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Procedia Engineering 00 (2017) 000–000
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Procedia Engineering 207 (2017) 974–979

International Conference on the Technology of Plasticity, ICTP 2017, 17-22 September 2017,
International Conference on theCambridge,
TechnologyUnited Kingdom
of Plasticity, ICTP 2017, 17-22 September 2017,
Cambridge, United Kingdom
Assembly of ultra-high strength steel hollow part by hemming using
Assembly of ultra-high strength
pre-bentsteel
innerhollow
sheet part by hemming using
pre-bent inner sheet
Yohei Abea,*, Ken-ichiro Moria, Kazuma Nakagawaa
a
Yohei Abea,*, Ken-ichiro Moria, Kazuma Nakagawaa
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Toyohashi Universit of Technology, 1-1, Tempaku-cho, Toyohashi, 441-8580, Japan
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Toyohashi Universit of Technology, 1-1, Tempaku-cho, Toyohashi, 441-8580, Japan

Abstract
Abstract
Ultra-high strength steel hollow parts were produced by 3-stage hemming using a pre-bent inner sheet. To prevent fracture of the
ultra-high strength
Ultra-high strengthsteel
steelsheet having
hollow partssmall
were ductility,
producedtheby edge of the
3-stage outer sheet
hemming usingina the 3rd stage
pre-bent was
inner bentTo
sheet. into a corner
prevent with aof
fracture large
the
radius by the
ultra-high contact
strength with
steel the edge
sheet havingof small
the inner sheet, the
ductility, andedge
the tensile
of the stress was reduced.
outer sheet Anstage
in the 3rd automobile
was benthollow
into apart waswith
corner assembled
a large
by hemming
radius by the of high strength
contact with the steel
edge sheets having
of the inner a tensile
sheet, strength
and the between
tensile 780reduced.
stress was and 1180An MPa. The galvanised
automobile 980 was
hollow part MPaassembled
and 1180
MPa
by hemming of high strength steel sheets having a tensile strength between 780 and 1180 MPa. The galvanised 980 MPa andduring
hollow parts by hemming using the pre-bent inner sheet were assembled without fracture, whereas the fracture occurred 1180
hemming
MPa using
hollow thebyflat
parts inner sheet.
hemming usingThe
thestrength
pre-bentofinner
the hollow part assembled
sheet were was measured fromfracture,
without bendingwhereas
and compression
the fracturetests. The strength
occurred during
of the hollow
hemming part
using theincreased
flat innerwith increasing
sheet. strength
The strength of theofhollow
sheet. The
part force of the hemmed
was measured part wasand
from bending larger than that of
compression the The
tests. welded one.
strength
It was
of found that
the hollow partassembling by hemming
increased with increasingisstrength
useful for
of producing
sheet. The ultra-high
force of thestrength
hemmed steel
parthollow parts.than that of the welded one.
was larger
It was found that assembling by hemming is useful for producing ultra-high strength steel hollow parts.
© 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
© 2017 The Authors.
Peer-review Published by
under responsibility of Elsevier Ltd.
the scientific committee of the International Conference on the Technology
© 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on the Technology of Plasticity.
of Plasticity
Peer-review . responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on the Technology
under
of Plasticity
Keywords: Sheet. forming; hemming; assemble; hollow part; ultra-high strength steel sheet; strength.
Keywords: Sheet forming; hemming; assemble; hollow part; ultra-high strength steel sheet; strength.

1. Introduction
1. Introduction
For weight reduction and high crash strength of automobiles, the application of ultra-high and high strength steel
sheets
For to automobile
weight body
reduction andparts
high is increasing.
crash strength The automobile the
of automobiles, body parts are of
application generally joined
ultra-high by resistance
and high spot
strength steel
sheets to automobile body parts is increasing. The automobile body parts are generally joined by resistance spot

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +81-532-44-6705; fax: +81-532-44-6690.

E-mail address:author.
* Corresponding abe@plast.me.tut.ac.jp
Tel.: +81-532-44-6705; fax: +81-532-44-6690.
E-mail address: abe@plast.me.tut.ac.jp
1877-7058 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review
1877-7058 ©under
2017responsibility
The Authors. of the scientific
Published by Elseviercommittee
Ltd. of the International Conference on the Technology of
Plasticity .
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on the Technology of
Plasticity.

1877-7058 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on the Technology of Plasticity.
10.1016/j.proeng.2017.10.861
 Yohei Abe et al. / Procedia Engineering 207 (2017) 974–979 975
2 Yohei Abe et al./ Procedia Engineering 00 (2017) 000–000

welding after stamping. In resistance spot welding of ultra-high strength steel sheets, the life of welding electrodes
becomes short because of the high strength of the sheets.
Hemming is a process that the edge of the sheet is folded over itself to increase the stiffness of the part and to
eliminate a sharp edge, and sheets can be joined by inserting one inside the folded edges of the other [1]. The hemming
process using a roller has high flexibility for complicated parts. The deformation [2], work hardening characteristics
[3] and simulation of process design [4, 5] in the roller hemming process were reported. The hemming process using
a press has high productivity although several bending stages are required. For the mass production of automobile
body parts, the hemming process using a press is useful.
In hemming, the bendability of the outer sheet is important in order to flatten the sheet. The bent sheet is opened
by springback after unloading, and the surface accuracy of part tends to decrease [6]. It is not easy to hem aluminum
alloy and ultra-high tensile steel sheets having low ductility. To improve the bendability, an optimizing scheme of the
intermediate shape [7], applying axial load during bending [8], adding electromagnetic forming [9] have been proposed.
Hamedon et al. [10] joined ultra-high tensile strength steel sheets having 1 GPa in tensile strength by hemming with
compression of the outer sheet corner, whereas it is difficult to join sheets above 1.2 GPa by hemming.
In this study, to assemble ultra-high strength steel hollow parts, 3-stage hemming using a pre-bent inner sheet was
proposed. Both edges of the outer sheet in the 3rd stage were bent into a corner with a large radius by the contact with
the edge of the inner sheet, and thus the tensile stress was reduced. In addition, the force of the hollow part was
measured from bending and compression tests.

Nomenclature

sb stroke in bending test

sc stroke in compression test

2. Assembling of ultra-high strength steel hollow part by hemming

2.1. Hemming using pre-bent inner sheet

In 3-stage hemming, two sheets are joined by folding both edges of the outer sheet over. In the 1st and 2nd stages,

Fig. 1. (a) 3-stage hemming using flat inner sheet; (b) 3-stage hemming using per-bent inner sheet.
976 Yohei Abe et al. / Procedia Engineering 207 (2017) 974–979
Yohei Abe et al./ Procedia Engineering 00 (2017) 000–000 3

both edges of the outer sheet are bent, and are flattened under sandwiching the inner sheet in the 3rd stage. Since the
ductility of ultra-high strength steel sheets is small, the bent outer sheet tends to fracture in 3rd stage due to large
tensile stress as shown in Fig. 1(a). To prevent the fracture, the inner sheet having both pre-bent edges is employed as
shown in Fig 1(b). The edge of the outer sheet in the 3rd stage is bent into the corner with a large radius by the contact
with the edge of the inner sheet, and the tensile stress is reduced.
The mechanical properties of the steel sheets having a tensile stress ranging between 780 and 1180 MPa used for
a hemming experiment are shown in Table 1. The 780 and 980 MPa steel sheets are non-coated and galvanised. The
electrode degradation tends to occur in resistance spot welding of galvanised steel sheets [11, 12].

Table 1. Mechanical properties of steel sheets.

Steel sheet Coating layer Sheet Thickness [mm] Yield stress [MPa] Tensile strength [MPa] Reduction in area [%]
1180 Non 1.20 1003 1287 52
980 Non 1.23 888 1026 53
980 Galvanised 1.21 605 1029 52
780 Non 1.21 620 813 56
780 Galvanised 1.20 489 799 63

The 3-stage hemming conditions and the dimensions of the assembled parts are shown in Fig. 2. Although not only
straight parts but also curved hemming lines are used in automotive parts, straight hollow parts are assembled such as
bumper reinforcements and side sill reinforcements in this study. In the 1st stage, both edges of the outer sheet were
bent to 90o, and both edges were bent to 135o using punch having an angle of 45o. In the 2nd stage. In the 3rd stage,
both edges of the outer sheet are bent under sandwiching the inner sheet and are flattened. The height of the pre-bent
inner sheet was fixed at 7 mm. The part was also assembled by resistance spot welding as a comparison.

Fig. 2. 3-stage hemming conditions, (a) 1st stage; (b) 2nd stage; (c) 3rd stage; (d) dimensions of hollow parts.

2.2. Produced hollow parts

The assembled 1180 MPa hollow part by hemming using the pre-bent inner sheet is shown in Fig. 3(a). The
equivalent strain in the sheets was calculated by the finite element simulation LS-DYNA. The strain in the outer
surface of outer sheet was relieved, and then the galvanised 980 MPa and 1180 MPa hollow parts by hemming using
the pre-bent inner sheet were assembled without fracture, whereas the fracture occurred during hemming using the
flat inner sheet in Fig. 3(b). Assembling by hemming is useful for producing ultra-high strength steel hollow parts.
 4 Yohei Yohei
Abe etAbe et al. / Procedia
al./ Procedia Engineering
Engineering 207000–000
00 (2017) (2017) 974–979 977

Fig. 3. (a) Assembled 1180 MPa hollow part and (b) effect of pre-bent inner sheet.

3. Force of hollow parts

3.1. Conditions of bending and compression tests

The bending and compressive forces of the produced hollow parts as shown in Fig. 2(d) were measured from the
three point bending and compression tests. In the bending test, the inner and outer sides were forceed in Fig. 4(a). In
the compression test in Fig. 4(b), the hollow part was axially compressed by the press. The compressive stroke and
average speed were 100 mm and 360 mm/s, respectively.

360mm/s

Plate

100
Hollow part Hollow part Hollow

300
part
270 270
i) Inner side loading ii) Outer side loading
(a) Bending test conditions (b) Compression test
conditions

Fig. 4. (a) Bending and (b) compression test conditions of produced hollow parts.

3.2. Bending force

The bending force - stroke curves for 1180 MPa hollow parts are shown in Fig. 5. As the stroke increased, the
bending fore increased. The maximum force appeared by the stroke end.

25
Bending force [kN]

Maximum
Bending force [kN]

20 20
Welded
15 15
Hemmed
10 10
5 5
0 5 10 15 20 0 5 10 15 20
Stroke sb [mm] Stroke sb [mm]
(a) Inner side (b) Outer side

Fig. 5. Bending force - stroke curves for 1180 MPa hollow parts, (a) inner side; (b) outer side.
978 Yohei Abe et al. / Procedia Engineering 207 (2017) 974–979
Yohei Abe et al./ Procedia Engineering 00 (2017) 000–000 5

The effect of the tensile strength of sheet on the maximum bending force and absorbed energy is shown in Fig. 6.
The absorbed energy is the area of the bending force - stroke curve as shown in Fig. 5. The maximum bending force
of the hollow part increased with increasing tensile strength of the sheet. In inner side loading, the forces of hemmed
and welded parts were similar. In outer side loading, the force of hemmed part was larger than that of welded one.
The tendencies of the absorbed energy were similar to those of the maximum force.

Loading Hemmed Spot welded

Outer side
Inner side 0.3

Absorbed energy [kJ]

25
Maximum bending

20 0.2
force [kN]

15
10 0.1
5
0 0
0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4
Tensile strength of steel sheet [GPa] Tensile strength of steel sheet [GPa]
(a) Maximum bending force (b) Absorbed energy

Fig. 6. Effect of tensile strength of sheet on maximum bending force and absorbed energy, (a) maximum bending force; (b) absorbed energy.

3.3. Compressive force

The deforming behaviour of the1180 MPa hollow part is shown in Fig. 7. In the hemmed part, the hemmed inner
sheet was pulled from the outer sheet after buckling of the inner sheet, and then folding in the outer sheet occurred. In
the welded part, buckling appeared a few times without pulling out.

Fig. 7. Deforming behaviour of 1180 MPa hollow part, (a) hemmed part; (b) welded part.

Hemmed without adhesive

Spot welded Hemmed with adhesive
Maximum compressive
Compressive force[kN]

200 200Hemming with adhesive

Absorbed energy [kJ]

150 150 Hemming 4 Hemming with adhesive

force [kN]

100 100 Welding 3

2 Welding
50 50 1
Hemming
0 0 0
20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4
Stroke sc [mm] Stroke sc [mm] Tensile strength of steel sheet [GPa] Tensile strength of steel sheet [MPa]
(a) 780 MPa (b) 1180 MPa (a) Maximum compressive force (b) Absorbed energy

Fig. 8. Compressive force - stroke curves for (a) 780MPa; Fig. 9. Effect of tensile strength of steel sheet on maximum compressive force
(b) 1180 MPa. and absorbed energy, (a) maximum compressive force; (b) absorbed energy.
 Yohei Abe et al. / Procedia Engineering 207 (2017) 974–979 979
6 Yohei Abe et al./ Procedia Engineering 00 (2017) 000–000

The compressive force - stroke curves are shown in Fig. 8. To improve the maximum compressive force, an
adhesive was used in assembling by hemming. The compressive forces had sharp peaks for all the conditions. For the
welded part, some small peaks appeared by buckling, whereas the force for the hemmed ones without the adhesive
after the peak was small.
The effect of tensile strength of sheet on the maximum compressive force and absorbed energy is shown in Fig. 9.
The maximum compressive force increased with increasing tensile strength of the sheet. The force of the hemmed
part with the adhesive was the largest, whereas the force of the hemmed one without the adhesive was larger than that
of the welded one. The absorbed energy of the hemmed part without the adhesive was the smallest because of the
occurrence of folding. The absorbed energy of the hemmed part with the adhesive was smaller than that of the welded
one.

4. Conclusions

Ultra-high strength steel hollow parts were produced by 3-stage hemming using a pre-bent inner sheet. The strength
of the hollow parts was measured in the bending and compression tests. The results are summarised as follows:
1) The 980 MPa and 1180 MPa hollow parts by hemming using the pre-bent inner sheet were assembled without
fracture, whereas the fracture occurred during hemming using the flat inner sheet.
2) The maximum bending and compressive forces of the hemmed part were larger than those of the welded one.
3) The maximum bending and compressive forces of the produced hollow part increased with increasing tensile
strength of the steel sheet.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) Grant Number 26420048. This work was supported by Suzuki Foundation.

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