Mechanism of Springback-Free Bending of High-Strength Steel Sheets under Warm Forming Conditions

J. Yanagimoto (2)1, K. Oyamada1 Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

Abstract Tensile loading-unloading tests of high-strength steel sheets in an elevated temperature range are conducted using a 100kN servo-controlled hydraulic dynamic fatigue testing machine, aiming at clarifying the mechanism of the springback-free phenomenon occurring in warm sheet forming. From stress-strain curves obtained by the tests, it is found that the abrupt decrease in the springback of formed steel sheets at approximately 750K in isothermal v-bending tests is mainly caused by high-temperature transient creep deformation. Also, from the results obtained by the isothermal v-bending test, bending-unbending deformation observed at temperatures higher than 750K, as a result of high-temperature creep, was found to have a secondary effect in the springback-free phenomenon. Keywords: Sheet metal, Springback, Warm sheet forming

1 INTRODUCTION Automobiles require lightweight construction [1] to reduce the amount of emission, and thus, the use of metallic materials with a high strength per weight, such as highstrength steels, for automobile body parts is increasing rapidly in sheet-forming industries. The large amount of springback after sheet forming of high-strength steels is one of the major problems. Generally, sheet metal forming at elevated temperatures [2] is effective in suppressing springback, and hot sheet forming of steel is beginning to be put to practical use in the automobile industry as a die quenching process [3]. With the aim of increasing formability, warm sheet forming has been investigated for steel [4]; however, no investigations have been performed on suppressing the springback of steel sheets in the warm temperature range. The authors previously clarified the basic characteristics of springback in warm and hot sheet forming of highstrength steels experimentally and analytically [5], and found that the amount of springback is reduced when the temperature of the plastically deforming (bending) zone is higher than 750K, which is considerably lower than the hot forming temperature, as shown in Figure 1. This behavior could not be explained by the decrease in flow stress at elevated temperatures [5]. We named this marked decrease of springback in the warm forming temperature range the springback-free phenomenon, and also clarified that springback-free forming of highstrength steel sheets can be realized in the warm forming temperature range on an industrial scale [6]. In this study, the mechanism of the springback-free phenomenon observed at warm forming temperatures higher than 750K is clarified. Tensile loading-unloading tests of high-strength steel sheets in the warm temperature range are conducted using a 100kN servocontrolled hydraulic dynamic fatigue testing machine with a furnace. From stress-strain curves obtained by the tests, it is found that the abrupt decrease in springback at approximately 750K is mainly caused by a momentary increase of high-temperature creep strain just after the forming process. Also, isothermal v-bending tests are conducted in a hot compression testing machine, and it is found that the change of the bending mode from bending to bending-unbending at higher than 750K as a result of Annals of the CIRP Vol. 56/1/2007 -265-

Amount of springback (deg.)

HSS-1 (540MPa Pecipitationhardened steel)

Temperature control

Temperature of bending zone (K) Figure 1: Relationship between amount of springback and temperature of bending zone (previous study) [6].

high-temperature creep has a secondary effect on the springback-free phenomenon. 2 TENSILE LOADING-UNLOADING TESTS

2.1 Experimental procedure Tensile loading-unloading tests are conducted using a 100kN servo-controlled hydraulic dynamic fatigue testing machine with a furnace, as shown in Figure 2, aiming at clarifying the mechanism of the springback-free phenomenon in v-bending tests [5]. The structure of the testing system is illustrated in Figure 3. The specimen is enclosed in a furnace and the temperature at the measuring point of strain is controlled at the target temperature. Strain is measured with a strain gage (target distance of 10mm). The specimen material is precipitation-hardened high-strength steel (t1.6, 540MPa, 0.08C-0.26Si-1.09Mn, HSS-1), the same as that used in the previous study [5]. The specimen size is 20x200x1.6mm (length of test section is 150mm). Figure 4 illustrates the correspondence of the tensile loadingunloading tests to v-bending tests. In both tests, the temperature of the plastic deformation zone is controlled at the target testing temperature. The advantage of tensile loading-unloading tests over v-bending tests is that the stress-strain curve at the temperature-controlled point can be obtained and the behavior of elastic recovery after unloading can be investigated. doi:10.1016/j.cirp.2007.05.099

Figure 2: The 100kN servohydraulic fatigue testing machine.

Temperature

Specimen Strain PC

The test pattern (the time course of the test) is shown in Figure 5. Solid lines in the Figure 5 indicate control parameters and dotted lines indicate those affected by the controlled parameters. Except for temperature, the controlled parameter, such as load or displacement, is changed in each stage. The test consists of the following four stages: 1) heating to the target temperature and holding for 10 minutes (load controlled), 2) loading to the displacement of 1.5mm in 5 seconds (displacement controlled), 3) unloading to 0kN in 5 seconds (load controlled), and 4) air cooling to room temperature (load controlled). Each test is performed using this pattern at each testing temperature. The stress-strain data, shown in Figure 6 for example, are measured in stages 2) loading and 3) unloading. The strain recovery during unloading, that is the amount of springback in tensile loading-unloading test, is measured and discussed to reveal the mechanism of springback of sheet forming at elevated temperature.
Amount of springback obtained in the tensile loading-unloading tests
0.006 0.005 0.004 0.003 0.002 0.001 0 200 HSS-1

Temperature controller

Displacement, Load

Figure 3: Structure of testing system.

Load

Load Angle of bend

Strain

Temperature control

Decrease in springback due to creep strain during unloading

400 600 800 Test temperature (K) 1000

Displacement

Strain

Figure 7: Relationship between amount of springback obtained in the tensile loading-unloadingtests and test temperature.
500

Nominal stress (MPa)

Figure 4: Correspondence of the tensile loadingunloading tests to v-bending tests.

HSS-1, 773K

400 300 200 100 0 0

Temperature

Load

Increase of creep strain just after loading process Amount of springback becomes smaller.

displacement

0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 Nominal strain

Time 1 2 3 4
Figure 5: Test pattern.
Stress

Figure 8: Stress-strain curve obtained in the test at 773K. 2.2 Results and discussion Elastic recovery, observed as BC in the stress-strain curve in Figure 6 for example, causes springback in the bending process. Therefore, in this study, the difference in the amount of strain between just after loading at B and just after unloading at C in Figure 6 is considered as the amount of springback. Figure 7 shows the relationship between the amount of springback determined from stress-strain curves obtained in tensile loading-unloading tests and the test temperature. It is clear that the amount of springback decreases markedly when the temperature of the strain measurement point, or plastically deforming zone, is higher than 750K. The tendency shown in Figure 7 is very similar to the tendency in the result of v-bending tests shown in Figure 1. The stress-strain curve obtained in the

Springback

Strain

Figure 6: Example of stress-strain curve obtained in the test.

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test at 773K is shown in Figure 8. In Figure 8 the line from A to B indicates the stage 2) loading process of the test pattern shown in Figure 5, and the line from B to C indicates the stage 3) unloading process. The amount of springback is obtained as the difference in the amount of strain between B and C. From Figure 8, it is clear that the marked decrease of springback at 773K in Figure 7 is caused by the increase of high-temperature creep strain just after loading process AB, and as a result, springback for the punch angle decreases. In general, it is said that tensile creep behavior and compressive creep behavior are different, but they are almost the same for such a short time as that for v-bending in the tensile or compressive creep test [7], and the amount of creep strain depends on stress, rather than total strain in the forming process. Therefore, the marked decrease of springback after v-bending, which includes tensile and compressive deformation zones, can be explained by the increase of high-temperature creep strain in the releasing (unloading) process, as shown in Figure 8. From Figure 8, the influence of high-temperature creep strain on the springback-free phenomenon in v-bending can be determined, and it is illustrated in Figure 9. The bending angle just after forming becomes slightly smaller than the punch angle. As a result, the amount of springback of the sheet metal for the punch angle decreases. As for the precipitation hardened steel sheet HSS-1, its metallurgical state is unchanged even at elevated temperature of 773K. This had been proven by the fact that tensile strength of heated HSS-1 specimen at room temperature is almost the same as the specimen which had not experienced heating. This result can be confirmed by the fact that precipitated particle as Nb (C, N) is stable at elevated temperature.

target temperature as an input signal, the electric current of induction heating is controlled by PID feedback, as illustrated in Figure 12. The test pattern is shown in Figure 13, and experimental conditions are summarized in Table 1. The temperature in the plastic deformation (bending) zone is maintained at the target test temperature while the test piece is being bent by the punch and die. The test piece material is precipitationhardened steel HSS-1, the same as that used in the previously described test (chapter 2) and in the previous study [5]. Other conditions are the same as those in the previous study [5].

Figure 10: Hot compression testing machine.

30 R2 90 deg. R2

30 90 deg.

R0.5 12

R0.5 8

(a) Die A (b) Die B Figure 11: Geometries of dies and test piece.

Figure 9: Mechanism of springback reduction due to hightemperature creep in releasing process. 3 ISOTHERMAL V-BENDING TESTS

T (K)

Target temperature t (s) Test piece

PID controller

Control signal

3.1 Experimental procedure Aiming at confirming the effect of changes in the forming conditions on the springback-free phenomenon, vbending tests with smaller die shoulder width are performed with the precise control of the temperature in the plastically deforming zone, using the hot compression testing machine shown in Figure 10. Geometries of the dies and test piece are shown in Figure 11 (b). In previous v-bending tests (shown in Figure 1) [5], in which Die A (die shoulder width of 12mm) shown in Figure 11 (a) was used, bending-unbending deformation was observed at temperatures higher than 750K, which is where the springback-free phenomenon is observed, whereas only bending deformation was observed at less than 750K. In this report, Die B (die shoulder width of 8mm), shown in Figure 11 (b), is used in order to induce only bending deformation, not bending-unbending deformation, at temperatures higher than 750K. The temperature of the test piece is controlled at the target testing temperature by induction heating. A thermocouple is welded at the position of the test piece where the temperature is to be controlled precisely, as shown by the red point in the test piece in Figure 11 (b). Using the deviation of the measured temperature from the

Induction coil Electric current of induction heating Figure 12: Temperature-controlling system.

Temperature T Heating Holding at temperature T Air cooling

0 Forming

time Y Punch stroke

Figure 13: Test pattern.

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{Cf. 4.5mm (w=12)}

Amount of springback (deg.)

Die metal Tungsten carbide Sheet Precipitation-hardened steel HSS-1 material (540MPa, 0.08C-0.26Si-1.09Mn, t1.6) 50K/s Heating rate Punch speed 1mm/s Punch stroke 2.508mm (W=8)

Table 1: Experimental conditions.

3.2 Results and discussion Figure 14 shows the relationship between the amount of springback W 8 and the temperature of the bending zone when the die shoulder width is 8mm, and Figure 15 shows the difference in springback ( W W 8 W 12 ) between this result W 8 and

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

HSS-1

200

400 600 800 1000 Temperature of bending zone (K)

1200

Figure 14: Relationship between amount of springback and temperature of bending zone.
Difference of springback with die shoulder width (deg.)

2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 -0.5200 -1

Bending

Bending

HSS-1
W W 8 W 12

W 8

the previous result W 12 (die shoulder width of 12mm) shown in Figure 1. Compared with the previous result (die shoulder width of 12mm), the amount of springback in this test at temperatures below 750K is almost the same, but when the temperature of the bending zone is higher than 750K, the amount of springback in this test is about 2 degrees larger than that in the previous test. Therefore, apparent decrease in springback of 2 degrees according to the increase in die shoulder width w is caused by the bending-unbending deformation at temperatures higher than 750K. According to the previous study [5], recovery and partial ferrite recrystallization occur in the formed test piece at temperatures higher than 750K. Thus, bending hardness becomes lower and high-temperature creep deformation occurs easily at temperatures higher than 750K. Therefore, the bending mode changes from bending to bending-unbending at temperatures higher than 750K. It is clear that the bending moment of the test piece in bending-unbending is smaller than that in only bending, as shown in Figure 16. Therefore, springback markedly decreases as a result of changes in the bending mode at temperatures higher than 750K.

Difference in bending mode Bending-unbending

W 12

400

600

800

1000

1200

Temperature of bending zone (K)

Figure 15: Difference in springback between the present result (W=8) and previous result (W=12).

(a) Temperatures below 750K (b) Higer than 750K Figure 16: Mechanism of springback reduction due to high-temperature creep in forming process.
5 REFFERENCES [1] Kleiner, M., Geiger, M., Klaus, A., 2003, Manufacturing of Lightweight Components by Metal Forming, Annals of the CIRP, 52/2:521-542. [2] Neugebauer, R., Altan, T., Geiger, T., Kleiner, M., Sterzing, A., 2006, Sheet Metal Forming at Elevated Temperature, Annals of the CIRP, 55/2:793-816. [3] Schiessl, G., Possehn, T., Heller, T., Sikora, S., 2004, Manufacturing a Roof Frame From UltrahighStrength Steel Materials by Hot Stamping, Proceedings, IDDRG 2004, Sindelfingen, 158-166. [4] Vollertsen, F., Lange, K., 1998, Enhancement of Drawability by Local Heat Treatment, Annals of the CIRP, 47/1:181-184. [5] Yanagimoto, J., Oyamada, K. 2005, Springback of High-Strength Steel after Hot and Warm Sheet Formings, Annals of the CIRP, 54/1:213-216. [6] Yanagimoto, J., Oyamada, K. 2006, Springback-Free Isothermal Forming of High-Strength Steel Sheets and Aluminum Alloy Sheets under Warm and Hot Forming Conditions, ISIJ International, 46/9:13241328. [7] Tilly, G. P., Harrison, G. F., 1972, A Comparison between the Tensile and Compressive Creep Behavior of an 11 Percent Chromium Steel, Journal of Strain Analysis, 7/3:163-169.

4 CONCLUSION The mechanism of the springback-free phenomenon in warm sheet forming at temperatures higher than 750K observed in the previous study [5] was clarified. In the forming process, bending-unbending occurs as a result of high-temperature creep at the temperature at which the springback-free phenomenon occurs, that is, higher than 750K, and bending moment decreases. As a result, the amount of springback decreases. In the releasing process, the bending angle just after forming process changes in the direction of overbending as a result of the increase of high-temperature creep at temperatures higher than 750K. Then, the amount of springback for the punch angle decreases. Flow stress is gradually decreased at elevated temperature, but we can not observe the abrupt decrease in flow stress above 750K as can be seen in springback in Figure 1. The apparent Young's modulus which can be estimated by the slope of stress-strain curve decreases at elevated temperature, but the Young's modulus which is estimated as this already includes the effect of transient creep strain. Thus, we could say that the flow stress as well as the Young's modulus are the minor cause of springback-free phenomenon, and the major cause is the creep deformation as is discussed in this article.

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