Numisheet 2008

September 1 - 5, 2008 Interlaken, Switzerland

MEASUREMENT AND PREDICTION OF FORMING LIMIT STRAIN OF TWBs CONSISTING DP, SPCC STEEL SHEETS
M. Bhanage1, N. Birajdar1,V. M. Nandedkar2, K. Narasimhan1* Department of Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science, Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, Powai, Mumbai-400 076, India 2 Department of Production Engineering, S.G.G.S.I.E. &T. Nanded-431 606. India ABSTRACT: Tailor welded blanks (TWB) are used widely for achieving weight reduction and optimal
material utilization in the automotive sector. Limited data in the literature suggests that the formability of the TWBs is lower than the un-welded sheet metal blanks. In this study the forming limit strains of TWBs consisting of dual phase steels and conventional extra deep drawing steels of similar thicknesses in combination with interstitial free steel of differing thickness are measured and predicted. The experimental measurements are carried out using the standard out-of-plane test by testing sheet samples of differing widths to generate the wide range of strain paths. Finite element analysis is used is to predict the forming behavior of both the un-welded and TWB sheets. A novel necking criterion is used to predict the limit strains in the simulation.
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KEYWORDS: Forming Limit strains, AHSS ,Tailor welded blanks (TWBs), out-of-plane stretching test,
FE Simulation

1 INTRODUCTION
A tailor-welded blank consists of steels of different gauges, strengths and coating types welded together to produce a single blank prior to the forming process. By using this process, it is possible to produce a finished part with varying material properties, leading to component optimization [1]. Despite their numerous benefits, forming TWBs is challenging due to a significant reduction of formability associated with this type of blank. Some important factors which influence the formability of the TWBs are: material property changes in the weld and the heat-affected zones, non-uniform deformation because of the differences in thickness, location and orientation of the weld with respect to the direction of application of load and surface characteristics [2]. Most of the past studies on formability of TWBs concentrated on prediction of drawability of blanks in difference in thickness [3], application of variable blank holding force to control the material flow [4], control of weld line movement by using local adaptive controllers [5], Effect on forming limit diagram due to thickness difference was studied using Swift round-bottom cup tests with a punch diameter of 50 mm [6]. Stretch forming (in particular, out-of-plane stretching) is an equally

important process in manufacturing auto body and aircraft parts in which the material is subjected to biaxial stretching. In the present work, forming limit strains of unwelded and tailor welded blanks are predicted using FE simulation and the validation is done for un-welded blanks, by using out-of-plane mode of deformation using the hemispherical punch (LDH tooling geometry). The failure criterion proposed by Kumar et. al. [7] and Nandedkar [8] is used for predicting the FLD. The criterion is based on monitoring the thickness gradients that develop during sheet metal forming.

2 MATERIAL PROPERTIES
Three steel grades with difference in properties have been used in the present study to prepare the TWBs. One set of TWBs were obtained by combination of duel phase steel sheet (DP grade) and interstitial free steel sheets (IF grade) with thickness ratio 1.6. In the second type, extra deep drawing steel sheet (EDD grade) combination with interstitial free steel sheets (IF grade), with thickness ratio 1.6. The mechanical properties steel sheets used in this study are given in Table 1.

____________________ *Corresponding author: Department of Metallurgical Engg and Material Science, IIT Bombay, Powai-400 076, India. Tel: +91-22 25767630, fax: +91-22 25722674, email address: nara@iitb.ac.in

Numisheet 2008
Table 1: Mechanical properties of IF, DP and SPCC steel sheets

September 1 - 5, 2008 Interlaken, Switzerland hardening of the materials during plastic deformation is considered by Hollomon constitutive equation =Kn where = flow stress, = true strain, K is the strength coefficient and n is the strain hardening coefficient. In case of simulations, the value of coefficient of friction between blank and the tools was assumed to be 0.12 and the material properties n and K, and R0, R45 and R90 (Lankford parameters) were defined using the values obtained from tensile tests as shown in table 1
Punch

ys (MPa) UTS (MPa) euniform % n r0 r45 r90 thickness (mm)

IF 137 301 40 0.3 1.68 1.08 1.21 1.0

DP 590 415 619 22 0.20 0.91 0.73 1.02 1.6

SPCC 440 340 444 20 0.17 1.6 1.22 1.84 1.6

3 METHADOLOGY
3.1 FAILURE CRITERION During sheet metal forming, a localized neck is perceived by the presence of a critical, local thickness gradient in the sheet. Such a perception is independent of the strain path, rate of forming and the type of sheet metal being formed. A local critical thickness gradient (Rc) must exist at the onset of a local visible neck. Both in the simulation as well as experiments, the thickness gradient developing in the adjoining elements (of size about 2-5 mm) is monitored and when this gradient (Ractual) drops below Rc, then it is declared that the local neck has initiated in the element where thickness is lower. The major and minor strain in the adjoining element is then reported as the forming limit strain. This criterion may be stated as below: Ractual < Rc The above criterion has been extensively validated by Nandedkar [8]. In this work, this criterion is used for both experimentally identifying and theoretically predicting the onset of localized neck in all the samples that are formed for determining the FLD. 3.2 SIMULATION OF OUT-OF PLANE TEST In order to study the forming limit strains of unwelded and welded blanks, out-of-plane test is considered for the simulations where the sheet is deformed by a hemispherical punch (diameter:101.6 mm) inside a die opening (diameter:105.7 mm). Longitudinal welded blanks are considered for formability studies, in which weld zone is kept at geometric center of the sample. The varied strain paths were obtained by changing sample widths from 25 to 200 mm at 25 mm interval with 200 mm sample length. This procedure is followed for all the eight strain paths (tensile to plane strain to bi-axial stretching), so that Forming Limit Curves (FLC) can be generated for each case. The stressstrain relation for strain

Blank holder 1 Blank 1 (Thick)

Blank holder 2 Blank 2 (Thin)

Shim

Die

Figure 1: FE set up of out-of-plane test

Figure 1 shows the FE set up finalized for TWB simulations of out-of-plane test.The set up consists of model of flat Die, flat Blank holder, one Shim of (t1-t2/2) thickness where t1 and t2 are the thickness of welded blanks and split blank holder. During the FE modeling simulation of forming of tailor welded blanks to represent the weld, weld line assumption is followed. All the FE simulations were performed by PAM STAMP 2G. This is a commercial elastic-plastic finite element code, which uses the explicit timeintegration technique. The steel blank geometry data was generated in Solid works, a CAD package and meshed in PAM STAMP using delta mesh facility. The base material and weld zone model were comprised of quadrilateral shell elements, with five through-thickness integration points. Hills 1948 quadratic isotropic hardening yield criterion was used as the plasticity model. 3.3 EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION Experimental validation is done for un-welded blanks; the out-of-plane test tooling [9] is used for obtaining limiting strains. Out-of-plane test was carried out with 200 T double acting hydraulic press on a 102 mm diameter hemispherical punch at constant punch velocity of 200 mm/min. Two sets of eight different strain paths for all three sheet metals were stretched till fracture or initiation of necking. It was ensured that there was no drawing in of the sheet samples while pressing. The punch travel was continued till the commencement of localized necking in some cases and continued till

Numisheet 2008 failure in other cases. All the samples were stretched in dry condition without lubrication. The blank holding pressure was adjusted to ensure only stretching of blank so that the failure did not occur at draw bead area. The circular grid (initial diameter = 2.5 mm) was marked on the sheet samples using screen printing process. The major and minor diameters of the ellipses after deformation were measured by microscope.

September 1 - 5, 2008 Interlaken, Switzerland From the comparison of predicted FLCs levels, obtained by monitoring the thickness gradient that develops during the forming of the out-of-plane sample in the figure 2, it can be seen that the predicted and experimental FLDs are in good agreement. Forming limit strains of duel phase steel sheet yield highest value than that of SPCC which yields lowest level of FLC. The predicted level FLC of interstitial steel sheet also yields lower limit strains than that of duel phase steel sheet. From the comparison Experimental levels of FLCs with predicted FLCs levels of three base metals it is seen that the novel necking criterion which is used to predict the limit strains in the simulation is more towards conservative side. Comparison 4.2 LIMIT STRAIN COMPARISON OF TWB The comparison of forming limit strain levels of the base metals with limit strain levels of the TWBs is shown in figure 3 and 4. From figure it can be observed that the TWBs have FLC levels in between than those of the base metals, which implies that the TWBs have a comparatively lower formability. This agrees with the findings of Chan et al, [10] that the formability of a TWB is lower than that of the base metal. Comparison of predicted FLCs of two TWBs, IF-DP and IF-SPCC is shown in figure 5.Duel phase steel sheet with highest strength shows higher limit strains compared to deep drawing SPCC steel sheet.
Major Strain
0.6

4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 LIMIT STRAIN COMPARISON OF UNWELDED STEEL SHEET Experimental levels of FLCs of three base metals compared with predicted FLCs levels are shown in figure 2. From the comparison of experimental results in the figure 2 it is observed that duel phase DP 590 steel with highest strength yield the highest FLC level while extra deep drawing SPCC 440 steel with lowest value of strain hardening exponent yield lowest forming limit strains. It can also be seen from figure 2 that, with highest n and lowest thickness (1mm) FLC of interstitial steel sheet is in between limiting strains of DP and SPCC steel sheets. Principal factors influencing forming limit strains are sheet thickness and strain hardening exponent . Forming limit strains reduces with the decrease in sheet thickness as well as srain hardenig exponent.Thus even with high values of strain hardening (n) and uniform elongation (eu) interstitial steel with less thickness than that of duel phase steel, is showing lower limiting strains compaired to duel phase steel.
0.8 Major Strain 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 DP_Experimental SPCC_Experimental IF_Experimental DP_Predicted SPCC_Predicted IF_Predicted -0.6 -0.5 -0.4 -0.3 -0.2 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 -0.1 0 0.1 Minor Strain 0.2 0.3 0.4

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2 DP 590 0.1 IF TWB_IF & DP 0 -0.2 -0.1 0

Minor Strain
0.1 0.2 0.3

Figure 2: Comparing the Experimental and predicted FLCs level of base metals

-0.3

Figure 3: Comparing the FLCs of TWBs of DP-IF steels with the base metals

Numisheet 2008
0.6 Major Strain 0.5 0.4 0.3
.

September 1 - 5, 2008 Interlaken, Switzerland [2] Panda S K, D. Ravi Kumar, Harish Kumar and Nath A.K.: Characterization of tensile properties of tailor welded IF steel sheets and their formability in stretch forming. J. Mater. Process. Technol.183 (2007), pp. 321-332. [3] Y Heo , Y. Choi, H. Kim and D. Seo: Characteristics of weld line movements for deep drawing with drawbeads of tailorwelded blanks. J. Mater. Process. Techl.113 (2001), pp. 686-691. [4] Kinsey B., Liu Z. and Cao J.: A novel forming technology for tailor-welded blanks, J. Mater. Proc. Tech. 99 (2000), pp. 145153. [5] Mustafa A., Ahmetoglu D., Brouwers L., Shulkin L., Taupin G., Kinzel L. and Altan T.: Deep drawing of round cups from tailorwelded blanks. J. Mater. Proc. Tech. 53 (1995), pp. 684694. [6] Chan S.M., Chan L.C., Lee T.C.: Tailor welded blanks of different thickness ratios effects on forming limit diagrams. J. Mtrl. Process. Tech, 132 (2003), pp95-101. [7] Kumar S., Date P. P., and Narasimhan K.: A new criterion to predict necking failure under biaxial stretching, J.Mtrl.Process. Tech., 45,583 (1994). [8] Nandedkar V. M.: Formability Studies on a Deep Drawing Quality Steel PhD Thesis, IIT Bombay, India, 2000. [9] Goodwin G.M.: Application of strain analysis to sheet metal forming problems in press shop, Tans. SAE paper no. 680093, Vol. 77 (1968)

0.2 IF SPCC
TWB_IF & SPCC

0.1 Minor Strain 0 0 0.1 0.2 0.3

-0.4

-0.3

-0.2

-0.1

Figure 4: Comparing the FLCs of TWBs of SPCCIF steels with the base metals
0.6 Major Strain 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 TWB_SPCC & IF TWB_DP & IF 0 -0.4 -0.3 -0.2 -0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.1 Minor Strain

Figure 5: Comparing the FLCs of TWBs of SPCCIF & DP-IF steels

5 CONCLUSIONS
The limit strains predicted using the present approach was usually marginally lower than the experimentally measured values for the un-welded sheets. In case of TWBs, the predicted forming limit curve was between that of the individual unwelded sheets. All the limit strain predictions were made using the thickness gradient based criterion [7, 8].

6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors acknowledge the support from CARTIFAC project (05TI002) by Government of India

7 REFERENCES
[1] Pallett R. J., Lark R. J.: The use of tailored blanks in the manufacture of construction components. J.Mtrl.Process. Tech, 117(2001), pp 249-254