk of edge cracking, it is crucial to understand the influence of pre-strain on the residual formability of trimmed edges. This paper analyses the effect of different pre-strain levels and paths (uniaxial tension, plane strain and equibiaxial stretching) on the sheared edge ductility of a Complex Phase (CP) steel and a high strength low alloy (HSLA) steel used for automobile chassis applications. To this purpose, rectangular specimens are cut out from pre-strained samples and punched. Hole Tension Tests (HTTs) in combination with Digital Image Correlation (DIC) are carried out to determine the edge fracture strain of undeformed and pre-strained samples. The results are discussed in terms of major strains obtained from DIC and thickness strains measured by optical microscopy. The proposed methodology allows to describe the edge cracking sensitivity of high strength steel sheets as a function of the pre-deformation state and can be useful to predict the risk of edge cracking more accurately in forming simulations.