08 Numisheet2008 Hot Forming Chapter8

CHAPTER 8
Hot Forming
Numisheet 2008 September 1 - 5, 2008 Interlaken, Switzerland
Figure 5: Comparison of experimental and FE sim-
ulation results for springback in metal strips subject
to draw-bending (r=15mm)
tional shell elements. For efciency, the symmetry
of the strip (Figure 3) has been exploited in the sim-
ulation. The minimal friction taking place between
the roller and strip has been modelled in ABAQUS
via the denition of a Contact Property of Fric-
tion type. A comparison of the simulation and ex-
perimental results for springback of the strip using
rollers of diameter 10 mm and 15 mm are shown in
Figure 4 and Figure 5. The agreement between these
is very good in the case of the combined hardening
modeling. For comparison, simulation results based
on models for purely isotropic and purely kinematic
hardening are also shown for the 10 mm case in Fig-
ure 4. As shown, the purely isotropic model results
in an overestimate, and the purely kinematic model
in an underestimate, of the amount of springback. In
particular, note that the purely isotropic model un-
derestimates the amount of inelastic deformation. In
order to satisfy the boundary conditions, then, the
amount of elastic deformation is overestimated, re-
sulting in too much springback. Similar results have
been obtained for other types of steels, e.g., DP 600
[3].
5 CONCLUSIONS
Using the tension-compression test results, models
for purely isotropic, purely kinematic, and com-
bined hardening have been identied for the new
steel LH800. The identied model was validated
with the help of the nite-element simulation of
draw-bending. The deep drawing process is work in
progress which will be presented at the conference.
This holds for the experiments and the simulations.
In particular spring-back and distortional hardening
will be included in the FE-simulations.
6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Financial support for this work was provided by the
German National Science Foundation (DFG) under
the contract SV 8/9-1 in the priority program 1204
and is gratefully acknowledged.
REFERENCES
[1] J. Wang, V. Levkovitch, F. Reusch,
B. Svendsen, J. Hu eting, and M. Van Reel. On
the modeling of hardening in metals during
non-proportional loading. In International
Journal of Plasticity 24, pages 10391070,
2008.
[2] V. Levkovitch and B. Svendsen. Accurate
hardening modeling as basis for the realistic
simulation of sheet forming processes with
complex strain-path changes. In Proceedings of
the 9th international Conference on Numerical
Methods in Industrial Forming Processes,
pages 13311336, 2007, Porto.
[3] J. Wang, V. Levkovitch, F. Reusch, and
B. Svendsen. On the modeling and simulation
of induced anisotropy in polycrystalline metals
with application to springback. In Archive of
Applied Mechanics 74, pages 890899, 2005.
551
____________________
* Corresponding author: AUDI Ingolstadt, bernd.griesbach@audi.de

SIMULATION IN TOOL AND DIE SHOP

B. Griesbach
*1
, B. Oberpriller
1

1
AUDI AG, Ingolstadt, Germany

ABSTRACT: Competition in the automotive industry leads to a larger model variety, shortened model
cycles, differences in the number of produced units and stronger cost pressure. This means for the
production to realise in the future a flexible and standardised manufacturing of vehicles with new materials
and manufacturing methods with reduced lead times and expenses. With the implementation of cost-
optimized processes and production techniques the toolmaking takes over a key roll for the realisation of
quantity-optimized and variant-flexible tool technologies in accelerated engineering- and manufacturing-
processes. In this paper, strategies to the systematic organisational and technological advancement of
toolmaking are shown. Beside this, two examples for a successful implementation of forming simulation
innovations were introduced.

KEYWORDS: Tools & Dies, Innovation, Hot Forming Simulation, Stochastic Simulation

1 INTRODUCTION
The changes affecting automobile construction are
driven essentially by changes in customer
behaviour combined with increased competition.
Based on the ongoing trend towards
individualisation in society, tomorrow's markets
are typified by extreme selection, the
disappearance of the middle market, maximum
occupation of niches, extreme differentiation in
form and function and an increasing of product
diversity. What this means in the context of
automobile construction is a constant expansion of
the product range by means of new model series,
derivatives and niche vehicles (Figure 1).
Design assumes a dominant role in differentiating
and customising the "vehicle" product based on
derivatives and niche products. At the same time,
to achieve this, each model has to become more
profitable, which results from a consistent platform
and modular strategy and a significant reduction in
investment per model.
40
car models
and versions
car models
and versions
car models
and versions
Year

Figure 1: Development of the product range of
Audi
These background factors impose great challenges
and changes on production. Critical future focus
areas for production activity will be:
- new vehicle and production concepts with new
materials and production techniques such as a
material mix construction method featuring
new joining concepts
- increased flexibility and standardisation based
on the same vehicles at different locations and
the ability to build different vehicles using the
same production facilities
- lower costs for development, investment, start-
up, operation and materials consumption
- Reducing the time required for product
development, manufacturing facilities built up
and production start-up.
Relative
lead time
100%
1996 1999 2003 2006
85%
65%
40%
Year
Relative
costs 100%
2001 2002 2004 2005
94%
83%
70%
Year
87%
2003
Relative
costs 100%
2001 2002 2004 2005
94%
83%
70%
Year
87%
2003
Relative
costs 100%
2001 2002 2004 2005
94%
83%
70%
Year
87%
2003
Example:
Die set for
outer side
panel
2010
yy%

Figure 2: Reduction in tool costs and lead time
Innovative body concepts can only become reality
on the back of innovations in tools and dies. Ever-
552
higher functional requirements demand flexible use
of the most diverse types of materials and
manufacturing techniques combined with shorter
development and production times and lower
manufacturing costs in production.

2 INNOVATIONS IN
TOOLMAKING
Toolmaking has already made vital contributions,
as can be seen for example in the reduction in the
time taken to make tools, directly benefiting the
time it takes to develop and create the vehicle. As
depicted in Figure 2, the production time for a die
set for an outer side panel was cut by 60% between
1996 and 2006 despite a significant increase in
the complexity of components and dies.
This progress, achieved as a result of the most
diverse of measures is continuing with Audis next
toolmaking objective being a further significant
reduction by 2010.

Figure 3: Technology map of the Audi Tool and
Dies Division (selected topics)
A further critical contribution of toolmaking to the
objectives described is to be found in the ongoing
reduction in tool costs and with it a reduction in
investment costs. For example the cost of a set of
tools for an external side panel frame fell by 30%
between 2001 and 2005 (Figure 2) despite greater
component and tool complexity coupled with
higher material prices running counter to this trend.
The future will see no easing of this price pressure
for no other reason than the development of new
capacity and skills in the low-wage countries of
Eastern Europe and Asia. Rationalisation effects in
existing toolshops are yet another factor, with
greater throughput being achieved with the same
personnel and machine resources.

The stepping up of expectations in terms of know-
how, costs and time-to-customer is a great
challenge, but also a great opportunity. Anyone
who is capable of satisfying the increasing need for
one-stop shop suppliers (prime contractors and
systems suppliers) while covering the whole
product range and process chain, who can meet the
increasing demand for know-how and innovation
brought to bear in the customer's interest, and who
is able to guarantee the customer shorter
implementation and start-up times accompanied by
optimised overall production costs, has also
secured his future competitive position. Figure 3
shows an extract from the Audi toolmaking
technology map used for innovation management
purposes which clusters the different topic areas.

Some exemplary topics are also intended to serve
as examples for already existing innovations or
which are in progress.

The simulation as a part of the technology map
takes a special position in the digital toolmaking,
today a spine of the tools and equipments
manufacturing (Figure 4).
While the forming simulation of the deep drawing
operation is nowadays worldwide a standard, this
still looks different with the simulation of the
complete production process of a component about
all manufacturing steps or new forming processes
like hot forming.
553

Figure 4: Digital toolshop

3 DEVELOPMENT OF HOT
FORMING SIMULATION
One topic which has attracted increasing interest
for some time now is hot forming, also referred to
as press hardening (Figure 5). Ever higher demands
on crash performance, including new crash tests,
are driving the need for extremely rigid materials
to limit the increase in weight. Boron-alloyed steels
such as 22MnB5, which are hardened in the tool,
achieve tensile strengths of the order of 1500 MPa,
which is why this material and the manufacturing
techniques that go with it have become very
attractive.

Figure 5: Test die in hydraulic press

The continuous press hardening process includes a
simultaneous forming and quenching. Thereby,
forming takes place between about 500C and
800C and requires special process, tool and
complete-plant know-how (Figure 6).

Figure 6: Hot forming
Another problem is the high cost of the
components produced using hot forming, a
situation further exacerbated by a particular market
situation as until some years there were only very
few suppliers worldwide capable of delivering
parts. In addition to very high prices, it was
possible to shed only limited light on the suppliers
technical specifications, such as claims for
achievable tolerances, owing to the lack of in-
house skills. Together with the fact that no "free"
tool and plant supplier in the market was able to
offer hot forming technology, this fact inhibited the
more intensive use of the technology in vehicles.
die
punch
blank-
holder
blank
Potentials
Tensile strength up to 1500 Mpa
Crashperfomance
Weight reduction part reduction
Relatively good formability (hot)
554
Preliminary tests and basic research into the way
materials behave; component and tool design and
dimensional stability were conducted with the
objective of developing in-house competence in
order to be able to assess true costs and technical
attributes.

During the above described situation while starting
the activities for hot forming at Audi, no
practicable hot forming-simulation solution was
available. Therefore a cooperation and additional a
doctoral thesis was initiated in the year 2004 [1].
Many investigations and solutions must be worked
out within the fields of material laws, heat transfer,
simulation techniques and much more.
Since temperature strongly influences the
mechanical properties of steel, it must be taken into
consideration in the forming simulation of
continuous press hardening [2, 3]. Thermal
mechanical coupled simulations considerably
enhance the complexity of the model. Besides the
parameters that are necessary for the simulation of
conventional stamping, several material, contact
parameters and process parameters need to be
additionally considered (Figure 8). Both material
parameters and contact conditions depend on the
temperature. This further complicates the model.

- Strain rate sensitivity of yield stress
- Thermal conductivity
- Thermal expansion coefficient
- Thermal dissipation factor
Material
- Heat capacity
- Friction coefficient Contact
conditions - Contact heat transfer coefficient
- Punch velocity
- Tool temperature Process
- Initial blank temperature
Figure 7: Input parameters for FE Simulation of
press hardening process
Considering the complexity of the model, several
problems need to be solved:
- Quality of simulation results: What parameters
must be precisely modeled in order to improve
simulation quality?
- Expenses for experimental tests: What material
properties need to be experimentally tested and
which ones are not crucial for the simulation
results?
- Process properties: Which process parameters
need to be accurately considered already during
the feasibility stage in the die planning
department?
In order to answer these questions a sensitivity
analysis has been used to build the finite element
model of the complex hot forming process of sheet
metals. Sensitivity analysis indicated that detail
experimental investigation on non-significant
parameters such as thermal conductivity can be
avoided. Also, an efficient virtual model that
simultaneously improves simulation quality and
decreases input cost can be realized (Figure 8).
Alternatively, the simulation results can be
improved by a precise modelling of significant
parameters such as the pressure dependent contact
heat transfer or the strain rate dependent yield
stress [4]. Besides this, sensitivity analysis allows
to identify the process parameters such as punch
velocity that need to be considered precisely
already during the feasibility stage in the die
planning department.

Figure 8: Procedure at Audi in order to control
the forming simulation of press hardening
The virtual sensitivity analysis for the
determination of significant parameters was
conducted using the Response surface
methodology (RSM). The RSM is based on
mathematical and statistical techniques in order to
create optimized empirical models by e.g. multiple
regressions. These models are used to describe the
relationship between input parameters and one or
more responses. Input variables in this analysis
were eleven parameters that describe the material
behavior, the contact conditions and the production
process.
The required design of experiments (DoE) that
includes the level of variation of the independent
input variables and the number of simulation runs
was performed with the modul LS-OPT, a
commercial statistical program [5].
The forming simulations were accomplished with
the general purpose FE-program LS-Dyna (Version
971).
The empirical model, based on the experimental
data was created and optimised with a commercial
statistical program. A well known method to fit
empirical models is the method of least square fit
which is typically used to estimate the regression
coefficients in a multiple linear regression model.
In this method, the coefficients of the model have
to be adapted until the residual sum of squares is
minimized. Residuals are the difference between an
observed value of a response variable (simulation
result) and the corresponding value predicted by
the model (Figure 9).
555
residual
experimental
data
estimator
of the model

Figure 9: Theoretical response surface
The main objective of the sensitivity analysis is to
judge significance of the single model parameters.
This decision which parameters are significant is
based on whether the F-value exceeds a critical test
value F
,1,n-p
(partial F-test) [6].
Significant parameters were, beside others, the
dissipation factor, the initial blank temperature, the
contact heat transfer coefficient (at contact pressure
zero) and the thermal conductivity.
In order to check whether it is allowed to neglect
the insignificant parameters, sheet thickness
predicted by both the initial complex FE model and
the identified efficient FE model are compared.

Today the software and the necessary input data as
well as the expertise are available and in daily use
at Audi. Thus, hot forming simulation is one
example of a Audi cooperation for a successful
simulation software development.

4 ACTIVITIES IN SIMULATION
Beside hot forming simulation a large number of
other simulation topics with the focus on
development and/or implementation in daily use
are part of the Audi simulation strategy map. Main
strategy fields on this map are accuracy,
functionality and process (Figure 10).
The focus of topics situated in the accuracy
cluster is an improvement of the simulation result
accuracy by an improvement of FE-codes and input
parameters e.g. material parameters.
Functionality specifies topics with the focus on
the development of efficient simulation method for
all process steps for car body manufacturing.
The third cluster of the strategy fields is
consistency with the demand of the accessibility
of quality, cost and time relevant information along
the process of body in white.

Figure 10: Strategy fields in forming simulation
One important part of the strategy map is the
stochastic simulation which will be the next great
step within the virtual engineering process. With
the stochastic simulation it is determined, e.g. how
the variations of different sizes of influence within
the running production affect the forming output
(Figure 11).

30
35
40
45
50
55
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95
lfde. Nr.
D
e
h
n
g
r
e
n
z
e

A
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0

[
%
]
Kaltband 1
Kaltband 2
Kaltband 3
Kaltband 4
Kaltband 5
Kaltband 6
Kaltband 7
Kaltband 9
Kaltband 8
Kaltband 10
minimum-
requirement
B
r
e
a
k
i
n
g

s
t
r
a
i
n

A
8
0

[
%
]
batch 1 batch 4 batch 6 batch 8
30
35
40
45
50
55
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95
lfde. Nr.
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e
h
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r
e
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[
%
]
Kaltband 1
Kaltband 2
Kaltband 3
Kaltband 4
Kaltband 5
Kaltband 6
Kaltband 7
Kaltband 9
Kaltband 8
Kaltband 10
minimum-
requirement
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a
k
i
n
g

s
t
r
a
i
n

A
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[
%
]
batch 1 batch 4 batch 6 batch 8

Figure 11: Measurement of mechanical properties
of different serial-material batches
Thus, e.g., the consequences of the inevitable
material scattering on the process safety and the
attainable quality windows can be computed beside
the process ability (Figure 12).

Example:
Scatter of simulated springback,
reinforcement-part,
high-strength-material
Used for example:
tolerance-range 0,5mm
variations
less than 1 mm
variations
larger than 1 mm

Figure 12: Stochastic simulation

556
Actual this relatively new simulation discipline is
in the pilot phase. Objective is in future the
engineering of components and tools which
guarantee safe and reliable production processes
from the start to avoid problems and unnecessary
expenses in the running manufacturing.

5 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
In automobile manufacturing, the increased
competition will continue to result in even greater
model diversity, shorter model changeover cycles,
marked variance between production volumes and
increased cost pressure. In parallel, vehicles will
increase in quality and technological sophistication
will become more differentiated and customised as
a result of the use of modular strategies, and at
significantly lower investment costs per model.
The future will see vehicles being manufactured
using new materials and flexible and standardised
production techniques accompanied by shorter
timescales and lower costs.
Toolmaking and forming simulation has already
made significant contributions, including a
considerable reduction in throughput times and
costs which will continue to be pushed hard in
future as well. Toolmaking and simulation will
continue to assume a key role in the future
implementation of cost-optimised processes and
production techniques using volume-optimised tool
and plant technology flexibly adapted to individual
variants and employing accelerated production
processes. The same applies for the development
and introduction of new materials and processes for
lightweight construction, design freedom and new
body concepts.
Product and process innovation in toolmaking and
body shop construction will play an ever greater
role in this in the future, and must be no mere spin-
off but rather the product of strategic action. The
organisational environment coupled with clear
processes and responsibilities must not just enable
innovation but promote it and demand of each
employee that he protects his job. The numerous
innovations, both those that have become reality
and those in development, highlight the enormous
potential of toolmaking to be, in the future as well,
at the forefront of quality, speed and cost reduction
in the development, implementation and
production of new body concepts.

6 REFERENCES
[1] Burkhardt, L.: Simulation des
Warmumformprozesses auf Basis der
Identifikation einflussreicher Parameter,
Dissertation, ETH Zrich (2008)
[2] Hein, P.; Kefferstein; R.; Dahan, Y.:
Presshrten von USIBOR 1500 P:
Simulationsbasierte Bauteil- und
Prozessanalyse, Proceedings of Neuere
Entwicklungen in der Blechumformung,
Mat-INFO Werkstoff-
Informationsgesellschaft mbH, pp. 171-184,
edited by Liewald, M, Frankfurt (2006)
[3] Eriksson, M.; Oldenburg, M.; Somani, M. C.;
Karjalainen, L. P.: Testing and evaluation of
material data for analysis of forming and
hardening of boron steel components,
Modelling Simul. Mater. Sci. Eng. 10, pp.
277-294 (2002)
[4] Burkhardt, L.; Grigo, B.; Griesbach, B.:
Simulation des Warmumformprozesses auf
Basis der Identifikation einflussreicher
Parameter, Proceedings of 1. Erlanger
Workshop Warmblechumformung 2006, pp.
31-45, edited by Geiger, M.; Merklein, M.,
Bamberg (2006)
[5] Stander, N.; Roux, W.; Eggleston, T.; Craig,
K.: A Design Optimization and Probabilistic
Analysis Tool for the Engineering Analyst,
LS-OPT User`s Manual Version 3.1 (2006)
[6] Myers, R. H.; Montgomery, D.C.: Response
Surface Methodology: process and product
optimization using designed experiment,
Wiley-Interscience Publication (2002)

557

PROCESS SIMULATION OF HOT STAMPING IN
CONSIDERATION OF TRANSFORMATION-INDUCED STRESSES

Bernd-Arno Behrens
1*
, Philipp Olle
2
, Cord Schffner
2

1
Head of the Institute of Metal Forming and Metal-Forming Machines
Leibniz Universitt Hannover
2
Research Assistants at the same institute

ABSTRACT: The importance of high-strength steel concepts for car bodies has increased in the last
years due to the need of reduction in weight and enhanced crash safety. By hot stamping of boron alloyed
heat-treatable steels it is possible to produce components with a much higher strength than by cold forming
processes. For a more realistic prediction of the resulting component properties, like residual stresses and
distortion, by means of FEA it is essential to consider the complex effects of phase transformation. There-
fore, a material model was implemented into the commercial FE-system LS-DYNA that includes both
isotropic transformation strains and transformation induced plasticity, based on LEBLOND's model. The
required phase transformations are modelled with JOHNSON-MEHL-AVRAMI equation for diffusion-
controlled transformation. The formation of martensite is described by KOISTINEN-MARBURGER equation for
diffusionless transformation. In contrast to known implementations, it is possible to use implicit and explicit
solvers with this approach. This has advantages in simulating the transport, closing of tools and quenching
phases during the process chain. Due to long times and small displacements implicit solvers are more
efficient than explicit solvers to simulate these phases. The approaches are applied to a model process.
KEYWORDS: hot stamping, numerical simulation, phase transformation

1 INTRODUCTION
In the last years the weight of automobiles in-
creased, because the requirements on crash-safety
and comfort have gone up, and the vehicles are
equipped with comprehensive accessories. The
weight increase is leading to higher fuel consump-
tion and the involved emissions, for example of
CO
2
. This is in conflict with the effort of the reduc-
tion of emissions to decrease the influence on cli-
mate change [1].

Against increasing weight of vehicles, the trend to
develop effective light weight construction stra-
tegies can be noted intensively. One important
strategy to reach this target is the reduction of the
weight of car bodies by using sheet metal materials
with an optimised rate of strength and density. On
the one hand it is possible to use light metal
materials. On the other hand the potential of high
strength steel grades can be used to produce car
components with reduced sheet metal thickness
and weight, which have the same or a better crash
performance compared to conventionally manufac-
tured parts [2].

Figure 1: Comparison of mechanical properties of
different steel grades
The application of high strength steels is normally
connected to an increase of spring back and a
decrease of formability. A decreased fracture
elongation occurs generally together with an
increased tensile strength (Figure 1). This causes
limited formability [3]. Therefore it is not possible
to realise complex geometries and contouring
accuracy with these materials.
____________________
* Corresponding author: Institute of Metal Forming and Metal-Forming Machines, An der Universitt 2,
30823 Garbsen, Germany, +49 511-762-2164, +49 511-762-3007, behrens@ifum.uni-hannover.de

558
Hot stamping allows to compensate the disadvant-
ages of machining in conventional manufacture
processes [4]. This process combines the shaping
and heat treatment of a sheet metal material with
the objective of hardening [5]. At this process a
blank or a preformed component of temperable
steel is heated up to a temperature of about
T = 950 C to achieve austenitic microstructure.
Afterwards it is formed with a tool with a cooled
punch to quench the transformed parts of the blank
to get highest-strength martensitic microstructure
[5]. Figure 2 shows schematically two alternatives
of the press hardening process.

Figure 2: Direct and indirect process chain of hot
stamping
Hot stamping offers considerable advantages com-
pared to the conventional cold forming process of
highest-strength steel grades. This manufacturing
technology eases the realisation of light weight
construction strategies. Currently this procedure is
primarily used by many automotive manufacturers
to produce body structure components like cross-
beams, side impact reinforcements, A- and B-
pillars. In Figure 3 there are given some examples
for automotive parts of the VW Passat produced by
hot stamping.

Figure 3: Hot stamped structure components of the
VW Passat
For a feasible process simulation of hot stamping it
is essential to take into account the complex effects
of phase transformation. Some aspects of a
material model are presented, that includes both
isotropic transformation strains and transformation
induced plasticity and takes into account the plane
stress assumption for shell elements. In contrast to
known implementations, it is possible to use
implicit and explicit solvers with this approach.
The approach is validated with dilatometer tests
and applied to a model process.
Indirect
Punch
Cooling
Blanking
Coil
Transfer
Heating
Transfer
Forming
and
Hardening
Direct
Preforming
Transfer
Punch
Cooling

2 MODELLING OF PHASE TRANS-
FORMATIONS
The FE-simulation of the kinetics of phase
transformations for steel requires a mathematical
model, which is based on physical and partially on
empirical equations. As a result of heating, the
microstructure of the workpiece is characterised by
cubic face-centered Fe- metal lattice. In this
condition of microstructure the solubility of carbon
is numerous times higher than in a cubic body-
centered Fe- lattice. The Fe- to Fe- phase trans-
formation is a result of the minimisation of the free
energy of the atoms. In the following the used
mathematical descriptions of the diffusion-con-
trolled and the diffusionless transformation of
carbon in iron-alloys are presented.

2.1 DIFFUSION-CONTROLLED TRANS-
FORMATION
In general the transformation by diffusion of
carbon occurs at low cooling rates. As a result of
this kind of - change the microstructure is
composed on ferrite, pearlite and bainite. The
structure depends on factors like chemical
composition of the alloy, cooling rate and state of
stress in the workpiece. The complete description
of the transformation behaviour enables a
prediction of the resulting material properties.
These properties can be formulated as a function of
the developed volume fraction of different
components. The mathematical formulation for
diffusion-controlled transformations is based on the
nucleon-grain-growth theory. First papers about the
559
kinetics of this kind of diffusion-processes were
published by AVRAMI [6]. The law of evolution of
a structural constituent can be expressed in the
generally accepted equation
n
0
k
eq
( ) 1
t
t
t e
| |
| |
|
|
|
\ .
\ .
| |
|
=
|
\ .
|
(1)

where is the volume fraction of the growing
phase and t/t
0
the scaled time. Moreover
eq
is the
phase fraction in equilibirium. In addition, the
theoretical formulation of phase evolution was
confirmed by experimental investigations of
JOHNSON and MEHL [7]. The factor k considers the
velocity of migration of the interface and some
time independent values to describe the nucleation.
The factor n represents the kind of grain growth.
Both parameters can be derived from an isotherm
time-temperature-transformation diagram.

2.2 DIFFUSIONLESS TRANSFORMATION
If the cooling rate in a quenching process is above
a specific critical cooling rate depending on the
material, the Fe- to martensite phase transfor-
mation takes place. Martensite is characterized by a
high mechanical strength. The martensitic trans-
formation also depends on chemical composition,
especially the carbon fraction, alloying elements
and the stress state in the workpiece.

The martensite (diffusionless) transformation re-
quires a different mathematical approach, because
this transformation occurs very fast and without
diffusion of carbon. The kinetics of this phase
transformation can be described by the function
( )
( ) Ms
( ) 1
T T
t e
k
o
= (2)

where
M
is the volume fraction of martensite, T
Ms

is the martensite start temperature, T is the temper-
ature and o and k are coefficients. This function
was first formulated by KOISTINEN and MARBUR-
GER [8] and enhanced by INOUE and WAMG [9].
HOUGARDY [10] verified this formula for the
description of the martensite transformation and
approximated the coefficients o and k with the
formulas in Table 1.

Table 1: Approximation of values of KOISTINEN and
MARBURGER equation, see [10]
Parameter Approximation
o 0.3610 + 0.110
2 4
T
Ms

0.3410
6
T
Ms
2
+ 0.3210
8
T
Ms
3
0.5210
11
T
Ms
4
k 2.08 0.7610
2
T
Ms
+ 0.1610
4
T
3 MATERIAL MODEL
For taking into account the phase transformation
during simulation of press hardening a material
model was implemented into the commercial FE-
system LS-DYNA Version 971. In order to model
the thermo-elasto-plastic-metallurgical behaviour
the total strain increment
el pl th tr tp
d d d +d d d
ij ij ij ij ij ij
(3)

can be described by the sum of the elastic, the
plastic, the thermal, the isotropic transformation
and the transformation-induced plasiticity (trip)
strain increment.

The thermal and isotropic strain increments are
combined to
( )
( )
n
th+tr
n
d 1
t t t t
ij ij
t t
a T
a T
c o
+A +A
| |
| =
|
\ .
(4)

and are a function of the averaged lattice constants
a
n
at the beginning and end of the time step At. The
averaged lattice constants a
n
are a function of
Temperature T and can be derived by phase frac-
tion and lattice constant (Figure 4) of each phase.

Figure 4: Lattice constants of different phases,
see [10]
Moreover the model of LEBLOND, [11], is used for
the trip strain increment
( )
4
tp
=1
y,
d
d 3 hd ln
ij
ij k k
k k
s
V
V
c , ,
o
,
| |
=
|
\ .
. (5)

The factor s
ij
is the deviatoric stress tensor and the
phase fraction of the product phase k is ,
k
. The
factor o
y,
is the yield stress of austenite () and the
factor (dV/V)
,k
is the volume change due to
transformation of austenite in the product phase k .
The correction function h=h(o
vM
/o
y,
) is taken from
[11] and is a function of the VON MISES equivalent
stress o
vM
and the yield stress of austenite. Because
T
Ms
2

0.910
8
TT
Ms
3
560
more than one product phase can be generated in
one time step it is sumed up over all product
phase k.

For implicit solution methods the consistent
tangent stiffness matrix
2 2 4 2 2
B 1 2
1
3
K K K

= + - - ] ]
\ )
D I I I I I s s
(6)

which is derived by simplifying the approach of
GEIJSELAERS, [12], is used with the shear modulus
G and the bulk modulus K
B
. The deviatoric stress
tensor is denoted by s and the numbers over the
unity tensors I represent the tensor's order. More-
over the two coefficients K
B
1
, K
2
are defined as
( )
y
1 pl tp
y
2
3 d d
G
K
G r r
c
=
c + +
(7)

and as
( )
y pl tp
y pl
2
y
y pl
d
3 d d
d
d
1
d
G
K
r r
r
r
3
c
c - +
=
c
+ c ] ]
\ )
(8)

The equivalent plastic strain increment is d
pl
and
the the factor d
tp
is defined by
( )
4
tp
=1
d
d 2 hd ln
k k
k k
V
V
r

= ] ]
\ )
_

(9)

where the coefficients have the same meaning as in
equation 5.

With these equations the effects of phase transfor-
mation on the mechanical behaviour are taken into
account in the material model. In the following this
model is validated with experimental results

3.1 MODEL VALIDATION
A dilatometer test is simulated and compared to
experimental results for model validation. The used
material is the boron-alloyed heat-treatable steel
22MnB5 (1.5528) and the experimantal results are
taken from [13].

In figure 5 the simulation model is shown. The
applied load is the pressure p and the cooling rate
is dT/dt = 50 C/s. Three tests were simulated
each with a pressure p = 165 N/mm , 0 N/mm
and 112 N/mm .
2 2
2

Figure 5: simulation model for model validation
The measured and simulated diameter changes are
displayed in Figure 6. As one can see there is a
very good correlation between measured and calcu-
lated diameter change for a pressure p = 0 N/mm
2
.
With this case the thermal strains and isotropic
transformation strains can be validated because the
transformation-induced-plasticity strains have a
value of 0 when there is no applied pressure. With
the other two load cases the approach for the trans-
formation-induced-plasticity strains is validated not
only for compression stresses but also for tensile
stresses. The differences shortly before the
martensite transformation begin at T = 400 C can
be partly explained with an unknown load path.
Due to these congruences it can be said that also
transformation-induced plasticity strains are
modeled adequately.

Figure 6: comparison of experimental and
simulated results for the dilatometer test
For validation of the elasto-plastic behavior and the
plane stress iteration, the material model is com-
pared to standard material models of the used
software.

4 MODEL PROCESS
The presented and validated material model is
applied to a model process. In this process an u-
channel geometry is drawn. The austenitization
temperature is 950 C and a blank temperature of
about 850 C is measured after transport from the
furnace to the press. The blank has a thickness
561
of 1 mm and the drawing depth is 55 mm. The for-
ming process takes a time of 1 s and the subsequent
holding and quenching process is 10 s long. More-
over in contrast to industrial processes the process
is operated with a blank holder force (F
bh
= 16 kN).

The used fe-model of the process is shown in
figure 7. Because of symmetries to the x-z plane
and the y-z plane only a quarter of the real process
is considered. The tools are modeled as solid, but
rigid bodies with an initial temperature of 20 C
and the heat transfer coefficient is assumed as
contact pressure dependent. Moreover only a cut-
out of the tools is modelled, because the influence
of the heat conduction out of this cut-out is very
small.

Figure 7: FE-model of the model process
With this FE-model two simulations are perfor-
med. In the first simulation the presented model for
phase transformation and the interaction with the
mechanical model is considered. In the second
simulation the phase transformation is neglected.
The measured and calculated contours of the final
geometry are drawn in figure 8.

Figure 8: Comparison of experimental and
calculated results
As one can see the phase transformation has a sig-
nificiant influence on the spring back behaviour of
the u-channel. By considering the phase transfor-
mation much less distortion occurs than in the case
with neglected phase transformation. Especially in
the flange the distortion is reduced. A comparison
with the experimental results shows that the
simulated contour matches the experimental
contour better when phase transformation is con-
sidered.

5 CONCLUSIONS
For a realistic prediction of final component
properties, for instance residual stresses and
distortion, it is essential to consider the complex
effects of phase transformation in the simulation of
hot stamping, which is not a standard task cur-
rently. In this paper a phase transformation model
which is based on JOHNSON-MEHL-AVRAMI
equation and KOISTINEN-MARBURGER equation for
diffusionless transformation is presented. Besides
the phase transformation the interaction with the
mechanical behaviour is taken into account. Here
not only the isotropic transformation strains but
also the transformation induced plasticity strains
are considered. The presented model is examplary
implemented in the commercial FE-code LS-
DYNA.

The model is applied to a dilatometer test and to
hot stamping of an u-channel geometry. Both
simulation show a good correlation to experimental
results when phase transformation is considered.
In the hot stamping process the phase
transformation has signifcant effects on the spring
back behaviour. So for getting realistc results by
simulation of hot stamping process it is essential to
consider the effects phase transformation.

6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial
support of the German Research Foundation (DFG)
for this research work by grant BE 1691/11-1.

7 REFERENCES
[1] IPPC: Climate Change 2007: The Physical
Science Basis. Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change. Climate assessment report of
the United Nations, Geneva, Switzerland,
2007.
[2] Shaw, J.; Engl, B.; Espina, C.; Oren, E.C.;
Kawamoto, Y.: ULSAB-advanced vehicle
concepts materials, New Steel Sheet and
Steel Bar Products and Processing. SAE 2002
World Congress, Detroit, USA, March 4-7,
2002, SAE-SP, Band 1685, pp. 63-71, 2002.
[3] Carlsson, B.; Olsson, L.: Improved formability
of ultra high strength steels through local heat
treatment. International Conference on Steels
in Cars and Trucks: Steel Future for the
Automotive Industry, Wiesbaden, 2005.
[4] Maki, S.; Hamamoto, A.; Saito, S.; Mori,
K.-I.: Hot Stamping and Press Quenching of
Ultrahigh Strength Steel Sheet Using
Resistance Heating. Key Engineering
562
Materials, Vol. 344, 12th International
Conference Sheet Metal, Palermo, Italy, 2007.
[5] Lenze, F.-J.; Heller, T.; Sikora, S.:
Herstellung von Karosseriebauteilen aus
warmumgeformten hchstfesten
Stahlwerkstoffen. EFB-Kolloquium:
Multifunktionale Bauteile und Verfahren zur
Erhhung der Wertschpfung in der
Blechbearbeitung, Fellbach, Germany,
Febuary 15-16, 2005
[6] Avrami, W.: Kinetics of Phase Change I.
Journal of chem. Physics, 1939, Vol. 7, pp.
1103-1112
[7] Johnson, W. A.; Mehl, R. F.: Reaction kinet-
ics in process of nucleation and growth.
Trans. AIME, 135, pp. 416-458, 1939.
[8] Koistinen, D. P.; Marburger, R. E.: A general
equation prescribing the extend of the auste-
nite-martensite transformation and temper-
ature evolution during quenching of steels.
Acta Metallurgica, No. 7, pp. 59-60, 1950.
[9] Inoue, T.; Wang, Z.: Coupling between stress,
temperature, and metallic structures during
processes involving phase transformations.
Materials Science and Technology, No. 1, pp.
845-850, 1985.
[10] Hougardy, H.; Yamazaki, K.: An improved
calculation of the transformation of steels.
Steel Research 57, No. 9, pp. 466-471, 1986.
[11] Leblond, J. B.: Mathematical modelling of
transformation plasticity in steels II: coupling
with strain hardening phenomena. Internatio-
nal Journal of Plasticity 5, pp. 573-591
[12] Geijselaers, H. J. M.: Numerical Simulation of
Stresses due to Solid State Transformations.
Ph.D. dissertation, University of Twente,
Enschede, 2003.
[13] Somani, M. C.; Karjalainen, L. P.; Eriksson,
M.; Oldenburg, M.: Dimensional changes and
microstructural evolution in a b-bearing steel
in the simulated forming and quenching
process. ISIJ International 41, No. 4, pp. 361-
367, 2001.

563
____________________
* Corresponding author: Ingolstdter Str. 102, D-85276 Pfaffenhofen, michael.kerausch@autoform.de
DESIGN OF HOTFORMING PROCESSES BASED ON SENSITIVITY
ANALYSIS OF PROCESS PARAMETERS
M. Kerausch
1*
, T. Schnbach
1
1
AutoForm Engineering GmbH, Pfaffenhofen, Germany
ABSTRACT: The hot-stamping or press hardening technology defined as the combination of hotforming
and quenching of highstrengh steel has entered the world wide automotive engineering sector in recent
years. Mainly this trend results from the increased requirements concerning passive passenger protection and
from the lightweight design efforts. Both requirements challenge new solutions from automotive and
supplier industry. Compared to the conventional drawing of high strength steels hot-stamping has two major
benefits. Firstly due to the elevated temperature during forming the strain limit is significantly improved
while the tool force is on the level of mild steels. Therefore geometrically complex parts can be realised.
When the forming process is completed the part rapidly cools down in the closed die. Due to the quenching
the strength of the part is increased up to 1500 MPa while the influence of springback is minimized, which is
the second major benefit of the press hardening process. The challenge for process design is the complexity
and interaction of mechanical and thermal process influences. Therefore the investigations in this paper
focus on an effective process layout which is based and conducted with AutoForm-HotForming. The
principal sensitivity of typical hot-forming process parameters like the clearance of the blank holder or the
initial resting time of the blank on the punch is investigated. By analyzing the different process influences
and interactions of the parameters a general approach for the process analysis and process design is derived.
KEYWORDS: hotforming, process design, sensitivity analysis
1 INTRODUCTION
AutoForm provides a complete package of
software modules for die shop and sheet metal
forming industries. Main goals are to improve the
reliability of the planning and layout phase, to
reduce the tool testing cycles and therewith to
shorten the whole development and tryout time.
This objective counts for all upcoming AutoForm
software like the HotForming-module which will
be presented in this paper.
The hot-stamping or press hardening technology
defined as the combination of hotforming and
quenching of highstrengh steel has entered the
world wide automotive engineering sector in recent
years [1]. Compared to conventional deep drawing
the strain limit is significantly improved due to the
elevated temperature during forming while the tool
force is on the level of mild steels [2]. Therefore
geometrically complex parts can be realised. When
the forming process is completed the part rapidly
cools down in the closed die. Due to the quenching
the strength of the part is increased up to 1500 MPa
while the influence of springback is minimized.
The challenge for process design is the complexity
and interaction of mechanical and thermal process
influences.
How to deal with the challenging task to
understand the hotforming process and derive a
sophisticated strategy for process layout is the
subject of this paper and therefore the approach is
based on previous investigations conducted by
AUDI AG in [3, 4]. Therefore the background for
modeling hot-stamping processes with AutoForm-
Hotform is presented. Subsequent typical input and
process parameters are investigated in sensitivity
analysis using AutoForm-Sigma in combination
with the HotForming-module. As a benefit the
investigation will lead to an increased process
understanding, which will support an effective
process layout for hot-forming.
2 PROCESS SIMULATION
Compared to conventional deep drawing an
extended material description for hot-stamping is
necessary due to the thermal influence. The
hardening behaviour of boron alloyed steels like
22MnB5, which is mainly used in the automotive
industry, is dependent on the temperature.
Characteristic for the hot-stamping process is an
initial blank temperature of about 850 C. As the
blank is positioned in the draw die contact is
established with the cold tool surface, where a
564
temperature of approximately 100 C can be
assumed. In areas, where the blank has no tool
contact, the temperature loss takes place because of
thermal radiation. These two cases are modelled
with a heat transfer coefficient to describe the heat
flow either from the blank to the cooler ambient
h
ambient
or from the blank into the tool h
tool
. As
investigations in [5, 6] have shown, h
tool
is not a
constant but dependent on the contact pressure.
The dependency is taken into account using h
tool
as
a function of contact pressure h
tool
(p) as input data.
Because contact surface and contact pressure
continuously change during forming, the energy
loss of the blank is calculated for every time
increment.
As mentioned above the temperature change during
the forming process significantly influences the
local material properties. In general with rising
temperature the yield stress decreases and the strain
limit increases [7]. To take this into account it is
possible to import several flow curves, which are
measured for different temperatures, as additional
input data for the simulation model.
As a second extension to the conventional material
description the strain rate has to be considered. In
several scientific investigations the strain rate
dependency of the steel 22MnB5 is characterized
[7, 8, 9]. Typically the strain rates are in the range
of 0.1 to 10 1/s during the hot-stamping process.
The local strain rate is strongly dependent on the
tool velocity and the part geometry. In general the
work hardening increases with higher strain rates
whereas the forming limit is reduced. This
information is, similar to the temperature
dependency, modeled in the AutoForm-
HotForming material input. Finally the material
properties are described as a function of
( ) T k
f
, , with a matrix data set of flow curves
measured for defined temperatures and strain rates.
A complete description of the functionality of the
AutoForm-HotForming module is given in [10].
3 DESIGN ANALYSIS
Using the described procedure concerning the heat
transfer and the material property data, it is
possible to model and simulate the drawing process
for hot-stamping. Furthermore the additional
application of AutoForm-Sigma is used to
investigate the sensitivity of typical hot-forming
parameters by statistical approach. With design
analysis the influences of the input and process
variables shown in Table 1 are determined. As base
process for the stochastic investigations the
benchmark BM03 continuous press hardening for
b-pillar which is proposed by AUDI AG is taken as
reference. For this nominal process the effect on
the drawing result caused by a change of either
input or process parameters is characterized. For
this purpose the parameters given in Table 1 are
not assumed as constant like in a conventional
simulation but used as design variable with a
uniform distribution between the minimum and
maximum value. The criterions to set the particular
range of the design variables have been on the one
hand the uncertainty in determination of
the heat transfer coefficient h
tool
,
the tool temperature T
tool
during forming,
the anisotropy as dependent combination
of r
0
, r
45
, r
90
and
the coefficient of friction
and on the other hand the technological and
process-related possible range in which
the blank geometry Geo
blank
,
the distance of the blankholder Dis
bh
,
the tool velocity TVF and
the initial blank position Pos
blank
in x- and
y-direction
can be varied.
Table 1: Design variables
Name Unit Min BM03 Max
I
n
p
u
t

h
tool
W/m
2
K 3500 4500 5000
T
tool
C 25 75 125
r
0, 45, 90
- 0.7 1.0 1.0

- 0.35 0.40 0.45
P
r
o
c
e
s
s

Geo
blank
- 0 0.5 1
Dis
bh
mm 0.1 0.4 3.4
TVF - 0.5 1.0 2.0
Pos
blank
mm -5.0 0 5.0
Regarding the design variables it is important to
note that the blank geometry is modified in the
concave area of the roof connection with a factor
from 0 (small radius) to 1 (large radius) as shown
in Figure 1. A value of 0.5 corresponds with the
blank geometry used in BM03.
Figure 1: Variation of blank geometry
Similar to the blank modification, also the tool
velocity is modelled by a factor TVF within a
range of 0.5, where the nominal velocity of BM03
is reduced by 50%, up to 2.0, which doubles the
tool velocity compared to the numisheet
benchmark.
3.1 SENSITIVITY OF INPUT-DATA
As mentioned above the purpose of investigating
the influence of typical hot-stamping input
parameters on the process response is to determine
their importance for the simulation model. The
565
main benefit from this is that the process
understanding is deepened because of the clear
cause-and-effect relation given by the AutoForm-
Simga result. Figure 2 shows for example scatter
plots for the effect of the heat transfer coefficient
h
tool
in comparison to the effect of the tool
temperature T
tool
on the final blank temperature at
the end of the forming process.
Figure 2: Influence of tool temperature vs. heat
transfer coefficient on the blank temperature
As the results from the sensitivity analysis in
Figure 2 clarify for both input parameters the local
temperature loss of the blank during forming
strongly depends on the contact situation. In areas
where an early punch or die contact is established,
like in point A and B, a significant influence can be
detected. On the other hand in areas like the door
lock connection (point C), where the blank gets
contact with the punch at the end of the forming
operation, neither h
tool
nor T
tool
show a clear effect
on the blank temperature. For these three cases the
largest temperature loss and scatter range (33C for
h
tool
, 23C for T
tool
) can be observed at the radius in
point A. The reason therefore is the high contact
pressure of 280.7 N/mm
2
. Because the
temperature scatter due to a variation of h
tool
or T
tool
is considerably smaller in most areas of the part, no
significant influence on the forming result can be
detected. In a reverse conclusion this sensitivity
analysis shows that the forming process is robust
even during starting of production when the tool
temperature is rising to a steady state or if the heat
transfer situation is changed due to local deposits
of the coating inside the tool.
Beside the influence of the thermal input
parameters also the modelling of the anisotropy
and friction are associated with a degree of
uncertainty. In Figure 3 and 4 the sensitivity results
of the r-values and the coulomb friction coefficient
are displayed.
Figure 3: Influence of anisotropie on thinning
According to the experimental results in [11],
where a dependency of the normal anisotropy on
the temperature have been detected, the r-values r
0
,
r
45
and r
90
are varied between 0.7 and 1.0 to model
the yield surface. Due to the conclusion in [11] that
the planar anisotropy could be neglected after heat
treatment the variation of the r-values is set up as a
dependent variation. This means that r
0
, r
45
and r
90
have the same value in one single simulation run.
As a result from the sensitivity analysis the
thinning distribution in the upper part of the b-
pillar is shown in Figure 3. Due to the tension-
compression forming state at a high level of 18.7%
thickness reduction this area gives a sensitive
response on the r-value input variation. The scatter
plot shows a linear trend from thinning of -20.8%
(r-values = 0.7) to a thinning of -17.6% (r-values =
1.0). This means depending on the strain state and
the part geometry the anisotropy has a significant
influence on the thickness distribution of the part.
For a final validation of best-fit r-values further
comparisons between simulation and experimental
results are required.
In Figure 4 the results of the sensitivity analysis for
the influence of friction during the hot-forming
process is shown. The process capability (Cp)
distribution identifies three zones in the roof
connection of the b-pillar which are unreliable
for a 3% tolerance in the thinning process response
due to the variation of the friction coefficient from
0.35 to 0.45. The tendency in all three cases is that
the local material thickness reduction is increased
for higher friction coefficients.
566
Figure 4: Influence of friction on thinning
In the wall areas of zone A and C (Figure 4) the
thinning scatter is 5%, which causes a 0.1 mm
deviation in thickness for the 1.95mm blank used
in this process. Similar as for the r-values an
experimental validation can help to identify a best-
fit friction coefficient for the hot-forming
simulation as done in [10]. Nevertheless the dry
friction is especially for hot-forming processes a
noise variable e.g. due to local deposits of the
coating inside the tool. Therefore the process
scatter caused by a change in friction must be taken
into account for a robust process layout.
3.2 INFLUENCE OF PROCESS
PARAMETERS
As mentioned above it is important for a robust
process that the influences of design parameters on
the forming result are considered for the process
layout. Purpose of the following design studies is
to identify the effect of typical hot-forming process
parameters on the drawn part. As a result it is
possible to extract optimal process settings as well
as a process window.
A typical process design parameter is the shape of
the blank. Especially for b-pillars the concave area
of the blank can be critical during drawing and
therefore it has to be optimized. Figure 5 shows the
influence of the blank geometry modified
regarding to Figure 1. A significant effect on the
thinning can be observed at the edge of the blank
(zone A) and also in the wall of the pillar (zone B).
The comparison of A and B shows an opposite
trend, which means for the blank geometry, that the
thinning at the edge is increasing and in the wall is
decreasing for smaller radii (Geo
blank
= 0). As a
consequence the results in the scatter plots of
Figure 5 can be used to define an optimal process
point between critical limits for both the thinning
in zone A and zone B.
Figure 5: Influence of blank geometry on thinning
On the one hand to avoid a hot-spot during
quenching the local thickness reduction in the wall
of the pillar should be as low as possible. This is
the case for small geometry factors, as possible
close 0. On the other hand it is necessary for a
stable forming process to prevent cracks from the
blank edge in zone A. From this aspect a limit of
Geo
blank
= 0.4 can be identified to assure that the
thinning in zone A is not lower than 0.20 so that no
cracks occur. Because a robust production needs a
process window an adequate process point for the
blank design can be determined with Geo
blank
=
0.45 from this design analysis, which is very close
to the nominal setting of 0.5 given by the
benchmark process.
Another typical parameter for hot-forming
processes is the distance of the blankholder relative
to the die. In general a clearance is needed to avoid
double sided contact in the flange, which would
rapidly cool down the blank and therefore the
draw-in would be constrained. But on the other
hand the clearance has to be limited to avoid an
uncontrolled draw-in due to wrinkles.
Figure 6: Influence of blankholder distance on
winkling
As a result from the design analysis with a
variation of the blankholder distance three areas of
the part can be indentified in Figure 6 where a clear
wrinkling tendency can be observed. But as the
scatter plot for zone A shows the wrinkling cannot
be effectively influenced by the blankholder
distance. This means that the wrinkles in this area
567
are induced by the part geometry. As a
consequence the surface defects can only be
avoided by modifications of part geometry
respectively the tool concept.
Figure 7: Influence of blankholder distance on
thinning
The evaluation of the thinning distribution in
Figure 7 however shows a significant influence of
the blankholder distance on the thickness reduction
in the concave area of the blank. As the scatter plot
indicates increasing the blankholder distance is an
effective measure to counteract if unacceptable
thinning occurs in this area. This result is
especially valuable with regard to a time-saving
try-out phase of the tool.
Figure 8: Influence of tool velocity on thinning
Similar to the blankholder distance the tool
velocity is a characteristic design parameter for
hot-forming processes. Figure 8 shows the
influence of the tool velocity factor on the thinning
in the area of the roof connection of the b-pillar.
Three zones can be identified as sensitive, where a
low tool velocity increases the thinning level.
Particularly in zone C the process response
indicates that the robust thinning for TVF > 1.0
tends to critical values, if the tool velocity is
further decreased. If the tools are moved faster than
in the benchmark process forming problems may
occur due to additional material thickening in zone
A. Like in the case of the blank geometry design
analysis the cause-and-effect information for the
tool velocity can be used to identify the process
window.
With an adequate process point for the blank
geometry, the blankholder distance and the tool
velocity specified, a further topic is to evaluate the
influence of a varying initial blank position on the
forming result. In general the repeat accuracy in
production depends on the handling concept and
the location of guide pins. The results in Figure 9
display the effect of an assumed scatter of 5 mm
in x- and y-direction for the initial position of the
blank on the process robustness.
Figure 9: Influence of blank position on thinning
Using the process capability distribution for a 5%
tolerance in the variation of the thinning four
instable areas of the b-pillar can be identified. In all
cases the dominant variable with a significant
influence on the forming result is the blank
position in y-direction. An evaluation of the scatter
plots in Figure 9 shows that with a limited
variation of y
pos
= 2.5 mm the range of the
thinning result is reduced from
8.4% to 3.8% for zone A,
from 7.7% to 3.1% for zone B,
from 8.0% to 3.7% for zone C and
from 6.8% to 2.9% for zone D.
This means that with an improved accuracy for
placing the blank in y-direction into the tool the
process can effectively by stabilized.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The investigations in this paper focus on an
effective layout for hot-forming processes using
the AutoForm-HotForming modul. The reference
568
process for the simulation based investigations is
the benchmark BM03 continuous press hardening
for a b-pillar proposed by AUDI AG. In
combination with AutoForm-Sigma the influences
of hot-forming specific input and process
parameters on the forming result are evaluated. By
analyzing the different process influences and
interactions of the parameters the process gets
transparent. With the described approach it is
therefore possible to define the limits for a robust
production process. Examples are given for
parameters like the blank shape, the blankholder
distance, the tool velocity and the blank position.
Thus the main benefit is that the virtual process
layout becomes very effective so that the
development time for draw dies is reduced.
Furthermore the proposed approach enables the
method planner to prove the stability of the
forming result for the determined tool concept,
which is the prerequisite for a robust production
prcess.
5 REFERENCES
[1] Hillmann J., Cordes R., Weyh S., Krefter-de-
Beer C., Dickmann J.: Karosserie-Perfektion
in Anmutung und Leichtbau. ATZ MTZ, 4,
40-52, 2005.
[2] Aranda L. G., Chastel Y., Pascual J. F., Dal
Negro T.: Experiments and Simulation of Hot
Stamping of Quenchable Steels. In: Advanced
Technology of Plasticity, Vol. 2, 1135-1140,
2002.
[3] Burkhardt L., Grigo B., Griesbach B.:
Paramter. In: 1. Erlanger Workshop
Warmblechumformung, 31-45, 2006.
[4] Burkhardt L., Oberpriller, B: Sensitivity
analysis of process and material parameters
for the simulation of hot forming. In: Forming
Technology Forum - Application of
Stochastics and Optimization Methods, 101-
105, 2007.
[5] Hoff, C: Untersuchung der
Prozesseinflussgren beim Presshrten des
hchstfesten Vergtungsstahls 22MnB5.
Meisenbach-Verlag Bamberg, 2007.
[6] Wilsius J., Hein P., Kefferstein R.: Status and
future trends of hot stamping of USIBOR 1500
P. In: 1. Erlanger Workshop
[7] Eriksson M., Oldenburg M., Somani M. S.,
Karjalainen L. P.: Testing and Evaluation of
'Material Data for Analysis of Forming and
Hardening of Boron Steel Components. In:
Modelling and Simulation in Material Science
and Engineering, 10, 277-294, 2002.
[8] Merklein M., Lechler J., Geiger M.:
Characterization of the flow properties of the
quenchable ultra high strength steel 22MnB5.
In: Annals of the CIRP 55(1), 229-236, 2006
[9] Geiger M., Merklein M., Hoff C., Roll K.,
Lorenz D.: Auslegung des Prozessfensters fr
die Blechumformung hchstfester
Vergtungssthle bei erhhten Temperaturen.
Forschungsvereinigung Stahlanwendung e.V.,
Dsseldorf Verlag und Vertriebsgesellschaft
mbH, 2006.
[10] Kerausch M., Schnbach T.: FE-basierte
Prozessauslegung mit AutoForm-
HotForming. In: 2. Erlanger Workshop
[11] Merklein M., Lechler J., Gdel V., Bruschi S.,
Ghiotti A., Truetta A.: Mechanical properties
and plastic anisotropy of the quenchenable
high strength steel 22MnB5 at elevated
temperatures. In: Tagungsband SheMet07,
79-87, 2007.
569
NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF A THERMO-MECHANICAL
SHEET METAL FORMING EXPERIMENT
P

Akerstr om
1
, M Oldenburg
2
1
Gestamp HardTech, Lule a, Sweden
2
Lule a University of Technology, Lule a, Sweden
ABSTRACT: In the design of hot stamped parts, which are subject to both internal and external constraints,
it is of great importance to be able to predict the nal shape of the component as well as the thickness dis-
tribution. It is also important to be able to predict the material state at each point of a component before
consideration of the nal design of the part itself and the tools. In the present work a model for simulation
of the forming and hardening phase in the hot stamping process is evaluated. The model is used in coupled
thermo-mechanical simulations and accounts for the effects of micro-structural changes in the material as
well as classical and transformation induced plasticity. The model is evaluated by comparing results from a
simulation with a hot stamping experiment. The experimental and the numerically obtained forming force,
thickness and shape of the hot stamped component are compared. The evaluation shows that the most impor-
tant processes taking place during the thermo-mechanical process are accounted for and that the results from
the simulation are accurate enough to signicantly improve the ability to use simulations as a predictive tool
in product development of hot stamped parts.
KEYWORDS: Hot stamping, nite element simulation, microstructure.
1 INTRODUCTION
In this paper, FE-simulation results of the hot stamp-
ing process (forming stage) producing a component
is compared to the corresponding experimental re-
sults. The main focus is to compare the obtained
nal shape, hardness and thickness distribution of
the component. Traditionally when simulating the
hot stamping process, the forming stage is often sim-
plied by assuming isothermal conditions. In other
words, no heat transfer between the workpiece and
the environment and the tools are accounted for dur-
ing the forming process. Therefore, models describ-
ing the decomposition of the initially austenitized
workpiece into different product phases are not used
in these cases. In the work by Bergman and Olden-
burg [1] and Wu et al. [2], the heat transfer between
the workpiece and the tool is accounted for, but the
cooling rate for all material points are assumed to be
sufciently high so the only product phase formed
is martensite. In practical hot stamping operations
with the steel grades commonly used, austenite may
decompose into several product phases such as; fer-
rite, pearlite, bainite and martensite depending on
the temperature and stress/strain history. The con-
tinuous growth of different micro constitutients in
the material affects both the thermal and mechanical
Corresponding author: postal address; Lule a University of

Technology, SE-971 87 Lule a, phone; +46 920 491 752 , fax;
+46 920 491 047, email address; mats.oldenburg@ltu.se
properties. In the current work, the rate equations
given originally by Kirkaldy and Venugopalan [3]
with the modications proposed by Li et al. [4] are
used for the description of the austenite decomposi-
tion into product phases. The overall logics for the
austenite decomposition model during the cooling
phase follow the algorithmgiven in Watt et al. [5].
The mechanical constitutive model used is an exten-
sion of the original model proposed by Leblond et al.
[6, 7, 8], Leblond [9] to treat successive transforma-
tions, where a detailed description of the model can
be found in

Akerstr omet al. [10].
In section 2, a description of the experimental tools
and corresponding FE-model is presented. Section 3
is used to describe the blank and the corresponding
FE-model. In section 4, the experimental equipment
used is described. In section 5, the experimental and
simulated forming results are compared regarding
forming force, thickness distribution and nal com-
ponent shape.
2 TOOLS
In this section a description of the experimental tools
as well as the corresponding FE-model is presented.
2.1 EXPERIMENTAL TOOLS
The tool consists of two main parts, an upper punch
and a lower die as illustrated in Figure 1. The tools
570
will produce a component with a hat section with
a height of 0.052 m (length 0.140 m), that after a
transition zone (0.080 m) becomes at (0.030 m),
as can be seen in Figure 1. The nal length of the
component is 0.250 m. Also, as seen in Figure
1, some additional components are added to the die.
Two additional guiding pins ( 0.01 m) are used to
guide the blank into the correct position in the tool.
Further, four small spring supported pins ( 0.004
m) are mounted at the top of the die to prevent the
hot blank to come into tool contact during the blank
insertion phase. The material used in the tools is
SS2242-02, manufactured by Uddeholm AB [11].
The specic heat capacity, c
p
, and the thermal con-
ductivity, k, for the material in the hardened state are
given in Table 1.
Figure 1: Illustration of tools and the shape of the
nal component.
0.025
0.004
0.077
0.004
A
B
0.004
0.050
C
Upper tool
Lower tool
0
.
0
5
0
0
.
1
0
0.170
0
.
0
5
0
83
0.040
4R0.005
4R0.007
Figure 2: Tool dimensions in the hat-formed section.
A, B and C indicate temperature measurement posi-
tions. All dimensions are in meters.
2.2 FE-MODEL OF THE TOOLS
The 3D nite element mesh of the tool parts consists
of a total of 57399 eight node brick elements. Due
to symmetry, only half of the tools are modelled.
To correctly capture the thermal contact between the
Table 1: Heat capacity and thermal conductivity for
SS 2242-02, from [11] and [12].
T[
C] c
p
[J/kg
C] k[W/m
C]
20 460 25
400 460 29
600 460 30
0.168
0
.
1
4
0
0
.
1
8
0
0
.
2
2
0
0
.
2
5
3
0.025
0.090
0.015
0.134
0.126
0.125
0.0102
0.0102
Figure 3: Dimensions of blank used in the thermo-
mechanical forming experiment, all dimensions are
given in meters.
hot blank and the cold tool surface, the element size
(inward the tools) closest to the tool surface is less
than 1 mm. To get an accurate representation of the
curvatures of the tool radius, 5-8 elements are used
to represent it. From the mechanical point of view,
the tool steel is regarded as rigid but for the thermal
analysis the data given in Table 1 are used.
3 BLANK
This section presents the geometry of the blank and
the material used, followed by a description of the
corresponding FE-model.
3.1 EXPERIMENTAL BLANK
The main dimensions of the blank used in the ex-
periment are illustrated in Figure 3, where the thick-
ness is 2.0 mm. The material used is a low alloyed
steel (Boron02) with the actual and specied chem-
ical composition given in Table 2.
3.2 FE-MODEL OF BLANK
The corresponding FE-model is one half of the ac-
tual geometry due to symmetry. The nominal size
of the shell elements used to model the blank is
2.5 mm. A total of 3500 Belytschko-Tsay shell el-
ements with 5 through thickness integration points
are used. For the thermal calculations of the blank,
the shells are treated as 12-node brick elements to
allow heat conduction through the thickness, see
571
Table 2: Specied and actual chemical composition for the Boron02 steel (similar to 22MnB5) given in wt%.
C[%] Si[%] Mn[%] Cr[%] P[%] S[%] B[%] Fe[%]
Specied 0.2-0.25 0.2-0.35 1.0-1.3 0.15-0.25 <0.025 <0.015 0.0015-0.0050 bal.
Actual 0.248 0.29 1.23 0.24 0.015 0.004 0.0025 bal.
Bergman and Oldenburg [1]. The initial dimensions
of the blank according to Figure 3 are increased 1%
to account for the thermal expansion due to heating.
To nd a good estimate for the initial temperature
to be used in the FE-simulation, a thermocouple is
welded to the blank edge. The ow stress data for
the different phases is extracted from; [13] and [14]
for austenite, [15] and [16] for ferrite, [14], [15] and
[17] for pearlite, [15] and [18] for bainite, [19] for
martensite. Data for thermal conductivity and spe-
cic heat for individual phases are extracted from
Sj ostr om [14]. Values for the latent heat release for
the formation of product phases are; 640 10
6
J/m
3
for the austenite to martensite reaction and 590 10
6
J/m
3
for all others, which are the values given in
[14]. The thermal expansion coefcient used for
austenite is 25 10
6
C
1
and for all other con-
stituents 11.1 10
6
C
1
. The compactness differ-
ence for the austenite to martensite reaction has been
set to 6.0 10
3
and for all others to 4.33 10
3
based on the experiments performed in [20]. For
plastic strain, no memory effects are assumed, ex-
cept for the bainite transformation, as suggested in
Petit-Grostabussiat et al. [18].
4 TEST EQUIPMENT
The tools are mounted into a Zwick-Roell test equip-
ment capable of precise control of stroke and form-
ing force, illustrated in Figure 4. In the experiment,
the upper punch is given a prescribed velocity to-
wards the die of 0.025 ms
1
and is limited to a force
level of 250 kN at the end of the stroke when the
hot formed component is in the actual cooling stage.
This force level is maintained until the formed com-
ponent is below 100

C.
4.1 SOME SIMULATION ISSUES
In the coupled thermo-mechanical FE-simulation,
the punch velocity is scaled 80 times to 2.0 ms
1
and the specic heat is reduced by a factor 1/80 to
compensate for the speed-up. A prescribed motion
is applied to the upper tool until the nominal thick-
ness gap is met between the tools. The total simula-
tion time is 1.25 10
1
s, which corresponds to a real
time of 10 s. The simulation time has been chosen
to 1.25 10
1
s to ensure that the highest tempera-
ture in the component is below 250

C at the end
of the analysis. At temperatures below 250

C, no
further phase transformations occur and the remain-
ing temperature shrinkage to ambient room temper-
ature is negligible. The initial blank temperature is
Figure 4: Zwick-Roell test equipment with tools
mounted.
770
C, according to the experiment, and assumed

homogeneous. The average temperature, 24.6

C,
fromthe experimental measurements is used as a ho-
mogeneous initial temperature for the tool parts. A
heat transfer coefcient of 1 10
4
Wm
2
C
1
for
the tool-sheet interface is used. The critical gap on
each side of the shell element, when thermal contact
is considered, is set to 4 10
5
m. If the distance be-
tween the shell and the tool surface is greater than
the critical gap, (4 10
5
m) but less than 2 10
3
m,
the heat transfer from the hot shell to the tool is by
convection through a layer of air and by radiation as
illustrated in Figure 5. An emissivity value of 1 for
the radiation has been used. The thermal conductiv-
ity used for the layer of air is 5.2 10
2
W/m
C. The
static and dynamic friction coefcient used between
the tool and the boron sheet is assumed to be 0.20.
The implicit springback simulation is performed af-
ter the actual forming and cooling phase. Here
the actual shell thicknesses and stress distribution
are used as input. The component is suitably con-
strained to eliminate rigid body motions and the el-
ements are switched to a fully integrated type.
5 RESULTS
This section is divided into three subsections that
will compare measured and calculated forming
forces, thicknesses and nal shapes. Both the shape
and thicknesses have been measured in a coordinate
measurement machine. The hot stamped component
has been divided into several cross sections, the po-
sitions for each section are shown in Figure 6, along
which the different properties have been evaluated.
The measurement points along each section are il-
572
d
a
b
Contact segment
T
1
T
2
Node in zone for heat tranfer
Figure 5: Schematic illustration of different regions
of heat transfer between component surface and
tool. If the distance d is less than a, full contact heat
transfer is assumed. If the distance d is greater than
a but less than b, the heat transfer is by conduction
in a layer of air and by radiation.
lustrated by their coordinate position s along the
cross section according to Figure 7. The number
of points per section depends on the cross section
width and varies between 12 and 17.
Figure 6: Position along the component for parts
where thickness and shape have been measured.
The z-coordinate in meters for each section is z1 =
0.012, z2 = 0.080, z3 = 0.140, z4 = 0.175, z5 = 0.225
and z6 = 0.250.
s
0
Figure 7: Coordinate denition for points along the
cross section where thickness and shape have been
measured.
5.1 FORMING FORCE
Measured and calculated forming forces are shown
in Figure 8. Note that the calculated forming force
exhibits some oscillations at the rst part of the
curve. The oscillations are due to dynamics, caused
by the numerical algorithm, when the punch hits the
blank.
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
Displacement (m)
F
o
r
m
i
n
g

f
o
r
c
e

(
k
N
)
Calculated
Measured
Figure 8: Measured and calculated forming force as
function of punch displacement.
5.2 THICKNESS
Table 3 summarizes measured and calculated thick-
nesses along each cross section. The minimum
thickness of the formed component is located near
one end of the oblong hole according to Figure 3.
Measured and calculated minimumthickness in this
area are 1.65 10
3
m and 1.63 10
3
m, respec-
tively. The maximumsheet thickness is located near
z = 0.214 m and s = 0 m with reference to Figures
6 and 7. Measured and calculated maximum thick-
ness are 2.1810
3
mand 2.2610
3
m, respectively.
5.3 SPRINGBACK AND SHAPE ACCURACY
In this section both the nal trim contour shape of
the formed component and the shape of the cross
sections are shown. In Figure 9, the calculated
and measured outer contour shape of the nal com-
ponent are illustrated. The maximum deviation
in measured and calculated outer contour shape is
0.7 10
3
mand the mean deviation for all measured
points is 0.36 10
3
m. Figures 10, a-b show the cal-
culated and measured forms of two cross sections.
Note that the calculated shape is given at the mid
plane (through thickness direction) and the mea-
sured is on the lower tool side. Thus, the measured
points are at an offset of approximately 1 10
3
m
from the shell midplane. In the calculation, the
maximumspringback for the component is approxi-
mately 0.29 10
3
m at the section for z = 0.012 m
with reference to Figure 6.
Figure 9: Calculated trim contour of the nal compo-
nent is given as lines, and a cross indicates a mea-
sured point. Note that only one half of the actual
geometry is shown.
573
Table 3: Measured and calculated thickness at specied locations, calculated thickness within parenthesis.
Thickness 10
3
[m] for section no.
s 10
3
[m] 1 2 3 4 5 6
0 2.04 (1.99) 1.96 (1.96) - 1.92 (1.93) 2.10 (2.10) 1.98 (1.95)
5 1.99 (1.99) 1.96 (1.96) - 1.90 (1.94) 2.07 (2.05) 1.99 (1.95)
10 2.00 (1.99) 1.95 (1.96) 1.97 (1.97) 1.91 (1.99) 2.07 (2.03) 1.98 (1.96)
15 2.04 (2.04) 1.93 (1.97) 2.00 (1.96) 1.87 (1.91) 2.08 (2.02) 2.01 (1.96)
20 1.97 (2.01) 1.91 (1.97) 1.92 (1.94) 1.83 (1.93) 2.09 (2.02) 2.00 (1.97)
25 1.96 (1.99) 1.93 (1.94) 1.89 (1.93) 1.93 (1.99) 2.07 (2.00) 1.99 (1.97)
30 1.96 (1.99) 1.94 (1.95) 1.92 (1.91) 1.98 (2.01) 2.03 (2.02) 1.98 (1.97)
35 1.96 (1.99) 1.94 (1.97) 1.92 (1.94) 1.99 (2.01) 2.03 (2.01) 2.00 (1.97)
40 1.96 (1.99) 1.94 (1.97) 1.93 (1.94) 1.99 (2.03) 2.09 (2.02) 2.00 (1.97)
45 1.98 (1.99) 1.94 (1.97) 1.92 (1.94) 1.99 (2.04) 2.03 (1.99) 2.00 (1.98)
50 1.98 (1.99) 1.93 (1.97) 1.86 (1.93) 1.97 (2.01) 2.02 (1.98) 2.01 (1.98)
55 1.97 (1.99) 1.91 (1.97) 1.84 (1.92) 2.00 (2.00) 1.98 (1.98) 1.98 (1.98)
60 2.00 (1.99) 1.99 (1.95) 1.93 (1.88) 1.98 (1.99) 1.95 (1.98) -
65 2.01 (1.99) 1.99 (1.99) 2.00 (1.95) 2.00 (1.98) - -
70 1.97 (2.00) 1.99 (1.99) 2.02 (1.93) - - -
75 1.97 (1.99) 1.99 (1.99) 2.08 (2.02) - - -
80 1.97 (1.99) 1.99 (1.99) 2.06 (2.05) - - -
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05
0
0.005
0.01
0.015
0.02
0.025
0.03
0.035
0.04
0.045
0.05
x (m)
y

(
m
)
a)
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06
5
0
5
10
15
20
x 10
4
x (m)
y

(
m
)
b)
Figure 10: Final shape of section a) 4 (z=0.175 m)
and b) 5 (z=0.225 m). Solid lines are calculated at
mid surface and crosses are measured points on
lower tool side.
6 DISCUSSION
The overall correspondence between measured and
calculated forming forces is quite satisfactory, indi-
cating that the stress-strain data used are adequate.
Note that the mechanical response during the form-
ing phase is mainly governed by the austenite.
The calculated component shows small amounts of
ferrite (<3%) at the upper and lower radius. This is
a consequence of the straining of the material in the
austenitic state which accelerates the nucleation and
growth of ferrite. The maximum volume fraction
bainite (1.2%) is found close to the oblong hole
where the sheet thickness is reduced. The remainder
of the microstructure consists mainly of martensite
because pearlite is present in negligible amounts,
less than 0.3%.
Comparing measured and calculated thicknesses in-
dicates small deviations, and consequently an ade-
quate strain distribution within the component is ob-
tained.
The predicted component shape is in good agree-
ment with the measured, indicating that the imple-
mented models can be used as predictive tools in the
product development phase. Therefore, expensive
tool prototypes can be avoided and accurate adjust-
ments of the blank trim shape can be made.
Cold forming of a similar component in a ultra high
strength steel quality, would cause reduced forma-
bility and generate excessive springback.
7 CONCLUSIONS
In the present work, a numerical FE-simulation of a
thermo-mechanical forming of a high strength com-
ponent has been compared to the corresponding ex-
periment. The comparisons include forming force,
thickness distribution and predictions of the nal
574
component shape. All comparisons showacceptable
agreement. It is concluded that the used methods
provide an effective tool for design work during the
product development phase. Also, the implemented
models for predicting the phase evolution as well as
the mechanical material model can be used in pre-
dicting designed soft zones, e.g. trigger zones for
controlled collapse of safety related components.
8 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The nancial support from Gestamp HardTech AB
and the Research Council of Norrbotten are grate-
fully acknowledged.
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microstructural evolution in a b-bearing steel
in the simulated forming and quenching
process. ISIJ International, 41(4):361367,
2001.
575
____________________
* Corresponding auther: Baroper Str. 301, 44227 Dortmund, Germany, phone: 49-231-755 6918, fax: 2489,
Hossein.Karbasian@iul.uni-dortmund.de
IDENTIFICATION OF THERMO-MECHANICAL INTERACTION
DURING HOT STAMPING BY MEANS OF DESIGN OF
EXPERIMENTS FOR NUMERICAL PROCESS DESIGN
Hossein Karbasian
1*
, Christian Klimmek
2
, Alexander Brosius
1
, A. Erman Tekkaya
1
1
Institute of Forming Technology and Lightweight Construction
Technische Universitt Dortmund
2
Simuform GmbH, Dortmund, Germany
ABSTRACT: The Finite Element Analysis is an essential precondition for the process design of hot
stamping processes. The quality and the significance of the simulation results are strongly dependent on the
accuracy of the thermal and mechanical parameters used in FE models. In this work, the thermo mechanical
properties of the interacting counterparts are determined by experiments. The corresponding numerical
values were optimized with sensitivity analysis and by means of an experimental design. This methodology
ensures an efficient analysis of process parameters consisting of heat transfer coefficients and thermal and
mechanical characteristics of the material. The optimized parameters included heat transfer coefficient,
emission ratio and critical contact gaps between blank and tools. Insights from the design of the experiments
should be applied in order to enable an efficient FE modeling of hot stamping for process optimization and
process design.
KEYWORDS: Hot Stamping, High Strength Steel, Thermo-mechanical coupled simulation, DoE
1 INTRODUCTION
To increase the crashworthiness of automotive
bodies and the necessity of weight reduction are
objectives of the car makers. Hot stamping of high
strength steels like manganese boron steel
(22MnB5) allows to manufacture thinner parts with
better mechanical properties. By using this forming
process, it was possible to reach a tensile strength
of 1500 MPa. In order to achieve the required
strength in the component, the manganese boron
steel must at least be heated to the austenitization
temperature and then be formed and cooled
sufficiently quickly during the forming procedures
[1-3].
In hot stamping process, the blank is inserted into a
furnace, austenitized at 950 C for 5 minutes, and
then transferred to the press. In order to obtain the
desired mechanical properties of the part, the blank
must be transferred as quickly as possible from the
furnace to the press to respect the continuous
cooling transformation curve of the steel. After
placing the blank on the die, the blank is formed
and quenched simultaneously.
The cooling rate for quenching is determined by
the basic conditions to avoid the transformation of
austenite into ferrite, pearlite or bainite during
cooling. The CCT diagram of 22MnB5 shows that
the cooling rate must exceed 27 Ks
-1
to avoid the
bainite and ferrite transformation [4]. The forming
process must take place before the martensite start
temperature is reached, otherwise crack formation
due to higher strength and lower ductile yield of
martensite occurs. Therefore, a minimum cooling
rate and a forming process before the martensite
transformation are two important factors for the
process design of hot stamping. The proper control
of the process parameters in terms of material
formability, process temperature, and press setting
is of fundamental importance for the development
of stable hot forming processes in order to achieve
the desired characteristics of the final product [5].
The calculation of a hot stamping process
considering thermal and mechanical phenomena
during forming and quenching, and the
determination of material and process properties is
the objective of thermo-mechanical coupled
simulation. The calculation begins with a thermal
analysis by means of contact and environment
conditions. After this, a mechanical analysis
follows taking into account temperature-dependent
material properties. With each new contact
condition, the next stage of calculation follows
until the end of the forming process (see figure 1).
576
Figure 1: Scheme of physical effects during
thermo-mechanical FE simulation
With respect to a numerical process design the
quality of the implemented thermo-mechanical
properties und their interaction (see table 1) play an
important role regarding the reliability of the
results of the FE analysis.
Material model using in this investigation based on
experimental determined data. This model allows
the mathematical description of the flow behaviour
of the quenchable high steel 22MnB5 in
dependency of the influencing process parameters
like temperature, strain, and strain rate in the
austenitic condition. Another important process
parameter is the heat transfer coefficient between
blank and tools in dependency of the contact
pressure. Both parameters were identified within
the Research Unit FOR 552 at Faculty of
Manufacturing Technology (LFT) [6, 7]. Further
parameters in table 1 were taken from literature.
Table 1: Thermo-mechanical process parameters
2 IDENTIFICATION OF
SIGNIFICANT PARAMETERS
For the identification of the process relevant
thermal influencing parameters, a deep drawing
tool was used. Within the test, the temperatures of
the blank were recorded using a pyrometer (see
figure 2). This temperature sequences was the
reference data for the FE analysis of the same
forming process.
Figure 2: Experimental set up and FE Model
The influence of process parameters on the results
of FE model was realized with the variation of
FE input parameters. The influence of the heat
transfer coefficient on the temperature distributions
and the sheet thickness is shown figure 3 as an
example of this part of investigation. With
increasing heat transfer coefficient, the sheet
temperature decreases in the contact zone between
blank and tools. Therefore, inhomogeneous
temperature distribution within the blank, which
causes different flow behaviour in the sheet, can
cause increasing local thinning. Other significant
process parameters and their initial setting, shown
in table 2, were identified with the same procedure.
Significant parameters are the convection and
conduction heat transfer coefficient, the emission
ratio and the critical contact gaps. Other process
parameters are either insignificant or accurate
literature values are available.
Figure 3: Influence of heat transfer coefficient
577
Table 2: Significant thermal parameters and their
initial setting
3 DEMONSTRATOR SET UP
For optimization of determined parameter settings,
a hot stamping tool system (see figure 4) was
designed and manufactured within the scope of the
Research Unit FOR 552 [8, 9]. The main
components of the tool system are a die, a punch, a
counter punch, and a blank holder. All of them are
cooled by integrated cooling holes. The cooling
fluid is water. In order to form the blank before the
martensite start temperature is reached, the blank is
formed and quenched within 1.2 s with a punch
velocity of 25 mm/s. After forming, the part is
cooled by means of cooled tools in order to achieve
a structural change from austenite to martensite
(cooling rate exceeds 27 Ks
-1
).
Figure 4: hot stamping tool system
Several integrated thermocouples measure the
temperature of the tools during the forming process
and deliver reference data for a verification of the
FE simulation.
Before und during the forming process, the
temperature of the whole sheet surface is recorded
using a thermography camera. Here, the quenching
is broken and after the opening of the tool the
surface temperature is recorded (see figure 5).
Figure 5: Thermography images of part during the
hot stamping process
4 OPTIMIZATION OF
PARAMETER SETTINGS
After the identification of relevant parameters and
their initial setting, the next step of investigation is
the adaption of the numerical parameters based on
the design of experiments. For this, a highly
efficient I-Optimal design was applied. Within this
design, 32 FE simulations are conducted with
combinations of defined parameter variations of
the significant parameters. The advantage of I-
Optimal designs compared to D-Optimal designs is
that the variance and the mean error is distributed
uniformly within the parameter range and
contributes better results in a response surface
approximation of the design space. This is done
using 3
rd
order polynomial functions in order to
acquire a sophisticated parameter surface
representation. By this, the results of discrete
parameter settings are transformed into a
continuous functional relation between input data
and system response. This allows the determination
578
of the best parameter value approximations
between and beyond the fixed discrete parameter
settings in the experiments. The thermo-
mechanical coupled FE models were developed
with the FE software LS-DYNA 790. The analysis
is performed using thermal shell elements coupled
with mechanical shell elements for the metal sheet.
The thermal problem is solved by the implicit time
integration while the mechanical problem is
processed by the explicit time integration method.
This feature within LS-DYNA allows to combine
the advantages of each integration rule and
overcome contact solution stability and thermal
convergence at once. The tools are modelled as
rigid bodies with thermal behaviour.
For the evaluation of the computational results with
the experimental data, three temperature reference
values on the part surface were defined. These
reference values describe the part temperature after
5 s holding time (quenching time) at three different
points. The shell elements simulate accurately the
hot stamping process up to 5 s holding time. For
the longer holding time, it will be more appropriate
to use brick elements for the tools, allowing for
heat transfer into the tool body or applying
adequate substitute models with similar behaviour.
Latter is proposed due to the costly computation
using brick elements.
Optimization of relevant parameters was carried
out by means of the statistical analysis of the 32 FE
simulation results and reference values. Optimal
parameter settings are displayed in table 3.
Table 3: Optimized parameter settings and
mathematical flow model
A final FE simulation with optimized input data
and the comparison with experimental data
approved the accuracy of FE simulation. The
failure up to 5 % is in the range of the accuracy of
temperature measurement by a very time
dependent process.
Figure 6 shows the temperature distribution of the
part after 5 s Because of forming the blank without
the counter punch there is any direct contact
between the part and the die in place of counter
punch. Therefore, the part in this place cools down
only due to convection and radiation. The cooling
rate at point 5 (see figure 6) is lower than the
critical cool rate 27 Ks
-1
for martensite
transformation. But for this part of investigation,
different cooling phenomena were necessary
during quenching, for the optimization of the heat
transfer coefficient and the critical contact gaps.
Figure 6: Cooling rate curves in CCT diagram
The measured hardness of the part with approx.
420 HV is lower than the hardness from the
CCT diagram for the same cooling rate curve. The
Al-Si coat of sheet or lower initial temperature
before forming can be the cause for the hardness
difference of 10 %.
5 CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, the influence of thermo-mechanical
input parameters on the accuracy of the
FE simulation of hot stamping processes is studied
by statistical methods. The significant parameters
were identified by means of sensibility analysis.
This part of investigation was based on an
experimental and numerical analysis of deep
drawing of a blank. The identified parameters
considered heat transfer coefficients, emission
ratio, and critical contact gaps between black and
tools.
By means of a statistical method, the significant
parameters were optimized. The results of
optimization were in accordance with the
experimental data from the hot stamping process.
Further, investigations are necessary to measure the
part hardness by different cooling rates and the
following micro structural investigation of parts.
Furthermore the optimized parameters must be
579
implemented in brick model for the FE simulation
of quenching phase allowing for heat transfer in the
tools. Therefore, higher accuracies of cooling rate
curves for hardness prediction are reachable.
6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors thank the German Research
Foundation for the financial support within the
Research Unit FOR 552.
7 REFERENCES
[1] Sikora, S.; Lenze, F.-J.: Hot-Forming-Process
Important Parameters for the Production of
High-Strength BIW Parts. IDDRG 2006,
Porto, 295-301
[2] Hein, P.: A Global Approach of the Finite
Element Simulation of Hot Stamping.
Advanced Materials and Research, Vol. 6-8
(2005), 763-770
[3] Kolleck, R.; Lenze. F.-J.: Warmumformung
und Kaltumformung- zwei ergnzende
Verfahren fr den Karosserieleichtbau.
Neuere Entwicklungen in der Blechum-
formung, Frankfurt 2004, 345-254
[4] Garcia Aranda, L.; Chastel, Y.; Fernandez
Pascual, J.; Dal Negro, T.: Experiments and
Simulation of the Hot Stamping of
Quenchable Steels. Advanced Technology of
Plasticity, Vol. 2, 2002, 1135-1140
[5] Mori, K.; Maki, S.; Tanaka, Y.: Warm and
Hot Stamping of Ultra High Tensile Strength
Steel Sheets Using Resistance Heating.
Annals of the CIRP, 54-1(2005), 209-212
[6] Geiger, M.; Merklein, M.; Lechler, J.; Bach,
Fr.-W.; Springer, R.; Kleiner, M.; Homberg,
W.; Brosius, A.; Karbasian, H.; Hoffmann,
H.; So, H.: Basic Investigations on Hot Sheet
Metal Forming of Quenchenable High
Strength Steels. 2
nd
International Conference
ob New Forming Technology, 2007, Bremen,
327-336
[7] Merklein, M.; Lechler, J.; Geiger, M.;
Kleiner, M.; Karbasian, H., Homberg, W.:
Untersuchung der thermo-mechanischen
Flieeigenschaften presshrtbarer Sthle. 2
nd
International Confrence on Accuracy in
Forming Technology ICAFT 2006, in
association with 13.th Saxon Confrence on
Forming Technology SFU 2006, Chemnitz,
217-234
[8] So, H.; Steinbei, H.; Hoffmann, H.:
Optimierung von Umformwerkzeugen fr die
Warmblechumformung. 1. Erlanger Workshop
Warmblechumformung (2006), 102-117
[9] Steinbei, H.; So, H.; Michelitsch, T.;
Hoffmann, H.: Method for optimizing the
cooling design of hot stamping tools.
Production Engineering - Research and
Development, Vol. 1, No. 2 (2007), 149-155
581
____________________
* Corresponding author: University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave W, Waterloo, ON, N2L3G1, Canada, Tel.: +1-
(519) 885-1211 Ext: 32309; fax: +1-(519) 885-5862, E-mail address: jbmckinl@engmail.uwaterloo.ca

EFFECT OF INDEPENDENT DIE AND PUNCH TEMPERATURE
CONTROL ON THE FORMABILITY OF 3003 ALUMINUM ALLOY
IN WARM DEEP DRAWING

Jonathan Mckinley
1*
, Nader Abedrabbo
1
, Michael Worswick
1
, Mark Kozdras
2

1
University of Waterloo, Department of Mechanical Engineering, ON, Canada
2
Dana Canada Corporation (Long Manufacturing), Oakville, ON, Canada

ABSTRACT: A combined experimental and numerical study of the effects of die and punch temperature
on the formability of AA3003-H111 aluminum alloy is performed. An experimental deep draw setup that
incorporates both heated dies and a cooled punch has been developed. A parametric study of the effects of
die temperature, punch temperature, and blank holder force on draw depth and blank failure was performed.
Numerical simulations of the warm forming process were performed using a previously implemented
coupled thermo-mechanical FEA model [1]. The temperature-dependant material model used Barlats
YLD2000 anisotropic plane-stress yield function and was implemented in LS-DYNA as a UMAT (user
defined material model). Selected experimental cases were modelled numerically and compared to
experiments. The FEA model was validated against experimental results by comparing punch force versus
displacement as well as failure location. Strain and stress based forming limit diagrams were used to
determine both the location and failure depth for the numerical models.
KEYWORDS: Warm forming, Material anisotropy, Yield function

1 INTRODUCTION
The use of aluminum alloys in stamped automotive
parts can lead to lighter, more efficient vehicles.
Most common aluminum alloys, however, have
low formability compared to steels. Studies have
shown that warm forming can greatly improve the
formability of aluminum alloys [2]. Tetsuo Naka
[3] investigated deep drawing with various die
temperatures and a water cooled punch. In the
current research, the effects of both die and punch
temperature on the formability of AA3003-H111
aluminum alloy were investigated.

Finite element analysis (FEA) is an important tool
for part and tooling design. By reducing the
amount of trial-and-error required, product design
can be achieved faster. The finite element models,
however, must be accurate and confidence in their
suitability for the specific forming process must be
verified. Abbedrabbo et al. [1, 4] developed a
temperature-dependant anisotropic material model
based on Barlats YLD96 yield function for
AA3003-H111 which was implemented in LS-
DYNA. The developed model was used in a
coupled thermo-mechanical finite element analysis
of the warm forming process and its accuracy was
verified against experimental results.
From the tensile data extracted from previous
research [1], a temperature-dependant material
model for the AA3003-H111 material using
Barlats YLD2000 plane stress anisotropic yield
function [5] was developed. Barlats YLD2000
yield model was developed to overcome some of
the shortcomings in the YLD96 model. For
example; the lack of proof of convexity, and the
difficulty in obtaining the derivatives analytically
[1]. In this research, experimental results are
compared to numerical predictions developed using
the new temperature-dependant yield model.

2 EXPERIMENTS
Deep drawing of 101.6 mm (4 in) diameter cups
was performed using a hydraulic press at the
University of Waterloo. Tooling was developed
with cartridge heaters embedded in the die and
blank holder. Feedback controllers used embedded
thermocouples for accurate temperature control.
Constant temperature chilled water was circulated
through channels machined into the punch to
control its temperature. The punch temperature was
582
monitored using imbedded thermocouples. Figure
1 shows a sectional view of the dies and punch.
Blanks with a diameter of 203.2 mm (8 in) and a
thickness of 1 mm were used.

In order to quantify the effects of the various
temperature configurations of the dies (die and
blank holder) and the punch, three different tooling
temperature cases were investigated. For the first
case (case 1) the blank, punch and the dies were
kept at room temperature. For the second case
(case 2), the dies were maintained at a temperature
of 200C while the punch was kept cold at a
temperature of 10C. For the third case (case 3),
the dies were maintained at a temperature of 200C
while the punch was kept at a temperature of
100C. Three different blank holding forces (BHF)
were used for each temperature case; a) 20 kN, b)
40 kN, and c) 80kN for a total of 9 test cases.
Previous experimental tests had shown that less
than five minutes are required for the blank to
reach the same temperature as the dies.

Figure 1: Tooling cross sectional diagram showing
location of cartridge heaters, cooling channels, and
thermocouple placement.

2.1 PROCEDURE
The process starts by setting the temperature
controllers and then letting the dies and the punch
reach the set temperature. Each blank was cleaned
thoroughly before applying a siloxane emulsion
lubricant. The blank was placed on the die and
centred. The blank holder was then closed for five
minutes before drawing the part to allow
temperature of the dies and blank to equalize. The
punch is not initially in contact with the blank and
therefore does not affect the initial blank
temperature. The punch was then advanced at a
speed of 2 mm/s until either the blank is
completely drawn without failure or until blank
fracture occurs (identified by a sharp drop in blank
holding force). Force versus displacement data was
recorded.

3 NUMERICAL MODEL
Barlats YLD2000 anisotropic material model was
developed as a UMAT in LS-DYNA in which the
anisotropy coefficients of the yield function and the
flow rule (hardening equations) are represented as
functions of temperature.
A power law hardening rule was used to represent
the flow stress of the material. The flow stress
represents the size of the yield function during
deformation. The temperature-dependant power-
law model is written as:

where the strength coefficient K(T), the strain
hardening exponent n(T), and the strain rate
sensitivity index m(T) are expressed in terms of
temperature.
0
represents the elastic strain at yield,
and
sr0
is a constant representing a strain rate
normalization factor.

3.1 MATERIAL CHARACTERIZATION
The aluminum alloy used in this study, AA3003-
H111, was fully characterized at several elevated
temperatures by Abedrabbo et al. [1]. The
following is a brief summary of their results:

Both the strain hardening exponent and the strength
coefficient decreased linearly with temperature as
shown in Figure 2. The strain rate sensitivity
increases with temperature [1].

Figure 2: Plot of strain hardening coefficient (n) and
strength coefficient (K) as a function of temperature
for AA3003-H111[1].

The plastic anisotropy coefficients (R-values); R0,
R45, and R90 increase linearly with temperature as
shown in Figure 3. This indicates an increased
resistance to thinning at higher temperatures. The
spread of the R-values also increases with
temperature indicating stronger in-plane
anisotropy.

Figure 3: R-values as a function of temperature for
AA3003-H11[1].
583
Figure 4 shows a plot of the yield surface for the
AA3003-H111 material [1] shrinking and changing
shape as temperature decreases.

Figure 4: Plot of Yield 2000 for AA3003-H111 at
several temperatures showing how size and shape
of yield surface change with temperature [1].

4 RESULTS
4.1 EXPERIMENTAL
The results from the different temperature cases
tested are summarized in Table 1, which shows
tooling temperatures and blank holder forces. The
corresponding photographs are shown in Figures 5-
7.

BH
Force
Cold Die,
Cold
Punch
Warm Die,
Cold
Punch
Warm Die,
Warm
Punch
20 kN
Failure
Figure 5(a)
Draw
Figure 6(a)
Draw
Figure 7(a)
40 kN
Failure
Figure 5(b)
Draw
Figure 6(b)
Failure
Figure 7(b)
80 kN
Failure
Figure 5(c)
Failure
Figure 6(c)
Failure
Figure 7(c)
Table 1: Test matrix indicating test conditions and
also whether the blank has failed or not. The
corresponding figure showing deformed samples is
also indicated.

The room temperature samples (Case 1: blank, dies
and punch at 25C) failed at all three blank holder
forces as shown in Figure 5. All three blanks failed
at a punch depth of 20 mm. Failure of the blanks
occurred at the radius of the punch head for all
blank holder forces, as indicated by the arrows in
Figure 5.

The case 2 samples, formed with warm dies
(200C) and a cold punch (10C), are shown in
Figure 6. The cups drawn with the low and
intermediate blank holder forces (Figures 6a and
6b) both were drawn completely indicating a
significant increase in formability compared to the
room temperature case. For the last test (Figure 6
(c)), the blank failed at a punch draw depth of
approximately 14 mm. The failure initiated along
the die entry radius as opposed to the punch profile
radius as in the room temperature samples. In this
case, the blank holding forces were too large and
prevented blank flange material from drawing into
the cup.

Figure 5: Experimental results for case 1: room
temperature dies and punch with blank holder
forces of a) 20kN, b) 40kN, and c) 80kN. Arrow
indicates failure location.

Figure 6: Experimental results for case 2: warm die
and cold punch with a blank holding force of a)
20kN, b) 40kN, and c) 80kN. Arrow indicates failure
location.

The results for case 3, performed with warm dies
(200C) and a warm punch (100C), are shown in
Figure 7. Only case 3a, which had the lowest
blank holding force, could be drawn completely
(Figure 7a). The failure of the 40 kN and 80 kN
blank holder force tests initiated at the die entry
radius.

584

Figure 7: Experimental results for warm die and
warm punch with blank holder forces of a) 20kN, b)
40kN, and c) 80kN. Arrow indicates failure location.

From these results, it is clearly shown that forming
of aluminum at elevated temperatures increases
drawability. In addition, the temperature gradient
plays an important role in determining drawability.
Softening of the material, around the flange of the
blank allows material to flow easily over the die
entry radius. The increasing R-values [1] enables
deeper draws by reducing the thinning in the cup
wall. Decreasing the punch temperature increases
the strength of the blank material where it contacts
the punch and reduces the likelihood of failure at
the punch radius.

Figure 8: Comparison of maximum punch load for
each tooling temperature case and blank holder
force.

The reduction of material strength at elevated
temperatures also translates into a decrease in the
punch forces as shown in Figure 8. This reduction
is beneficial in reducing the required tonnage of
sheet forming equipment.

4.2 NUMERICAL
Numerical simulations were performed for all
experimental cases. FEA simulations using the
developed UMAT in LS-DYNA were performed
using a coupled thermo-mechanical model. In the
following, only the cases with a blank holding
force of 40kN will be shown for the sake of
brevity. The punch forces versus punch
displacements from the numerical results are
compared to experimental results in Figures 9-11.
The location and punch depth at failure were also
evaluated using strain and stress-based forming
limit diagrams [6]. Figure 9 shows the stress based
FLDs (-FLDs) for the AA3003-H111 material at
several elevated temperatures.

Figure 9: Stress based forming limit diagrams (-
FLDs) for AA3003-H111 using a power law model
and BarlatsYLD2000-2d anisotropic yield function
at several elevated temperatures.

Figure 10 shows the punch force versus punch
displacement for case 1b (dies and punch at room
temperature, intermediate blank holder force). The
result of the numerical simulations ends at the
point where blank failure was detected using the
stress-based Forming Limit Curve (FLC). As seen
from the graph, both the predicted force versus
displacement and the depth at which failure occurs
in the numerical result correlate well with
experiment. Figure 13 shows the corresponding
contour plot of the formability for this case. The
formability plot was generated using LS-Prepost
and shows regions of wrinkling, stretching and
failure based on the strain based FLC. Failure
location prediction is shown in the figure. Failure
is predicted to occur at the location observed in the
actual sample, seen in Figure 5 b.

Figure 10: Punch force versus punch displacement
plot for numerical and experimental results for room
temperature dies and punch (25C). Blank holding
force at 40kN.
585
Figure 11 shows the punch force versus punch
displacement for case 2b (warm dies, cold punch,
and a blank holding force of 40kN). The numerical
results match the experimental results well for most
of the draw, however after a 30mm of draw, the
predicted punch force drops off more rapidly. It is
speculated that this is caused by changes in friction
conditions in the experiments that are difficult to
match in the numerical model. However, the
numerical results accurately predict both the
overall shape and total draw depth.

Figure 11: Punch force versus punch displacement
plot for numerical and experimental results with
warm dies (200C), cold punch (10C), and 40 kN
BHF.

Figure 12 shows punch force versus punch
displacement for case 3b (warm dies, warm punch,
BHF: 40 kN). As seen, the numerical curve follows
the experimental result well and the punch depth at
failure is quite accurate.
Figure 14 shows the migration of the predicted
failure location from the punch profile radius
(Figure 13) to the die entry radius as also seen in
the experimental results (Figure 7(b)).

Figure 12: Punch force versus displacement plot
for numerical and experimental results with warm
dies (200C), warm punch (100C), and 40 kN BHF.

Figure 13: Contour plot of the formability for
numerical simulation with dies and punch at room
temperature. Corresponds to experiment shown in
Figure 5 b.

Figure 14: Contour plot of the formability for
numerical simulation with warm die, warm punch.
Corresponds to experiment shown in Figure
7Figure 5 b.

5 CONCLUSIONS
Experimental results have shown that warm
forming increases the drawability of AA3003-
H111 aluminum alloy. Reducing the punch
temperature relative to the dies further improves
drawability. Warm forming also reduces required
punch force and therefore equipment tonnage.

Numerical simulations of the warm forming
process using an accurate coupled thermo-
mechanical model were capable of capturing both
the punch forces and failure location and compared
very well against measured data.

6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Financial support for this research from Dana
Canada Corporation (Long Manufacturing) and the
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research
Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Ontario
Research Fund is gratefully acknowledged. Also,
the authors wish to thank Dr. John Carsley and
General Motors for the supply of the testing
materials.

7 REFERENCES
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Forming of aluminum alloys at elevated
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587
____________________
* Corresponding author: Via Venezia 1, 35131, Padova, Italy, Tel: +39 049 8276819, Fax: +39 049 8276816,
silvio.fanini@unipd.it
CALIBRATION OF NUMERICAL
SIMULATION FOR HOT STAMPING
A. Turetta
1
, S. Fanini*
1
, A. Ghiotti
1
, S. Bruschi
2
1
DIMEG, Univ. of Padova, Via Venezia 1, 35131, Padova, Italy
2
DIMS, Univ. of Trento, Via Mesiano 77, 38050, Trento, Italy
ABSTRACT: In the last few years, sheet metal working operations at elevated temperatures have gained
much importance due to the possibility of producing components characterized by high strength-to-mass
ratio. In particular, the hot stamping of ultra high strength quenchenable steels is nowadays widely utilized
in the automotive industry to produce structural parts with enhanced crash characteristics and geometrical
accuracy. The choice of the most appropriate process parameters requires the utilization of FE-based codes
where the process has to be represented by a fully coupled thermo-mechanical-metallurgical model. The
accurate calibration of such a model, in terms of material behaviour, boundary conditions, phase
transformation and formability limits, is then a strong requirement for the results reliability in the numerical
simulations of sheet metal forming processes and offer noticeable time and cost savings to car designers and
producers.
In its first part, the paper presents the requirements in terms of implemented data that a fully coupled
thermo-mechanical-metallurgical model must satisfy in order to accurately reproduce those phenomena
characterising hot stamping. Testing procedures to gain material and interface data together with relevant
results are then presented. Finally, available numerical models are analysed and discussed depending on the
phenomena that they are capable to represent.
KEYWORDS: Sheet Metal Forming, Hot stamping, FEM, Calibration
1 INTRODUCTION
In the last years the main targets of automotive
industry have been represented by (i) the reduction
of the vehicles environmental impact (pollutions,
fuel consumption, CO
2
emission), (ii) the increase
of safety (impact absorption performance, crash
resistance, pedestrian safety, etc.), and (iii) the
improved accuracy and quality for easier, cheaper
and more reliable joining and assembly of final
components. These requirements have forced and
are still forcing car manufacturers to a continuous
search for new solutions, leading to the most
significant evolution and innovation in sheet metal
forming technologies. Different types of materials,
both metallic and non-metallic, are utilised for such
purposes. As regards the metallic ones, aluminium
alloys and different steels grades are the most
commonly utilised in body-in-white components
and reinforcements beams, while the introduction
of high strength quenchenable steels (HSS) has
represented an innovative solution to increase the
strength-to-mass ratio of sheet metal components.
In particular, in order to fully exploit their
characteristics, HSS must be deformed at elevated
temperature to enhance their formability and
simultaneously quenched to obtain a high
strength martensitic microstructure in the
component at room temperature [1-4]. In the hot
stamping, or press hardening process, the steel
blank is heated up above austenitization
temperature, then transferred to the press where
deformation takes place simultaneously with
quenching inside the forming dies in order to
achieve a fully martensitic microstructure.
Compared with traditional sheet metal forming
operations, the proper design of hot stamping
process chain requires a deep knowledge of both
interface phenomena and material behaviour at
high temperature. In particular, the choice of the
most suitable process parameters of the forming
and the cooling phases requires the utilization of
FE-based codes where the process has to be
represented by a fully coupled thermo-mechanical-
metallurgical model. Such a model has to be
accurately calibrated and validated, by means of
experimental techniques and numerical inverse
588
analysis approaches, in order to obtain reliable
prediction of the mechanical and microstructural
properties of the final product.
The objective of the paper is to give an insight
about material data and interface parameters
needed to describe the hot stamping process in the
most comprehensive way. In the first part, the
paper presents the requirements that a suitable
numerical model must fulfil in order to accurately
reproduce those phenomena characterising the hot
stamping process. Then, different testing
procedures and techniques are presented. Data
gained from these experiments are requested to
accurately calibrate the above mentioned thermo-
mechanical-metallurgical model of the process.
Finally, the capabilities of different models
developed through commercially available
numerical codes are assessed and discussed.
2 REQUIREMENTS OF THE
NUMERICAL MODEL
When compared to conventional sheet metal
forming operations and/or warm forming of light
and ultra-light alloys, the numerical modelling of
HSS hot stamping processes involves the
description of several additional aspects. The
material deformation is carried out at varying
temperature, since the heated blank is first
positioned on cooled dies and then deformed by
them. This requires the implementation of elasto-
plastic material data as function of temperature and
strain rate. Furthermore, depending on temperature
history, different phases can develop from the
decomposition of initial austenite, requiring the
modelling of phase transformation kinetics. The
boundary conditions, such as friction at workpiece-
tools interface and heat transfer phenomena,
modify as well the thermal field on the blank,
making in turn vary the mechanical response and
metallurgical characteristics. The hot stamping
process has to be then modelled from a numerical
point of view taking into account the mutual
interactions between thermal, mechanical and
metallurgical variables.
3 NUMERICAL MODEL
CALIBRATION
Data regarding material and interface conditions, to
be implemented in a fully-coupled numerical
model of hot stamping, can be subdivided into four
categories:
- elasto-plastic properties, including elastic
parameters, anisotropy coefficients and flow
stress as function of temperature and strain
rate;
- phase transformation data, including phase
transformation plasticity coefficients, strains
of phase transformation and shift of CCT
curves due to applied stress;
- boundary data, including friction and heat
transfer coefficients as function of
temperature and applied pressure;
- formability limits as function of temperature
and strain rate.
In the following, for each of these categories, the
developed experimental equipment and testing
procedure are presented. Results form testing 1.5
mm thick sheet metal made of steel 22MnB5
(commercially known as USIBOR 1500P), coated
with an aluminium - silicon layer are presented.
3.1 ELASTO-PLASTIC PROPERTIES
A new experimental set-up has been developed at
Chair of Manufacturing at University of Padova [5]
capable to reproduce the thermo-mechanical
conditions of the industrial hot stamping. The
system allows investigating the elastic and plastic
behaviour of high strength steel in relation to the
temperature evolution. Uniaxial tensile tests are
performed with a 50 kN MTS hydraulic testing
machine while the thermal cycle was superimposed
through a frontal inductor connected to a 30 kW
inductive heating system. Temperature evolution is
controlled by a K-type thermocouple spot-welded
in the centre of the sheet metal specimen and
cooling rates up to 100 K/s can be reached by using
a compressed air jet. During the test the strain field
is monitored by the optical measurement system
GOM-ARAMIS equipped with a 200 Hz CCD
camera. All the sensors and the actuations are
controlled and synchronized by a real-time routine
implemented in LabVIEW environment.
3.1.1 Elastic Properties
The elastic properties of the sheet metal at
elevated temperatures were measured by means of
a new configuration of the developed experimental
apparatus. In the new configuration, the optical
system was replaced by an air-cooled MTS 632.53
high temperature axial extensometer, appropriately
adapted to reduce the distance between extension
rods to 11 mm and to obtain a gage length with a
uniform temperature distribution as shown in
Figure 1.
After the austenitization and the holding period in
Figure 1. Experimental equipment for the hot
tensile tests in the elastic and plastic ranges
589
temperature, the Youngs modulus and the yield
strength were evaluated by using the 0.2% offset
method. Tensile tests were therefore performed in
the range between 20 C and 900 C at constant
temperature and the extensometric measurements
were elaborated according to the ASTM guideline
[5]; the obtained results are reported in Table 1.
Table 1. Youngs modulus and yield strength0.2%
evolution with temperature
Temp. [C] 20 100 200 300 400
E [GPa] 212 205 200 164 158
0.2%
[MPa] 370 362 350 338 295
Temp. [C] 500 600 700 800 900
E [GPa] 140 95 62 55 45
0.2%
[MPa] 254 167 95 72 46
3.1.2 Mechanical behaviour
The thermo-mechanical conditions of the hot
stamping process were reproduced in order to
evaluate the influence of temperature, strain rate
and cooling rate on the flow curves of the material
through the accurate analysis of the data acquired
through the optical strain measurement system
ARAMIS [6]. The specimens were austenitized
at 950C for 3 minutes, then two cooling rates, 30
and 50 K/s, were applied until the temperatures of
800, 650 and 500 C were reached; afterwards,
uniaxial tensile tests were performed in isothermal
condition at strain rates of 0.01, 0.1 and 1 s
-1
. The
investigated steel exhibits a great sensitivity to
temperature and strain rate; the material strength
strongly increases with increasing strain rate and
decreasing temperature, while the influence of
cooling rate is significant only at lower
temperatures and strain rate where phase
transformations modify the slope of the flow
curves (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Influence of strain rate at a temperature
of 500C
3.1.3 Plastic Anisotropy
Since no recognized standard is available for
testing at elevated temperatures, the DIN 10130
standard, for room temperature characterization
was applied. The anisotropy coefficient r was
determined at 20% homogeneous plastic
deformation. With regard to the formability, the
materials anisotropic mechanical behaviour,
represented by the r-values of tensile specimens,
was investigated by specimen obtained along the
0, 45 and 90 orientations with respect to rolling
direction. Afterwards the coefficient of the average
normal anisotropy and the planar anisotropy are
obtained according to [6]:
) 2 (
4
1
45 90 0
r r r r
n
(1)
) 2 - (
2
1
45 90 0
r r r r (2)
The experimental and analysis procedure used to
elaborate the optical strain measurements and to
evaluate the influence of temperature and strain
rate on both normal and planar anisotropy is
reported in [6]. The obtained results are shown in
Figure 3, where data are reported together with
their standard deviation.
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
500 650 800
Temperature [C]
N
o
r
m
a
l

a
n
i
s
o
t
r
o
p
y
strain rate 0.01 s
strain rate 0.1 s
strain rate 1 s
-0.12 0.01 0.01 1
-0.07 0.03 0.10 0.1
-0.06 -0.11 0.13 0.01
Strain rate
[s]
800 650 500
Temperature
[C]
Planar
anisotropy
-0.12 0.01 0.01 1
-0.07 0.03 0.10 0.1
-0.06 -0.11 0.13 0.01
Strain rate
[s]
800 650 500
Temperature
[C]
Planar
anisotropy
Figure 3: Normal and planar anisotropy sensitivity to
temperature and strain rate
Temperature has a strong influence on normal
anisotropy: the material anisotropic behaviour is
much more pronounced at lower temperatures,
even if the material is still in a full metastable
austenitic phase. Normal anisotropy sensitivity to
strain rate is less pronounced and also the influence
of microstructural evolution has to be considered
for a better comprehension of this phenomenon
because of the possible bainitic phase
transformation during deformation at lower strain
rates. The crystallographic grain orientation due to
the blank forming process almost disappeared due
to austenitization: in fact, compared with a value of
0.2 of the as-received blank at room temperature,
planar anisotropy was calculated to be
approximately equal to zero for all the different
testing conditions as shown in (compare table in
Figure 3).
590
3.2 PHASE TRANSFORMATION
PROPERTIES
The testing procedure proposed by Taleb [7] was
adopted to the new experimental setup, described
in the previous paragraph, in order to determine the
22MnB5 transformation plasticity of phases
occurring from austenitization to room temperature
by means of extensometric analyses. Specimens
were austenitized at 900C for 3 min and then
cooled down until room temperature; the cooling
rate was chosen according to the material CCT
curves to obtain the desired microstructure (1.5K/s
for ferrite, 10K/s for bainite and 35K/s for
martensite). Elastic loads were applied just before
the onset of the phase transformation to investigate
and the calculation was carried out starting from
the strain vs. temperature curves. The
transformation plasticity strain of different phases
as function of applied stress is displayed in Figure
4 and it increases with the applied load with a
linear trend, thus confirming the few results found
in the literature.
0
0.0015
0.003
0.0045
0.006
0.0075
0.009
0 20 40 60 80 100
Stress [MPa]
T
r
a
n
s
f
o
r
m
a
t
i
o
n

p
l
a
s
t
i
c
i
t
y

s
t
r
a
i
n

s
Martensite
Ferrite
Bainite
Figure 4: Transformation plasticity strain for
different phases as function of applied stress [5]
The influence of applied stress and strain on the
microstructural transformation kinetics was also
investigated to evaluate the shift of the TTT curves
for the ferritic and bainitic transformation through
dilatometric measurements. Specimens were
austenitized at 900C and then chilled with a
cooling rate of 100K/s to the testing temperature
(500C and 600C for the bainitic transformation,
700C for the ferritic one). Afterwards, different
levels of stress, in both the elastic and plastic range
of metastable austenite, were applied. It was
possible to notice that loads applied during cooling
do not influence the phase transformation kinetics
if they are removed before the transformation
onset, as well as the load application temperature.
It is worth remarking that as the level of applied
stress increases, the time needed to obtain both the
ferritic and bainitic transformations reduces in an
almost proportional way, thus proving that the
application of a load anticipates the phase
transformation onset and the higher the applied
stress the bigger the magnitude of the shift of the
TTT curve, as shown in Figure 5.
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
5.5
6
2 6 10 14 18 22
Time [s]
A
x
i
a
l

s
t
r
a
i
n

[
%
]
Stress free
28 MPa
56 MPa
84 MPa
stress
Figure 5: Axial strain as function of the applied
stress at T = 700C
3.3 INTERFACE CONDITIONS
The evaluation of boundary conditions is of great
importance, as they strongly affect the thermal
field inside the blank, and thus mechanical and
microstructural-related parameters. Both friction
and heat transfer coefficients can be determined
through a combined experimental and numerical
procedure, implying the measurements of
observable parameters in a dedicated experiment,
the setting-up of the numerical model of the
experiment itself, and the identification of the
relevant coefficient by matching the evolution of
the experimental and the numerically calculated
parameter during the experiment. To evaluate the
friction coefficient, the well-known hole expansion
test (HET) is utilised: during the test, a square
blank with a small hole in the middle is deformed
by a hemispherical punch in a stretching-type
equipment (see Figure 6). The blank is heated
through inductive heating and it is fast cooled to
the testing temperature in order to keep its
microstructure still in the metastable austenite
phase. The hole diameter before and after test is
measured and it represents the observable
parameter to be fitted in the numerical model of the
test, by changing iteratively the friction coefficient
until the experimental and the numerical hole
diameter values coincide. Applying this procedure,
the friction coefficient is determined under
operating conditions closed to those of hot
stamping.
The heat transfer coefficient between the blank and
Figure 6: Experimental equipment for the hole
expansion test (left) and numerical model of the test
(right)
591
the dies is evaluated through a simple test
involving the application of different levels of
pressure on the blank. The blank is heated up in a
muffle furnace and then rapidly transferred to a
press, where the load is applied through flat dies
supplied with grooves for thermocouples located at
different depths with respect to the die surface. The
observable parameter is the temperature evolution
inside the dies as recorded by the thermocouples.
The matching between measured and calculated
thermal fields inside the dies is carried out by
varying iteratively the value of the heat transfer
coefficient in the numerical model of the test. The
heat transfer coefficient is identified under the
same thermal conditions of the industrial process,
taking into account its dependence on the applied
pressure.
Figure 7: Experimental equipment for heat transfer
coefficient evaluation
3.4 FORMABILITY LIMITS
Two different approaches in evaluating forming
limits can be followed: (i) determination of
Forming Limit Curves FLCs as function of thr
various process parameters, like in conventional
sheet forming, or (ii) determination of critical
damage parameters associated to the complex state
of strain and stress in the blank. The latter is
described in detail in an accompanying paper,
while in the following the FLC evaluation will be
briefly outlined.
When applied to hot stamping, the FLCs have to be
determined at constant temperature and to be
relevant only to one microstructural constituent.
The use of heated tools at the testing temperature
can assure the uniform thermal profile on the sheet
metal during the test. While, the possibility to have
only one steel phase during deformation can be
fulfilled only if the material phase transformation
kinetics is completely understood and the most
critical condition is to obtain FLCs in a fully
metastable austenite state. Therefore, particular
attention must be paid to properly identify the
cooling rate assuring that the whole deformation
can take place before phase transformation. This
cannot prescind from an accurate evaluation of the
phase transformation onset as function of both
cooling rates and stress conditions characterizing
the hot stamping process [8].
In order to cover all the above requirements, the
equipment shown in Figure 8 was developed to
perform Nakajima test at elevated temperature and
to obtain FLCs in isothermal conditions with the
material in a fully metastable austenite state. A
detailed description of the experimental set up can
be found in [9], while testing conditions are
reported in Table 2.
Table 2: Nakajima test experimental parameters
Austenitization temperature [C] 900
Holding time [s] 180
Cooling rate [K/s] 100
Testing temperature [C] 600
Ram speed [mm/s] 10
Cartridge
heaters
Inductor
coil
CCD camera
Pneumatic
system
Thermocamera
Figure 8: Experimental equipment scheme
Formability data were determined for different
strain paths, whose range goes from uniaxial to
biaxial tension. The corresponding Forming Limit
Curve was elaborated with the indications of the
ISO 12004 standard (the procedure implemented in
the ARAMIS software [10-11]) and it is shown
in Figure 9. In the same Figure, a second
representation was obtained by plotting the local
state of strain at fracture initiation site (Figure 9).
The difference between the two representations is
due to the strong effect of post-necking
deformation that occurs in forming processes at
elevated temperature, effect that is not taken into
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
-0.2 -0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3
Minor strain
M
a
j
o
r

s
t
r
a
i
n
ISO 12004
Failure
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
-0.2 -0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3
Minor strain
M
a
j
o
r

s
t
r
a
i
n
ISO 12004
Failure
Figure 9: Experimental FLCs
592
account by the standard procedure.
Therefore, the implementation of fracture limits in
numerical models needs a preliminary analysis
regarding the definition of the critical condition
(necking initiation, diffuse necking condition or
fracture) and the way to determine it. In view of
this uncertainty, a review of the standard procedure
for FLCs determination at elevated temperature
represents a necessary step to define univocally the
formability limits of the sheet metal in hot forming
condition.
4 CONCLUDING REMARKS
The paper has presented the requirements that a
numerical model of hot stamping processes must
fulfil in order to provide as much as possible
accurate results. These requirements have led to the
development and setting-up of several testing
procedures to gain the data needed for the proper
calibration of the numerical model. To accurately
describe those phenomena characterising hot
stamping, a fully coupled thermo-mechanical-
metallurgical model is required, whose calibration
should be carried out with the above mentioned
procedures. Some commercial codes devoted to
sheet metal forming operations implement the
dependence of mechanical parameters to
temperature and strain rate, but they still lack in
taking into account the coupling with phase
transformation kinetics which plays an important
role in determining the final product
characteristics. With general-purpose codes, the
implementation of dedicated external sub-routines
dealing with phase transformation phenomena is
possible, but still a matter of research, not yet
applicable in industry. On the other hand, the most
well-known softwares for bulk forming numerical
simulation support the coupling between thermal,
mechanical and metallurgical effects, but they
dont model anisotropy-related phenomena,
especially when dependent to temperature.
Therefore, nowadays, numerical models of hot
stamping can be provided utilising commercial
codes, but still accepting a lack of accuracy in
obtainable results, due to the impossibility of
modelling all the complex interacting effects.
5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The research work which this paper is based on is
part of the research project PRIN S.M.A.R.T.
financed by the Italian Ministry of University and
Research.
6 REFERENCES
[1] Neugebauer R., Altan T., Geiger M., Kleiner
M., Sterzing A.: Sheet metal forming at
elevated temperatures. Annals of the CIRP,
55/2:793-816 (2006).
[2] Wagener H.-W.: New developments in sheet
metalforming: sheet materials, tools and
machinery. Journal of Materials Processing
Technology, vol. 72: 342-357 (1997).
[3] Hoffmann H., So H., Steinbeiss H.: Design of
Hot Stamping Tools with Cooling System.
Annals of the CIRP, 56/1: 262-272 (2007).
[4] Hein P.: A Global Approach of the Finite
Element Simulation of Hot Stamping.
Advanced Materials Research Vols. 6-8: 763-
770 (2005).
Characterization of the Flow Properties of the
Quenchenable Ultra High Strength Steel
22MnB5. Annals of the CIRP, 55/1: 229-232
(2006).
[4] Geiger M., Merklein M., Hoff C.: Basic
Investigation on the Hot Stamping Steel
22MnB5. Sheet Metal 2005 Conference,
Proceedings: 795-802 (2005).
[5] Turetta A., Ghiotti A., Bruschi S.:
Investigation of 22MnB5 Mechanical and
Phase Transformation Behaviour at High
Temperature, IDDRG 2007 International
Conference Proceedings: 147-153 (2007).
[6] Merklein M., Lechler J., Goedel V., Bruschi
S., Ghiotti A., Turetta A.: Mechanical
properties and plastic anisotropy of the
quenchenable high strength steel 22MnB5 at
elevated temperatures. Key Engineering
Materials Vol. 344: 79-86 (2007).
[7] Taleb L., Cavallo N., Waeckel F.:
Experimental analysis of transformation
plasticity. International Journal of Plasticity,
vol. 17: 1-20 (2001).
[8] Bariani P.F., Bruschi S., Ghiotti A., Turetta
A.,: Testing formability in the hot stamping of
HSS. Accepted for publication in CIRP
Annals Manufacturing Technology.
Investigation of 22MnB5 formability in Hot
Stamping operations. Journal of Materials
Processing Technology, Vol. 177: 396-400
(2006).
[10] Geiger M., Merklein M.: Determination of
forming limit diagrams a new analysis
method for characterization of materials'
formability, Annals of the CIRP, 52/1: 213-
216 (2003).
[11] Standard ISO 12004-2:1997, TC 164/SC 2.
593
____________________
* Corresponding author: POSCO Technical Research Laboratories (POSLAB), Automotive Steel Applications Research
Group, 699, Gumho-dong, Gwangyang-si, Jeonnam, 545-090, Korea, phone +82 61 790 8675, fax +82 61 790 9370,
hsson@posco.com
FORMABILITY EVALUATION FOR HOT PRESS FORMED PART
USING COUPLED THERMO-MECHANICAL ANAYSIS
HyunSung Son
1*
, HongGee KIM
1
, YeolRae Cho
1
1
POSLAB, Automotive Steel Applications Research Group, Gwangyang-si, Korea
ABSTRACT: Hot Press Forming (HPF), an advanced sheet forming method in which a high strength
part can be produced by forming at high temperature and rapid cooling in dies, is one of the most successful
forming process in producing components with complex geometric shape, high strength and a minimum of
springback. In order to obtain effectively and accurately numerical finite element simulations of the actual
HPF process, the flow stress of a boron steel in the austenitic state at elevated temperatures has been
investigated with a Gleeble system. To evaluate the formability of the thermo-mechanical material
characteristics in the HPF process, the FLDo defined at the lowest point in the forming limit diagrams of a
boron steel has been investigated. In addition, the simulation results of a hot press formed part are compared
with the experimental ones to confirm the validity of the proposed simulations.
KEYWORDS: Hot Press Forming (HPF), Formability
1 INTRODUCTION
In recent years more high and ultra-high strength
steels are increasingly used in the automotive
industry in order to reduce weight and to improve
the safety of vehicles. However, the use of high
strength steel usually leads to some disadvantages
such as a reduced formability and the tendency to
springback. In order to overcome these difficulties,
Hot Press Forming (HPF), an advanced sheet
forming method in which a high strength part can
be produced by forming at high temperature and
rapid cooling in dies, is one of the most successful
forming process in producing components with
complex geometric shape, high strength and a
minimum of springback. For the rapid
development of hot press formed components, an
accurate evaluation and prediction of the
formability in the quenchable high strength steel is
needed.
There are a few literatures which showed thermal
and mechanical properties of a boron steel for a
coupled thermo-mechanical simulation. Eriksson et
al. [1] measured several thermal and mechanical
properties of a boron steel at various temperatures
of room temperature to 900C. They measured
flow stress curves at various temperatures by
compression test of cylindrical specimens in a
vacuum chamber using a Gleeble tester. They also
measured strain rate effect on flow stress by doing
experiments at several strain rate from 0.1/s to 10/s,
and evaluated the thermal expansion and volume
change due to phase transformation of austenite to
martensite using conventional dilatation tests. The
results by Bergman and Oldenburg [2] can be
referable for material properties at various
temperature of a boron steel even though they
showed material data for other steel that is different
from conventional a boron steel. They showed
thermal conductivity, specific heat capacity, and
thermal expansion as a function of temperature. By
Merklein and Lechler [3], conductive hot tensile
test have been carried out in dependency of the
influencing parameters like rolling direction,
temperature and strain rate after rapid cooling
down from 950 to an isothermal test temperature.
Some results for interfacial properties between a
metal sheet and dies were found in the literatures
[4,5,6].
Several researchers have studied a coupled thermo-
mechanical simulation on warm and hot forming
processes of metal sheets. Yoshihara et al. [7],
Palaniswamy et al. [4], and Takuda et al. [5]
carried out finite element simulation for warm
forming process of magnesium or aluminium alloy
sheet. Hein et al. [8] was presented the
methodology for FE-analysis of hot stamping, and
described the flow chart of a typical feasibility
study.
In the present work, high temperature properties
such as flow curve were obtained for hot press
594
forming steel. Also, for determination of forming
limits of a boron steel, the FLDo defined at the
lowest point in the forming limit diagrams was
experimentally measured by Hecker test,
considering the temperature history which is nearly
similar to a real HPF manufacturing process.
Coupled thermo-mechanical simulations with LS-
DYNA were carried out for forming and cooling of
a hot press formed part and compared with
experimental data.
2 COUPLED THERMO-
MECHANICAL SIMULATION
Finite element simulation is becoming an
increasingly important tool in the development
process for structural automotive components,
manufactured using coupled thermo-mechanical
forming techniques such as hot press forming. The
phenomena during hot press forming can be
divided into heat transfer between hot sheet and
cold dies, plastic deformation of sheet, and phase
transformation of sheet due to cooling in the dies.
These thermal-mechanical-phase transformation
phenomena are not isolated but connected. Thus,
finite element simulation should consider these
three coupled phenomena for the most accurate
results. However, this fully coupled simulation
requires much computational cost and suffers from
numerical instability due to nonlinearity of each
phenomenon. Therefore, semi-coupled simulation,
which carries out coupled thermo-mechanical
analysis for heat transfer and plastic deformation,
can be alternative method for general hot press
forming process.
In this paper, LS-DYNA, which is a commercial
simulation program, is used for coupled thermo-
mechanical analysis of a hot press forming.
2.1 THERMO-MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
OF BORON STEEL
The blank in the HPF process is usually formed in
a temperature range between 600 and 800. For
a finite element based numerical process design,
thermo-mechanical material characteristics of the
HPF process are required. In fact, the flow curves
at all range of temperatures need not to be
considered since the forming finishes quickly at
high temperature, for example, over than 600C.
For investigation of the materials flow stress in
dependency of the temperature and the strain rate
in the austenitic state hot uniaxial tensile tests were
conducted between 630C and 780C in a range of
strain rate (0.002/s to 1/s). The HPF steels used in
this paper are uncoated hot rolled boron steels of
2.0mm in thickness.
The flow curves were obtained from tensile test
with tensile specimen of ASTM sub-size using a
Gleeble system. The specimens were heated to
900C, and held at that temperature for 5min to
guarantee a complete, homogenous austenitization.
Then, they were cooled to the testing temperature
(630, 680, 730, 780 respectively) during 12 sec.
This time was chosen to account for transfer time
of the blank from furnace to tool surface position in
experimental HPF process. Afterwards the tensile
test was carried out under isothermal conditions. It
should be noted that the flow curves to maximum
load were within the austenite microstructure
regime in the Continuous Cooling Transformation
curve.
The influence of temperatures and strain rates on
the flow properties of the test material has been
investigated in Figure 1 and 2. For various
temperatures between 630 and 780, Figure 1
shows that representative true stress-strain curves
are displayed for a strain rate of 0.02/s. The
characteristics of the flow curves show that the
temperature has a significant impact on the forming
behavior of a boron steel. Increasing the
temperature leads to a significant reduction of the
flow stress and a decreasing work hardening
exponent, resulting in a remarkable decrease of the
slope of the true stress-strain curves. Also, Figure 2
shows the strain rate has a significant influence on
the forming behavior of a quenchable steel.
Increasing the strain rate leads to appreciable
increase of the stress level and the slope of the
curve. The flow curves assumed by extrapolation at
other strain rates were used in the simulation
according to Cowper-Symonds model.
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
0
100
200
300
400
500
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
0
100
200
300
400
500
T
r
u
e

S
t
r
e
s
s

[
M
P
a
]
True Strain
(fitting)
(fitting)
(fitting)
(fitting)
630 deg.: (exp.),
680 deg.: (exp.),
730 deg.: (exp.),
780 deg.: (exp.),
Figure 1: Stress-strain curves at temperatures of
630~780 at strain rate of 0.02/s
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
0
100
200
300
400
500
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
0
100
200
300
400
500
(fitting)
(fitting)
(fitting)
(fitting)
T
r
u
e

S
t
r
e
s
s

[
M
P
a
]
True Strain
1.0/s : (exp.),
0.2/s : (exp.),
0.02/s : (exp.),
0.002/s : (exp.),
Figure 2: Stress-strain curves at strain rate of
0.002~1.0/s at temperature of 730
595
The youngs modulus and the poissons ratio of the
boron steel at different temperatures have been
taken from the literature [1]. The thermal
conductivity and the specific heat of a boron steel
were taken from the literatures [9] as shown in
Table 1. The mechanical and thermal properties of
the tool material were provided from the material
maker, which are shown in Table. 2.
Table 1: Thermal properties of boron steel used for
simulation
Temperature,C 20 100 200 400 600 800
Conductivity,
W/ (m K)
46.1 46.1 44.8 39.8 34.3 26.4
Specific heat,
J/ (kg K)
377 477 511 590 741 821
Table 2: Thermal and mechanical properties of tool
material used for simulation
Properties Values
Youngs modulus, GPa 210
Poissons ratio 0.28
Density, kg/m
3
7800
Thermal conductivity, W/ (m K) 23.0
Specific heat, J/ (kg K) 461
According to the literatures [4,5,6], it is obvious
that the values of an interface heat transfer
coefficient of metal sheets are highly dependent on
the sort of metal, contact pressure, surface
roughness, etc. LS-DYNA uses an interface heat
transfer coefficient model as shown in Equation (1)
for considering gap effect. The parameters for this
model were determined to minimize the difference
between experimental data and simulation result
[10].
h = HTC at l
gap
< G
crit

h = CF/ l
gap
at G
crit
< l
gap
< G
max
(1)
h = 0 at l
gap
> G
max

where HTC=1500 W/(m
2
K), CF=0.10 W/(m K),
G
crit
= 0.067 mm, and G
max
= 1.00 mm
2.2 EXPERIMENTAL DETERMINATION
OF FORMING LIMITS
In sheet metal forming operations, the formability
of sheet metals is limited by the occurrence of a
localized neck. Thus, designing and optimizing a
hot sheet metal forming process, requires the
precise prediction of the forming limits of the sheet
materials. In this study, determining experimental
forming limit diagrams in an elevated temperature
was based on the method proposed by Hecker,
where strip specimens of different widths are
clamped at each end and impressed by a
hemispherical punch. Figure 3 shows a tool set-up
for forming limit diagrams of a hot press forming.
Different widths of specimens were selected to
obtain different strain states in punch stretching.
The width direction of the specimens was always
at right angles to the rolling direction of the sheet.
All specimens were gridded with a standard grid
pattern consisting of 2.54mm-diameter circles
before deformation using a laser marking machine.
The major and minor strains along the longitudinal
direction passing the surface of the specimen were
measured from these specimens in the critical areas
using a surface strain measuring system based on a
digital vision.
Unlike uniaxial tensile tests under isothermal
conditions, the experimental data of forming limits
were carried out under non-isothermal conditions.
The temperature history of an experimental FLD
was based on a real-time control method, as shown
in Figure 4. Thus, it is assumed that the condition
of temperature path in an experimental FLD is
quite the same as that of the real HPF
manufacturing process.
Figure 3: Tool setup for forming limit diagrams of
HPF
Figure 4: Temperature path of boron steel for
experimental FLD
Based on the condition of the specimens, circles
were rated as acceptable (not necked) in success
areas (symbol:) or questionable (or necked) in
fracture areas (symbol:+). The questionable
areas were where the determination of a necked
or no necked condition was difficult. Typically,
four to five circles or ellipses were found to
meet this requirement in any single test. These
two types of strain reading were plotted for all
specimen widths on forming limit diagrams
596
(major and minor strain space) as shown in
Figure 5. Although a full range FLD for a boron
steel due to experimental difficulties in
equibiaxial path was not determined, it is
obvious that the FLDo=0.49 (63%), defined at
the lowest point in the FLD, provides a valuable
data in a formability. However, it should be
noted that the obtained forming limit has some
limitations due to time-dependent and thickness-
dependent characteristics.
-0.3 -0.2 -0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
Minor Strain
2
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
M
a
j
o
r

S
t
r
a
i
n

1
Figure 5: Forming limit diagrams for boron steel
(sheet thickness 2.8t)
3 APPLICATIONS OF COUPLED
THERMO-MECHANICAL
ANALYSIS
For verification of coupled thermo-mechanical
simulation, a one-piece lower-arm was performed
by using the explicit dynamic FEM code, LS-
DYNA. A lower-arm was also produced with a
prototype tool for experimental comparison, as
shown in Figure 6.
Figure 6: Tool setup position of finite element
model and photograph of prototype tool
The tool has an upper die moving down, a pad
supported by cushion pin, and a fixed lower die. A
blank of 2.8mm in thickness was heated to 900
and held at that temperature for 5min to guarantee
a complete, homogenous austenitization, and then
placed on the pad after transfer time from furnace
to tool surface, i.e. about 10sec. The forming time
was about 2sec. Before the upper die moved down
to contact to the blank, the temperature of a blank
was about 780. The blank was cooled in the dies
for 15sec, after an upper die and a pad reached at
the bottom position. The tool was kept at room
temperature throughout the process.
In simulation, shell elements were used for tools
and a blank. The element size of a blank was
2mm. Thermal and mechanical contacts were
defined in contact_surface_to_surface_thermal
card, and friction coefficients were respectively
taken to be 0.4 between tools and a blank.
Figure 7 shows the temperature distribution of a
forming and cooling stage. It can be seen in a
cooling stage that a temperature started to drop
quickly, because the heat from the formed blank
dissipated quickly into the tools through the
contact interfaces as soon as the blank contacted
the tools.
F
o
r
m
i
n
g

s
t
a
g
e

C
o
o
l
i
n
g

s
t
a
g
e

Figure 7: Temperature distribution of forming and
cooling stage
Figure 8: Thinning distribution at final stage
Figure 9: Strain distrbution at final stage
597
The thinning distribution at the final state is shown
in Figure 8. It is seen that a maximum thinning
happened in a region A and B. Simulation results
well predicted experimental data as shown in
parenthesis for thinning at several positions of a
hot press formed lower-arm.
Figure 9 shows the strain distribution on a forming
limit diagrams. This means that a formability is
good beacause all strain points of distribution are
below the FLDo(=0.49) determined in Figure 5.
Therefore, it can be concluded that although the
maximum thinning as shown in Figure 8 is over
than 30% a lower-arm part can be manufactured
without any fracture using the HPF process due to
a sufficient formability.
Figure 10: One-piece lower-arm part manufactured
in HPF process and its hardness distribution
Figure 10 shows a lower-arm part manufactured in
the HPF process with prototype tool and its
hardness distribution at several sections. It is seen
that the hardness is over than 450Hv
(TS1480MPa) at almost every position as
expected from the simulation result in Figure 7.
4 CONCLUSIONS
For material data at an elevated temperature, flow
curves of a boron steel at four high temperatures
and strain rates were obtained from experiment and
other needed properties were taken from literatures.
Also, the FLDo of a boron steel with 2.8mm in
thickness was experimentally determined by
Hecker test, considering the temperature history
which is nearly similar to a real HPF
manufacturing process. To confirm the precision of
a coupled thermo-mechanical simulation of a hot
press formed part, a one-piece lower-arm was also
carried out. The simulation reasonably well
predicted the experimental data for thinning of the
hot press formed part. It appeared that an FLDo
could be used effectively to assess the formability
of boron sheet metals and document forming
processes in the press shop. The developed
simulation skill will be effectively used to look
over the formability of the hot press forming part
given from car makers.
5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to thank TaiHyo KIM at
POSCO Technical Research Laboratories and Mr.
ChunIl Park at CHASYS Technical Research
Laboratories for their many helpful suggestions.
6 REFERENCES
[1] Eriksson, M., Oldenburg, M., Somani, M.C.,
Karjalaimen, L.P.: Testing and evaluation of
material data for analysis of forming and
Modelling Simul. Mater. Sci. Eng., 15:277-
294, 2002.
[2] Bergman, G., Oldenburg, M.: Verification of
thermo-mechanical material models by thin
plate quenching simulations. J. Therm. Stress.,
20: 679-695, 1997.
[3] Merklein, M., Lechler, J.: Investigation of the
thermo-mechanical properties of hot stamping
steels. J. Mater. Proc. Tech., 177:452-455,
2006.
[4] Palaniswamy, H., Ngaile, G., Altan, T.: Finite
element simulation of magnesium alloy sheet
forming at elevated temperatures. J. Mater.
Proc. Tech., 146:52-60, 2004.
[5] Takuda, H., Mori, K., Masuda, I., Abe, Y.,
and Matsuo, M.: Finite element simulation of
warm deep drawing of aluminium alloy sheet
when accounting for heat conduction. J.
Mater. Proc. Tech., 120(1~3): 412-418, 2002.
[6] Wagoner, R.H., Latreille, S., Siles, J.L., Kim,
Y.H: Nonisothermal punch stretching:
Measurements and finite element modelling
simulations. Metall. Trans. A, 22A, 1991.
[7] Yoshihara, S., MacDonald, B.J., Nishimura,
H., Yamamoto, H, Manabe, K.: Optimisation
of magnesium alloy stamping with local
heating and cooling using the finite element
method. J. Mater. Proc. Tech., 153-154: 319-
322, 2004.
[8] Hein, P., Kefferstein, R., Dahan: Hot
stamping of USIBOR 1500P: Part and
process analysis based on numerical
simulation. In proceedings from the
International Conference New Development
in Sheet Metal Forming Technology Stuttgart,
Germany, 163-175, 2006
[9] Kobayashi, S., Oh, S.I, Altan, T.: Metal
Forming and Finite Element Method. Oxford
University Press, 225~228, 1989.
[10] Kim H.G., Son H.S., Kang S.Y., Park S.H.:
Thermal-mechanical coupled simulation on
the forming of hot press formed part. IDDRG,
2006.
599
____________________
* Corresponding author: School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, 200240,
China, +86-21-34206312, +86-21-34206312, chqf97@sjtu.edu.cn
NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF WARM STAMPING OF AZ31
MAGNESIUM ALLOY SHEET BASED ON THERMO-
MECHANICAL COUPLED METHOD
Ying-Hong PENG, Qun-Feng CHANG
*
, Da-Yong LI,
School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University,
Shanghai, 200240, China
ABSTRACT: In this study, uni-axial tension experiments of a cross-rolled AZ31 sheet are conducted
using Gleeble 3500 thermal - mechanical simulator under different temperature and strain rate conditions.
Mechanical propriety of AZ31 magnesium alloy sheet is analyzed according to the true strain-stress curves.
The flow stress-strain relation is introduced into the commercial finite element software LS-DYNA as the
material constitutive model. Then the thermo-mechanical coupled simulation of the warm stamping process
of AZ31 magnesium alloy sheets is performed with LS-DYNA. Heat conduction between stamping tools is
calculated. The deformation behaviour and the temperature change in the drawing process are investigated.
Due to the heat conduction, there is non-uniform distribution of temperature along flange area, force transfer
area and deformation area. Therefore the resistance of the force transfer area is enhanced and the warm
formability of magnesium alloy sheet can be further improved. The thermo-mechanical coupled simulation
provides a good guide for the development of non-isothermal drawing techniques.
KEYWORDS: AZ31 magnesium alloy sheet; warm stamping; numerical simulation; thermo-mechanical
coupled.
1 INTRODUCTION
Due to its high specific strength, high productivity
and low manufacturing cost, sheet metal forming
production of magnesium alloy offers great
potential for growth in the automotive and 3C
industry. Although casting is still the dominant
method in manufacturing of magnesium alloy
components, plastic forming technology of
magnesium alloys has been paid more and more
attention since forming products exhibit better
quality than casting ones
[1, 2]
.
Because of the close-packed crystal structure of
magnesium, the stamping of magnesium alloy
sheet is difficult under room temperature. The
ductility of the magnesium alloy can improve with
increase in the working temperature, which makes
warm stamping one important way to obtain good
formability for magnesium alloy sheets. In order to
find the optimal process parameters for warm
stamping of the magnesium alloy sheets, it is
necessary to study not only the mechanical
properties of magnesium alloy sheets under
different temperature but also the process
conditions during forming.
Quite a few efforts have been made to study the
warm forming of magnesium alloy sheet with
experimental and simulation method
[3, 9]
. Takuda
examined the formability of AZ31 magnesium
alloy sheet by the finite element method and the
forming limit is predicted. Doege conducted
drawing tests with magnesium alloys in
temperature range between 200~250C, and
investigated the influence of forming speed on
limit drawing ratio. Yoshihara studied the influence
of blank holder force on the forming of magnesium
alloy sheet. Palaniswamy simulated forming
processes of round cups and rectangular pans from
magnesium alloy at elevated temperatures. Zhang
conducted tests on deep drawing of magnesium
alloy sheet and obtained a limit drawing ratio up to
2.6 at 170C.
In the present paper, a non-thermal drawing
process of magnesium alloy sheet is numerical
studied by the thermo-mechanical finite element
method. Temperature and stress distribution in the
drawing process are investigated and the influence
of heat conduction on formability improvement of
warm drawing is discussed.
600
2 MECHANICAL PROPRIETY
Uniaxial tensile tests are performed to obtain the
mechanical properties of magnesium alloy sheet at
widely range of strain rates and temperatures. The
processing parameters of uniaxial tensile tests are
listed in Tab. 1.
Table 1: Processing parameters of uniaxial tensile
tests
Strain rate (S
-1
)
0.002, 0.02 0.22
Drawing temperature ()
RT,100,150,200,250
Sample length (mm) 15
Sample width (mm) 10
Sample thickness (mm) 0.6
Elongations under various test temperatures at the
strain rate of 0.02 ) (
1
s are shown in Fig. 1. It is
found in Fig. 1 that the elongation is 18% at room
temperature, and obviously increases as the test
temperature increases. When the temperature is
above 200, the elongation is higher than 50%,
and it reach 100% at the temperature of 400. It is
evident that the magnesium alloy sheet shows good
ductility when the temperature is above 200.
Figure 1: Elongation at various temperatures
The true stress-strain curves corresponding to
different temperatures and strain rates obtained
from the tensile tests are shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 2 (a)
shows the influence of strain rates on the flow
stress at the temperature of 200 . It is
demonstrated that the ductility of AZ31
magnesium alloy sheet rises significantly with the
decrease of strain rate, exhibiting obvious strain
rate sensitivity. Fig. 2 (b) shows the influence of
test temperatures on the flow stress at the strain
rate of 0.02 ) (
1
s . It can be seen that the yield
stress and tensile strength are sharply decrease as
the test temperature increases. When the
temperature is above 250 , due to dynamic
recovery, no obvious work hardening is observed.
Figure 2: True stress-strain curves under different
processing parameters
(a) T=200 (b)
2
10 2

-
= c
3 FINITE ELEMENT MODEL OF
THERMAL-MECHANICAL
SEQUENCE COUPLED
The function of temperature field can be expressed
by ) , , ( t Z R T in cylindrical coordinates. The
differential equation of transient heat conduction
can be expressed as:
t
T
c q
Z
T
R
T
R R
T
c
c
= +
c
c
+
c
c
+
c
c
)
1
(
2
2
2
2
(1)
Where is the thermal conductivity, T is the
temperature, c is the specific heat, is the
density,
-
q is the heat generation rate.
601
The boundary condition of heat transfer can be
described as:
0 ) ( ) ( = +
c
c
+
c
c
o
o T T l
Z
T
l
R
T
Z R
(2)
Where:
R
l and
Z
l are the direction cosines of the
boundary, o is the heat transfer coefficient,
o
T is
the temperature of tools.
Applying Galerkins method to equation (1), the
finite element model can be described as:
0 } { } ]{ [ } ]{ [ = +
c
c
+ Q
t
T
C T K (3)
Where:
}
c
c
+
c
c
c
c
=
V
dV
Z
N
R
N
R
R R
K )
} {
)
} {
(
1
( ] [
2
2
}
c
c
=
V
T
dV
t
N
c N C
} {
} { ] [
}
-
=
V
T
dV q N Q } { } {
and N is the shape function.
Discreted the time domain by finite difference
method, } {
1 + n
T which is the temperature field at
t T
n
A + can be obtained according the following
difference equation:
t
T
t T T
n
n n
c
c
A + =
+1
(4)
4 THERMO-MECHANICAL
NUMERICAL SIMULATION
Numerical simulation is performed using the
commercial explicit finite element code LS-Dyna.
Due to the symmetry, only one quarter of the
tooling and part are modeled. Fig.3 shows the
drawing process model. Tab. 2 lists the material
parameters and corresponding dimensions of
model. The blank is assumed as a deformed body.
The material constitutive relation curves obtained
from the above tensile tests are used into this
simulation.
The punch, die, blank holder are assumed as rigid
bodies. The initial temperature of blank, blank
holder, and die is set as 200 . The temperature of
punch is assumed to be room temperature. The full
size finite element model used approximately 2665
shell elements and 2989 nodes.
In general, solid elements are widely used when
accounting thermal-mechanical coupled. However,
due to the low efficiency of solid elements, it adds
problems when using in simulation of sheet metal
forming. Shell elements are more effectively in the
simulation of sheet metal forming. The geometric
model of B-T shell element is shown in fig. 4.
However, the shell element has not temperature
freedom. Temperature freedoms are introduced to
every node of shell elements by developing users
material subroutine.
The field of temperature is scalar field, and there is
only one parameter. So the calculating of
temperature field and deformed field can adopt the
same mesh and element. In the thermal-mechanical
coupled sequence analysis, the calculating of
velocity field and temperature field are regarded as
two subsystem. In every loading step, coupling
only affect the thermal load array, and the other
array keep invariable.
Figure 3: Model for FE of deep drawing
Figure 4: Geometric model of B-T shell element
Table 2: Processing parameters of uniaxial tensile
tests
Punch diameter (mm) 53.5
Die diameter (mm) 50
Sheet thickness (mm) 0.8
Density, (g/cm
3
) 1.74
Heat transfer coefficient
(W/m K)
96
Specific Heat (J/Kg K) 1000
Linear expansion coefficient
(m/m K)
23.6E-06
602
5 RESULT ANALYZE
The simulation results of temperature field at
different punch stroke are shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 6
shows the distribution curves of temperature field
along symmetry axial (Punch stroke52 mm). The
temperature at the round corner of die is always
highest, and the lowest temperature appears at the
bottom of the cylinder. Due to good heat
conductivity (the heat conductivity of AZ31
magnesium alloy sheet (96 W/m K) is about four
times of tool steel (24.3 W/m K)), the heat
conduction is fast. It also can be seen that the
temperature difference of whole part increases with
the increase of punch stroke. When the punch
stroke reaches 25 mm, 36 mm and 52 mm, the
temperature difference is 15, 35 and 45
respectively. Because only single deep drawing
process is considered in this simulation, the
temperature of punch is higher than room
temperature practically for heat conductivity; the
temperature difference of the whole part can be
further decreased.
(a) Distribution of temperature field at punch stroke
of 25 mm
(b) Distribution of temperature field at punch stroke
of 36 mm
(c) Distribution of temperature field at punch stroke
of 52 mm
Figure 5: Distribution of temperature field along at
different punch strok
1. 95E+02
2. 00E+02
2. 05E+02
2. 10E+02
2. 15E+02
2. 20E+02
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
Initial radial position along symmetry axial
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e
Figure 6: Distribution curves of temperature field
along symmetry axial (Punch stroke : 52 mm)
In the process of warm deep drawing, forming
temperature has dual roles. On one side, the ability
of strain hardening obviously decreases as the yield
strength decrease with the increase of drawing
temperature. The decrease of deformation
resistance is helpful to the forming in the flange
area under small punch load. On the other hand, the
ratio of yield strength to fracture strength
(
b s
/ ) decreases with the increase of
temperature, then the wall of the cup is more prone
to fracture due to deformation localization. If there
is no temperature difference between deformation
area and force transfer area, the yield-facture
strength ratios in these two areas is almost same,
which hinders further improvement of drawablility.
By using a cool punch, non-uniform temperature
distribution exists along flange area, force transfer
area and deformation area due to heat conduction.
Therefore, the resistance in transfer force area can
be increased and higher drawability can be
obtained.
603
6 CONCLUSIONS
The main conclusions drawn from this study are
summarized as follows.
1. The temperature at the round corner of die is
always highest, and the lowest temperature
appears at the bottom of the cylinder
2. The non-isothermal drawing can further
improve the warm formability of magnesium
alloy sheet through non-uniform distribution
of temperature in different material area;
3. The thermo-mechanical coupled FEM
simulation provides a good guide to develop
non-isothermal drawing techniques for
magnesium alloy sheet.
7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to acknowledge the
financial support of he National 973 Project of
PRC (No. 2006CB708600) and the National High-
tech 863 Project of PRC (20002AA331120).
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[1] Friedrich H., Schumann S.: Research for a
new age of magnesium in the automobile
industry. Journal of Materials Processing
Technology, 117: 276-281, 2001.
[2] Aghion E., Bronfin B.: Magnesium alloys
development toward the 21st century.
Materials Science Forum, 22:1928, 2000.
[3] Yoshihara S., MacDonald B.J., Nishimura H.,
Yamamoto H., Manabe K.: Optimization of
magnesium wrought alloy stamping with local
heating and cooling using the finite element
method. Journal of Materials Processing
Technology, 153-154: 319-322, 2004.
[4] Yoshihara S., Yamamoto H., Manabe K.,
Nishimura H.: Formability enhancement in
magnesium alloy stamping using a local
heating and cooling technique: circular cup
deep drawing process. Journal of Materials
Processing Technology, 142: 609-613, 2003.
[5] Doege E., Droder K.: Sheet metal forming of
magnesium wrought alloys-formability and
process technology. Journal of Materials
Processing Technology, 115:1419, 2001.
[6] Takuda H., Mori K., Masuda I.: Finite
element simulation of warm drawing of
aluminium alloy sheet when accounting for
heat conduction. Journal of Materials
[7] Xing H.L., Makinouchi A.: FE modeling of
thermo-elasto-plastic finite deformation and
its application in sheet warm forming.
Engineering Computations, 19(4): 392-410,
2002.
[8] Palaniswamy H., Ngaile G., Altan T.: Finite
forming at elevated temperatures. Journal of
Materials Processing Technology, 146: 52-60,
2004,.
[9] Zhang S. H., Zheng W. T., Xu Y. C.: Finite
element analysis on warm hydroforming of
rectangular Mg alloy cups with a step cavity.
In: Numisheet 2005, 630-634, 2005.
605
____________________
* Corresponding author: School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University, 599 Gwanangno,
Gwanak-gu, Seoul, 151-744, Korea, +82-2-880-7151, +82-2-872-0236, sioh@snu.ac.kr

NON-ISOTHERMAL SIMULATION OF WARM CIRCULR CUP
DEEP DRAWING PROCESS FOR AZ31 MAGNESIUM ALLOY
SHEET

Myeong Han Lee
1
, Heon Young Kim
2
, Heung Kyu Kim
3
, Soo Ik Oh
4*

1
Graduate School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University,
599 Gwanangno, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, 151-744, Korea
2
Division of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, Kangwon National University,
192-1, Hyoja-dong, Chuncheon-city, Gangwon-do, 200-701, Korea
3
Precision Dies and Molds Team, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, 7-47, Songdo-
dong, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, 406-840, Korea
4
School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University, 599
Gwanangno, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, 151-744, Korea

ABSTRACT: Due to their low density, high specific strength, and electromagnetic interference shielding
properties, magnesium alloy sheets are being increasingly used in the automotive and electronics industries.
However, magnesium alloy sheets are usually formed at an elevated temperature due to their poor
formability at room temperatures. For supporting this growing industrial use of magnesium alloy sheets,
better understanding of the mechanical properties at the elevated temperatures and appropriate forming
process conditions need to be developed. In this study, the warm deep drawing process of AZ31 sheets is
investigated via non-isothermal simulations as well as being tested experimentally. The difference between
the isothermal and non-isothermal simulation results and the progress of warm forming is also discussed.
The drawn depth and thickness distributions obtained from the non-isothermal simulations are used to verify
the experimental results. The effect of the tool shoulder radius and the punch velocity on the drawn depth is
verified by using the simulation conditions which agreed with the experimental results.
KEYWORDS: AZ31 magnesium alloy sheets, deep drawing, non-isothermal simulation, warm forming

1 INTRODUCTION
The development of lightweight materials is an
important issue in the automotive, aerospace, and
electronic industries. The product weight can be
effectively reduced by using lightweight materials
such as magnesium alloys, which have excellent
mechanical properties; these include low density,
high specific strength, and good electromagnetic
interference shielding capability. The dominant
technique in manufacturing magnesium alloy
components is by die-casting [1, 2], however, the
parts have limited mechanical properties for
example; endurance strength, ductility, and limited
thin-walled casting. The sheet forming process is
an alternative process for magnesium alloys, which
produces good mechanical properties and a fine-
grained microstructure. However, sheet forming of
magnesium alloys is restricted by the crystalline
structure.
The crystal structure of magnesium alloy is
hexagonal closed-packed, which limits any
deformation at room temperatures. Therefore,
magnesium alloys show limited formability at
room temperature. In general, the formability of
magnesium alloys is effectively improved by
increasing the temperature with the activation of
non-basal slip systems and twinning.
Most previous studies have investigated the
formability of magnesium alloy sheets with square
or circular deep drawing, and several papers on the
warm forming of magnesium alloy sheets have
indicated that the formability of magnesium alloys
was significantly improved at temperatures up to
approximately 200 C [3-8]. Several research
papers have conducted FE simulations for the
warm forming of magnesium alloy sheets using
606
isothermal conditions with PAM-STAMP or using
non-isothermal conditions with DEFORM, MARC,
LS-Dyna and ABAQUS/standard [9-14]. The
isothermal conditions simulation used one flow
stress curve at particular temperature, and had no
regard for the heat transfer effects. The non-
isothermal condition simulations used flow stress
curves at various temperatures, and took account of
the heat transfer effects between the tools and the
blank.
For the improvement of warm deep drawability, a
cooled punch was used; because there is heat
gradient in the blank, it is necessary to consider
heat transfer effects in the simulation studies.
However, few papers have been published focusing
on FE simulations for warm forming of magnesium
alloy sheets using non-isothermal conditions.
In this study, the warm deep drawing processing of
magnesium alloy sheets was carried out
numerically by non-isothermal simulations and in
order to verify the warm forming process, warm
circular cup deep drawing experiments were
conducted. In the FE simulations, the difference
between the isothermal and non-isothermal
simulation results and the progress of warm
forming are also discussed. The thickness
distribution and major strain distribution in the
sheet obtained in the non-isothermal FE simulation
results were compared with the experiments. The
effect of the tool shoulder radius and the punch
velocity on the drawn depth was verified by using a
simulation conditions which agreed with the
experimental results.

2 EXPERIMENTS AND
SIMULATIONS FOR CIRCULAR
CUP DEEP DRAWING
2.1 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES
A preliminary experiment on the warm deep
drawing process of AZ31 was performed on a
servo press using a set of circular section tools. The
magnesium alloy AZ31 sheet with a thickness of
0.8 mm was used. The Warm deep drawing tests
were performed by heating the die and the blank
holder with a cooled punch. The circular cup deep
drawing at various temperatures, ranging from
room temperature to 200 C, was performed using
the schematic diagram of the equipment designed
and adopted on the servo press as shown in Figure
1. The main tool dimensions were as follows;
punch diameter of 40 mm, shoulder radius of 6.25
mm, and die hole diameter of 41.92 mm.
The electric heating cartridges were distributed
axial symmetrically, inside the die and the blank
holder, to heat the blank. The internal channels
were used for water cooling inside the 40 mm
punch. The punch speed and temperature were
approximately 5 mm/sec and 15 C, respectively.
The blank holding forces varied from 5 to 6.8 kN
and graphite powder was used as the lubricant. The
blanks used in the deep drawing tests were rolled
magnesium alloy AZ31 sheets with an initial
diameter of 100 mm.

Table 1: Simulation parameters
Thermal properties
Thermal conductivity (sheet) 96 W/m
Heat capacity (sheet) 1000 J/kg
Interface heat transfer coefficient 4000 W/
Temperature
Blank at initial state 25
Punch 15
Die and blank holder R.T~200
Stamping conditions
Punch velocity 5 mm/sec
Punch stroke 40 mm
Blank holding force 5~6.8 kN
Friction coefficient 0.1
Initial blank diameters 100 mm

Figure 1: Schematic diagram of the equipment for
circular cup drawings

Figure 2: Simulation model of the circular cup deep
drawing

2.2 SIMULATION STUDIES
The commercial FEM code PAM-STAMP (version
2007.0.1) was employed to simulate the deep
drawing process in this study. Only a quarter of the
geometries were modeled due to their symmetric
boundary conditions, as shown in Figure 2. The
tools were treated as rigid bodies with isothermal
condition. The 4-node shell element was adopted to
construct the mesh for the blank. The flow stress of
607
the AZ31 sheet was obtained from a previous study
[14] but this study did not consider heat convection,
material anisotropy, or strain rate effect. The input
parameters used in the simulation studies are
shown in Table 1.
The warm forming simulations for PAM-STAMP
had the following inputs: thermal contact thickness
and velocity scale factor (VELSCF). The thermal
contact thickness indicates the distance from the
contact face, and the VELSCF controlled the
simulation time step for the heat transfer. The
thermal contact thickness of five times the blank
thickness, and the VELSCF of 0.001 were derived
from many simulations.

2.3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
The experimental and simulation relationships
between the forming temperature and the drawn
depth are shown in Figure 3, indicating that the
drawn depth increased with increasing temperature.
The circular cup deep drawing experimental results
are shown in Figure 4. To restrict the wrinkling of
the blank, the blank holding force was increased. In
Figure 4, however, wrinkling was observed, as the
deep drawing experimental setup did not have
sufficient blank holding force.

Figure 3: Experimental and simulation relationships
between forming temperature and the drawn depth

The simulation drawn depth of the circular cup
deep drawing is shown in Figure 3. The study
assumed that the blank would rupture when the
thinning ratio exceeded 25 % [10, 16]. The blank
diamond, , indicates the isothermal condition
simulation results using a flow stress curve at each
temperature. Figure 3 indicates that the drawn
depth increased with increasing temperature in
both the simulation and the experimental studies.
There is a considerable discrepancy of the drawn
depth, between the non-isothermal and isothermal
condition simulations, at a tool temperature of
200 C. The drawn depth of the non-isothermal
simulation was 40 mm, and the cup wall was
cooled by the punch. The blank can be more easily
drawn at a high-temperature than a low-
temperature condition as the flow stress increases
with decreasing temperature. Alternatively, the
drawn depth of the isothermal simulation was
approximately 12 mm because the flow stress at
high temperature was lower.

150 , 15 mm depth 200 , 40 mm depth
Figure 4: Circular cups formed at various
temperatures

Figure 5: Experimental and simulations for the
drawn shape the circular cup at 200 C

simulation thickness distribution at 200 C

Experiment Simulation
simulation major strain contours at 200 C
Figures 5 and 6 show the drawn shapes and
thickness distribution obtained from the experiment
and simulation at 200 C, respectively, where it can
608
be seen that the simulation thickness distribution
agrees well with the experimental results.
Maximum thinning was observed at the cup wall,
where the strength was not uniform. The
temperature was lower at the punch corner and
increased towards the die corner. Therefore,
compared with the punch corner, the higher
temperature at the cup wall induced low flow stress,
which caused thinning at the cup wall.
The experimental major strain contour resembled
the simulation of the drawing depth of 40 mm at
200 C as shown in Figure 7. The discrepancy
between the experimental and simulation results is
felt to be due to the different grid sizes used, and
there was no wrinkling observed in the simulation
results.
Although this study did not consider heat
convection, material anisotropy, or strain rate
effects, the non-isothermal simulation results
agreed well with the experimental results.
Henceforth for the simulation processes we used
the conditions defined by these simulations.

3 SIMULATIONS FOR THE TOOL
SHOULDER RADIUS
3.1 FE MODEL
The formability of materials is affected by many
forming process conditions, such as tool shoulder
radius, friction, blank holding force, and tool
temperatures. The primary factors affecting the
formability of magnesium alloy sheets are the
blank holding force and the tool temperatures [15].
In this study, simulations focusing on the effect of
the tool temperature and tool shoulder radius on the
formability have been conducted; in addition, the
simulation of the effect of the punch velocity on
the formability was also considered.
Different tool shoulder radius conditions were
adopted in the FE simulations, according to Table 2.
The punch temperature was set at 15 C, and other
tool temperatures were set at various levels, from
room temperature to 200 C. The simulation input
parameters are shown in Table 1.

Table 2: Tool shoulder radius (R
D
is die shoulder
radius and R
P
is punch shoulder radius)
CASE 1 CASE 2 CASE 3
R
D
R
P
R
D
R
P
R
D
R
P

2.0 2.0
6.25
2.0 2.0
6.25
4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0
6.25 6.25 6.25 6.25
8.0 8.0 8.0 8.0
10.0 10.0 10.0 10.0

The punch velocity conditions, such as 5, 10, 15,
and 20 mm/sec were adopted in the FE simulations.
Others simulation parameters were as follows;
punch temperature of 15 C, die and holder
temperature of 200 C, friction of 0.1, and tool
shoulder radius of 6.25 mm.

(a) CASE 1; R
D
= R
P

(b) CASE 2; constant R
D
= 6.25 mm

(c) CASE 3; constant R
P
= 6.25 mm
Figure 8: Effect of tool shoulder radius on
formability at various temperatures

3.2 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
The effects of the tool temperature and tool
shoulder radius on the formability obtained from
the simulations for CASE 1, 2, and 3 are shown in
Figure 8. In all cases, the drawn depth increased
with increases in the die and blank holder
temperature; it also increased with increasing tool
shoulder radius. In the case of the constant die
609
shoulder radius (R
D
), the punch shoulder radius (R
P
)
of 4 mm draws 40 mm at a temperature of 200 C.
The drawn depth, below the temperature of 150 C,
showed little effect of the R
P
on the drawn depth.
The effect of the punch velocity on the formability
obtained from simulations is shown in Figure 9
where it can be seen that the drawn depth increases
with increases in the tool shoulder radius at high
punch velocities.
From these results it is implied that the formability
is dependent on, not only the tool shoulder radius,
but also various process parameters such as the tool
temperature and the punch velocity.

Figure 9: Effect of punch velocity on the formability

4 CONCLUSIONS
To evaluate the formability of the magnesium alloy
sheet AZ31 studies have been carried out using
both experimental and numerical modelling
approaches. Warm circular cup deep drawing
studies have indicated that the drawn depth
increases with increases in the temperature. A
discrepancy between the drawn depth of the non-
isothermal and isothermal conditions was observed
in the simulation results and this is felt to be due to
heat transfer effects. The drawn depth obtained
from non-isothermal simulations agreed with the
experimental results, and the non-isothermal
simulation thickness distributions also agreed with
the experimental results. In the simulation studies
to investigate the effect of the tool shoulder radius
on the drawn depth, the drawn depth was found to
increase with increase in the die and blank holder
temperatures; it also increased with increases in the
tool shoulder radius. The drawn depth increased
with increases in the tool shoulder radius at high
punch velocities.
The results of these studies indicate a necessity for
considering heat transfer for the warm deep
drawing simulations, and that the formability is
dependent on, not only the tool shoulder radius, but
also various process parameters such as tool
temperatures and punch velocity.
Future work will focus on determining the process
conditions of warm deep drawing, such as friction
between the tool and blank, and tool temperature
using non-isothermal simulations.

5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We would like to thank the Korea Institute of
Industrial Technology for providing financial
support for this work. Additionally, the authors are
grateful to Mr. Choi in Kangwon Natl Univ. for
his assistance during the research presented here.

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[4] Doege E., Kurz G.: Development of a
formulation to describe the work softening
behaviour of magnesium sheets for heated
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Manufacturing Technology, 50(1):177-180,
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stamping magnesium-alloy AZ31 sheets.
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Kainer K. U.: Tensile properties of hot rolled
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[8] Kohzu M., Yoshida F., Somekawa H.,
Yoshikawa M., Tanabe S., Higashi K.:
Fracture mechanism and forming limit in
deep-drawing of magnesium alloy AZ31.
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drawing of square cups with magnesium alloy
AZ31 sheets. International Journal of Machine
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[11] El-Morsy A.-W., Manabe K-I.: Finite element
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Q.: Experimental and numerical study of
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mechanical coupled simulation of warm
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N., Choi S. W., Lee J. H.: Experimental and
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188:103-107, 2007.
[14] Lee M. H., Kim H. Y., Kim H. K., Kim G. D.,
Oh S. I.: Non-isothermal simulation of warm
circular cup deep drawing processing of an
AZ31 magnesium alloy sheet. Materials
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[15] Yoshihara S., Nishimura H., Yamamoto H.,
Manabe K.-I.: Formability enhancement in
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deep drawing process. Journal of Materials
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611
____________________
* Corresponding author: Egerlandstr. 11, 91058 Erlangen, phone: +49 9131-8528341, fax: +49 9131-930142, email
address: d.staud@lft.uni-erlangen.de

FORMABILITY IMPROVEMENT WITH TAILORED HEAT
TREATED BLANKS THROUGH AN INVERSE SIMULATION
APPROACH

D. Staud
1*
, M. Merklein
2

1
Chair of Manufacturing Technology, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen,
Germany
2
Chair of Manufacturing Technology, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen,
Germany

ABSTRACT: While in industries lightweight construction gain an increasingly significant role and as
weight reduction is often done with aluminum sheets, advanced production technologies have to be
developed to be competitive for this evolution. Since steel sheet metal parts cannot be substituted directly
with aluminum due to its minor formability, the usage of so called Tailored Heat Treated Blanks (THTB) is
presented in this work. THTB are locally heat treated aluminum blanks from the 6000-series alloy which
exhibit a specific strength pattern optimized to the forming operation leading to a significantly improved
formability for the manufacturing of complex aluminum car body parts. The enhancement of the formability
is reached by a local heat treatment before the forming process. Due to the strong interdependency of heat
treatment and forming operation, a numerical investigation of the process sequence is a prerequisite for a
cost-effective usage of the THTB. An inverse approach on basis of a finite element simulation enables the
determination of process parameters for an optimized THTB, thus having an effective and efficient
engineering method for this technology. The presented inverse approach considers first the desired forming
result and enables the precise determination of heat treatment areas including the specific heat treatment
temperatures. In order to verify the numerical solved appropriate strength pattern, experimental test results
of THTB are conducted and presented in this work. For this, components are locally heat treated, drawn and
afterwards characterized doing tensile tests, hardness measurements and measurement of components
geometry and sheet thickness distribution. The results are presented and discussed.
KEYWORDS: finite element simulation, parameter identification, aluminium

1 INTRODUCTION
Because of environmental reasons and higher
security standards a permanent demand for less
energy consumption and safer vehicles has led to
light-weight constructions and light-weight
materials in wide areas of the automotive industry.
While sheet metal forming of aluminum differs
considerably from that of drawing steels, a
substitution of the materials is not possible in
general. The lower forming behavior of aluminum
alloys is well founded in the material properties.
Especially smaller values for the uniform
elongation (< 30%) and the vertical anisotropy
(< 1) limit the attainable forming result.
An optimization of the whole sheet metal
manufacturing process (e.g. tooling, surface
coatings and joining techniques) is also a
prerequisite for weight reduction in body-in-white
construction. One approach in this field is the so
called Tailored Heat Treated Blanks (THTB)
technology. This technique enhances the drawing
process window by reduction of wrinkles and the
risk of fractures within the part and enables the
production of complex aluminum sheet metal parts
[1]. The THTB process sequence consists of a local
sheet heat treatment, lowering the initial yield
stress of the aluminum alloy. This altered material
condition is preserved for about six hours and in
this time-frame a cold forming operation has to be
carried out. The usage of precipitation hardenable
aluminum alloys from the AA6xxx-series gives the
possibility to apply a specific strength pattern
which is adapted to the forming operation. For the
purpose of the local heating process, different heat
612
sources can be used, e.g. a Nd:YAG-Laser [2] or
heat conduction [3].

2 INVERSE APPROACH
In former papers [4, 5] the authors have presented
the simulation based inverse approach to the
process design of the THTB technology. Therefore
in the following section a short introduction to the
simulation model is given. The simplest case of a
local heat treatment would be within the later
deformation area of the aluminum sheet, where a
loading decrement in the force transferring zone of
the drawing part is obtained. An enhanced process
design considers additionally the later force
transferring areas. While failure can occur in areas
with a lowered strength, an improvement to the
process design of THTB is therefore an element
(FE) simulation based identification of feasible
heat treatment areas and respective heating process
parameters. Because of interdependency between
heat treatment and forming operation, an inverse
approach to the process design improves reliability
and efficiency of the simulation of the process
sequence. Within the inverse approach the process
parameters and a prediction of the feasibility of a
THTB forming process can be done in one step. In
Figure 1 the basic principle of the inverse approach
to the forming simulation of THTB is illustrated.

Figure 1: Principle of the inverse approach to the
process design of THTB - within the forming
simulation the temperatures for the heat treatment
are determined [4]

In order to get the information how the mechanical
properties have to be arranged for a drawable part,
first the forming operation is considered. The
information about a feasible strength pattern gives
also the distribution of the maximum temperatures,
which have to be applied by the heat treatment. It is
important to emphasize, that the maximum
temperatures are correlated to the final mechanical
properties before the forming process. This has
been already investigated in previous works [2].
After determining the maximum temperature
distribution, the input parameters for the heat
treatment are identified by simulation based
optimization since the desired maximum
temperature distribution is provided by the
preceding FE analysis of the forming process. In
turn, as a laser irradiates the material in the
investigations, those input parameters are namely
the feed rate and the laser power. In order to verify
the inverse approach a forward simulation of the
process sequence heat treatment and forming is
conducted.

3 LOCAL HEAT TREATMENT
In this chapter the results of the heat treatment
concerning the maximum target temperatures,
calculated with the homogenous loading capacity
strategy [4 ,5], the actual maximum temperatures
from the optimization procedure and experimental
measured temperatures are presented. In order to
evaluate the determined heat treatment layout a
heating facility for THTB was build up. As a heat
source a Nd:YAG-laser with a maximum power of
4 kW was utilized. The beam guide of the
Nd:YAG-laser was mounted on an industrial robot,
acting above the sheet. For the purpose of process
control during the heat treatment, a pyrometer was
guided by a second industrial robot. While acting
below the sheet, a measurement of the current
temperature at the actual laser spot position is
possible. Also this configuration minimizes
scattered radiation of the laser onto the pyrometer
and should provide more accurate temperature
results. All process parameters concerning the heat
treatment were set up according to the proposed
values derived from the heat transfer analysis
within the simulation [4]. In detail, one so called
border path and eight so called user paths, where
the laser spot centre moves along the sheet during
the heat treatment, are implemented. While the
optimization procedure does not deliver the laser
heat treatment paths themselves, the user has to
provide the paths within the simulation.
In Figure 2 the maximum temperatures along the
border laser path are illustrated. Since the
measured values are on a time based scale and the
simulation derived temperatures are taken within
the finite elements along the paths, a so called
normalized distance was introduced. The
normalization neglects the laser feed rate, but
enables a comparison of the calculated target
temperatures. In Figure 2 a good agreement of all
illustrated temperatures is observed. In particular
the actual temperatures fit well to the target
temperature of 400 C. In addition the measured
temperatures, which represent an average value of
four measurements of different experiment runs,
correspond well to the values of the simulations in
the first half of the path from 0 to 0.5 of the
normalized distance.
While the drawing experiments have shown
possible cracks due to the heat treatment in the area
at 0 and 0.5 normalized path distance, the laser was
613
powered off during the experimental heat treatment
in this area.

Figure 2: Target, actual and measured
temperatures along the border laser path

This circumstance is reflected by the temperature
decrease at the mentioned positions. In the second
half of the border path higher measured
temperatures occur, which result from an
insufficient feed rate increase of the laser.
Therefore in future experiments an adaptation of
the feed rate in conjunction with the heat transfer
analysis of the optimization simulation procedure
is necessary, to compensate the mismatch of
simulation and experiment.
In the next Figure 3, in relation to the previous
border path temperatures, the results of all eight
user paths are shown. As already mentioned a
normalized distance for the developing
temperatures along the path is introduced. In the
case of the user paths a consolidation of the eight
paths to one diagram is carried out. This method
neglects the robot movement time within the
experimental derived values from one path to the
next one, but an estimation of the maximum
reached temperatures is possible. In contrast to the
previously shown temperatures at the border path,
the temperatures of the user paths are not in a good
agreement. The target temperatures are in a range
from 200 C up to 250 C for most of the target
temperatures paths. While the actual temperatures,
derived from optimization simulation procedure,
gives values at starting at mostly about 300 C and
ending at about 400 C, a higher material softening
is indicated in the heat affected zone around this
user paths. In the case of the local heat treatment
the shown temperature distribution is evaluated
later on with the deep drawing of the locally heat
treated parts both for simulation and experiment.
Concerning the optimization procedure, a under
weighting exits within the user path affected sheet
areas compared with border laser path areas. The
reason for this are the lower element numbers and
should be balanced with a modified error target
function in future works by the introduction of
local and global optimization targets.

Figure 3: Target, actual and measured
temperatures along the user laser paths

Particularly the measured temperatures of the blank
heat treatment are lower than the proposed
simulation results. Since the robot moves from one
user path to the next one, there is a temperature
shift recognizable. Also it should be noticed, that
the pyrometer can not detect temperatures below
100 C because of its measurement range from
100 C and 700 C. But the maximum temperature
peaks are sufficient enough to evaluate the
experimental heat treatment in comparison the
simulated values. Compared to the simulations,
those lower temperatures within the user paths lead
to less material softening due to the heat treatment
and a disadvantageous material flow is expected in
the user path sheet area.

4 FORMING PROCESS
The following section discusses the deep drawing
process of a local heat treated cross part. The
increase of the possible drawing depth from 20 mm
to 45 mm with respect to a blankholder force of
30 kN within the experiment is reported in [4]. As
blank material the AA6016PX in a thickness of
1 mm was utilized. The conducted experiments
have shown unlike the proposed simulation results,
a drawing depth of 45 mm which was reached with
application of the local heat treatment within the
experiment. Therefore the presented simulations
deal with the experiments drawing depth of
45 mm. In order to evaluate the heat treatment, the
sheet thickness after the forming indicates the
formability achievement of the THTB technology
(Figure 4).
Especially the critical outer edges of the cross part
show up thinning due to the forming operation.
This is marked in Figure 4 with the respective
614
thickness values at the punch edge radius. Also the
thickening due the material draw-in is marked at
the die edge radius.

Figure 4: Contour sheet thickness plot

Compared with the conventional material
properties simulated parts, the simulated THTB are
exposed to less thinning. Both the theoretical target
heat treatment layout and the calculated heat
treatment layout show up especially in the flange
area higher thickness values. This is founded by the
enhanced material flow which is achieved through
the local heat treatment process. In order to get an
impression of the thickness distribution of the
drawn part within the experiment, the optical
measurement system ATOS (GOM company,
Braunschweig, Germany) was utilized. The
determination of the parts inner and outer surface
contour gives with this technique the possibility to
measure the thickness for the whole part. The
thickness values obtained from this procedure are
in a good agreement to the simulation results for
wide areas of the cross part. But especially the
marked area at the punch edge radius shows up
higher thinning. This agrees with the minor
reachable drawing depth in the experiment,
because failure is initiated there.
In particular the proposed thickness values at the
critical corner sections are focused in Figure 5,
where the experimental values from section 1 are
in a good agreement to the simulated values. As
already mentioned at the contour plots, the most
excessive thinning occur in section 2 within the
experimental thickness values. This is founded by
the different temperature distribution within the
user paths and proves the necessity of adapted
material properties within the force transferring
areas.

Figure 5: Sheet thickness along critical sections

Also a different draw-in behavior is recognizable
within the projection of the two sections. A closer
look onto the draw-in of the sheets will be taken in
future works.

5 CONCLUSIONS
In this work an inverse approach to the process
design of THTB was investigated by means of the
comparison of significant process results. In
particular temperatures and thickness values,
estimated in the simulation, were compared to
experimental measurements.

6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
These investigations are supported by the German
Research Foundation (DFG) within the project
CRC 396 B4 Robust, shortened process sequences
for lightweight sheet parts.

7 REFERENCES

[1] Kerausch, M.: Simulationsgesttzte
Prozessauslegung fr das Umformen lokal
wrmebehandelter Aluminiumplatinen.
Bamberg: Meisenbach, 2007
[2] Geiger, M.; Merklein, M.; Kerausch, M.:
Finite Element Simulation of Deep Drawing
of Tailored Heat Treated Blanks. Annals of
the CIRP Vol. 53 (2004) 1, 223-226
[3] Hogg, M.: Herstellung und Umformung lokal
wrmebehandelter Platinen. Dissertation
Universitt Stuttgart, 2006
[4] Geiger, M.; Merklein, M.; Staud, D.;
Kaupper, M.: An inverse approach to the
numerical design of the process sequence of
tailored heat treated blanks. In: WGP (Hrsg.):
Production Engineering. Annals of the
German Academic Society for Production
Engineering 2 (2007) 1, 15-20
[5] Staud, D.; Merklein, M.: Inverse Approach to
the Forming Simulation of Tailored Heat
Treated Blanks. In: International Journal of
Material Forming. Springer Paris, DOI
10.1007/s12289-008-0050-z
615
____________________
* Corresponding author: David Lorenz, DYNAmore GmbH, Industriestrae 2, D-70565 Stuttgart, Germany,
david.lorenz@dynamore.de, Fax: +49 711 459600 29
RECENT ADVANCES AND NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN
HOT FORMING SIMULATION WITH LS-DYNA
D. Lorenz
*
, A. Haufe
DYNAmore GmbH, Industriestrasse 2, D-70565, Germany
ABSTRACT: The analysis and optimization of hotforming processes necessitates the use of thermal-
mechanical coupled finite element simulations. One of the key issues in process simulation is the choice of
an appropriate modelling approach for the tools. Splitting the process into the two fundamental partial stages
forming and cooling is an efficient way to set up a simulation model. The forming stage needs the tool
surface discretized with a rather fine shell mesh to meet typical geometric accuracy requirements. The
quenching stage furthermore requires a 3-dimensional volume mesh to account for the heat dissipation into
the tools. Model size and meshing effort both can be considerably reduced if the volume mesh is generated
independently of the geometric accuracy requirements for the surface representation. Thermal contact
options in LS-DYNA are then used to connect the fine surface shell mesh and the volume mesh to enable an
accurate prediction of the contact situation and moreover the calculations of the 3-dimensional heat flow into
the tool. A recent development is a simplified 1D-fluid flow calculation in the thermal solver to consider
cooling passages in the tools. This feature enables thermal tool analysis after a sequence of several
production cycles.
KEYWORDS: hotforming, thermal-mechanical coupling, process modeling, thermal analysis
1 INTRODUCTION
Within the current political debate on climate
protection lightweight design gains more
importance in the automotive industry. Hotforming
and quenching of heat-treatable steels is an
effective way to improve the component strength
of structural parts and thereby reduce the weight of
the car body. In contrast to conventional sheet
metal forming simulations the analysis and
optimization of hotforming processes necessitates
the use of thermal-mechanical coupled finite
element simulations. The thermal-mechanical
coupling is necessary to consider the fast cooling
taking place in areas where the hot blank comes
into contact with the colder die. This local cooling
effects lead to high temperature gradients and an
inhomogeneous temperature distribution in the
blank during the forming operation. Since the
actual temperature has a strong impact on the
mechanical material properties e.g. the yield stress
an accurate calculation of the current temperature
field during the forming operation is a basic
prerequisite for an accurate calculation of the
plastic deformation of the material. Once the tool
has reached the bottom dead centre and the
forming operation is finished the quenching of the
hotformed component takes place. Successful
quenching of the final part can be verified within a
cooling simulation. For several reasons it is not
efficient to perform the analysis of the forming
operation and the quenching in one and the same
simulation step. This is discussed in detail in the
following chapters. If the thermal behaviour of the
tool during a sequence of production cycles should
be investigated the cooling system has to be
considered in the simulation.
2 PROCESS MODELLING
APPROACH
Modelling a complete hotforming process one has
to consider multiple partial problems. The
feasibility of the forming operation is therein only
one partial problem, which is focussed in the
beginning of a process optimization. An efficient
modelling approach has to be adapted to the typical
workflow of a process and die designer as shown in
figure 1 below. The first step is the feasibility study
of the part geometry. Major design criteria in this
process planning phase are the maximum allowed
thickness reduction inside the part trimline and the
formation of wrinkles during the forming
operation. If the feasibility of the desired part
616
geometry can be ensured by means of a forming
simulation, the cooling of the formed part in the
closed tool moves into the centre stage of the
analysis. One major design criterion in this phase is
the minimum holding time in the closed tool,
where the part is cooled down rapidly below the
martensite finish temperature M
f
to ensure
successive hardening. A reduction of the holding
time has a direct impact on the economic efficiency
of the process. Considering this effect requires a
more detailed modelling approach for the tools to
account for the heat conduction inside the tools and
the heat transfer from the tools into the cooling
system.
optimized
forming tools
reliabilit yof
heat treatment
simulation
tool geometry
processdesign
simulation
fracture
wrinkles
thinning
cooling rat es
tool t emperatur e
cycl e time
coolant ducts
cooling system
crash
CAD CAD
CAE CAE
major
design
criteria
detailed tool design
stiffnes optimization
feasibilit yof
forming operation
fatigue
integrated product optimization
CNC
programm
machining
Figure 1: Process and product optimization
workflow in hotforming
Especially if the temperature distribution of the
tools after a sequence of several production cycles
is in the focus of interest an accurate consideration
of all essential thermal boundary conditions and a
detailed 3-dimensional tool model is absolutely
necessary.
Regarding the different requirements mentioned
above it is obvious to split the process into the two
fundamental partial stages forming and cooling
since this is in agreement with the typical
workflow in practice. In the forming stage the die
designer modifies the geometry of the tool surface
and the blank to meat the feasibility target. A
volume mesh generation after each geometrical
tool modification is absolutely unnecessary in this
phase. By the use of a thick thermal shell element
formulation in the thermal part of the solution the
temperature increase of the tool surface in contact
areas can be considered in coupled forming
simulations. The tool surface temperatures after
forming will be used as initial condition for the
following cooling simulation. The cooling
simulation can be performed as thermal only or
also thermal-mechanical coupled. From a
numerical point of view the split into two
simulation steps becomes also very advantageous.
Mass scaling and time scaling as typical
approaches to reduce the cpu cost can be applied
differently in each step. If the contact heat transfer
is independent of the contact pressure the cooling
simulation can be performed cpu cost efficient as
thermal only. This procedure is preferable for
thermal tool analysis after a sequence of production
cycles.
3 FORMING SIMULATION
Setting up a model for a coupled hotforming
simulation should be similar to the known
approach to set up a conventional sheet metal
forming simulation. For the mesh of the tool
surfaces the same typical geometric accuracy
requirements need to be met. The tool surface
should be able to change its temperature in areas of
contact with the hot blank. Using a thick thermal
shell element [1] is an adequate approach to
account for this effect. The shell is geometrically
represented by its mid plane (figure 2 left). With
the parameter TSHELL this element is internally
extended to a 12 node thick shell (figure 2 middle)
by the thermal solver.
Figure 2: Thermal thick shell element
An offset of the contact reference plane to the outer
element plane enables the element to account for
the temperature profile of the tool boundary layer
using two additional nodes below the contact
surface. The thermal contact can be described very
accurate taking into account the contact heat
transfer coefficient as a function of contact
pressure and the contact gap. Figure 3 shows
qualitatively the resulting curve if those
dependencies are considered. The pressure
dependency can be defined directly with an input
curve or analytically using one of three
implemented functions. These functions can also
account for a temperature dependency.
p d
h
closed contact
Figure 3: Contact heat transfer coefficient h as a
function of contact gap d and contact pressure p
The coupling of the thermal solution and the
explicit mechanical solver follows a sequential
approach. With this coupling method the thermal
and the mechanical part of the problem can be
solved independently using different solvers. The
617
mechanical part uses a dynamic explicit solution
scheme whereas for the solution of the thermal part
an implicit conjugate gradient solver is used. In the
dynamic explicit solution scheme the stable time
step is limited by the Courant-Friedrichs-Levy
condition.
|
.
|
\
|

= s A
2
1
;
v
E
c
c
l
t
mech
(1)
The elastic modulus of the typical boron steel used
for hotforming varies approximately in the range of
210 to 120 GPa in a temperature range between
20C and 900C. This effect accounts for 32 %
change in the explicit time step.
Even though an implicit time integration scheme is
used in the thermal part the thermal time step is
also limited. The thermal model must be able to
respond as fast as the reality and so the maximum
thermal time step is limited by the thermal
diffusivity of the material, the element dimensions
and the boundary conditions [2].
c
a
a
l
t
therm
= s A
;
2
12
1
(2)
In [3] it is demonstrated that for typical material
properties of steel this thermal time step limit is
some orders of magnitude above the explicit
mechanical time step. Thus it is apparent to use the
sequential coupling method and take advantage of
the higher thermal time step to save cpu time.
Another advantage of the sequential coupling
method is that the contact becomes a linear
boundary condition in the thermal solution.
Thermal nonlinearities are usually caused by
temperature dependencies of material properties
and boundary conditions e.g. convection and
radiation.
Instead of limiting the thermal time step by the use
of equation (2) it has to be chosen small enough to
track the changing contact situation due to the tool
motion in the mechanical part. Thus with a given
maximum tool velocity and a maximum tool travel
between two thermal sub steps an upper limit for
the thermal time step can be estimated
straightforward.
mm 5 ... 1 ;
max
max
max
max
= = A d
v
d
t (3)
It is clear that the bottleneck in computation time is
the explicit mechanical time step. A common
technique to speed up the simulation is the
application of both time and mass scaling. Time
scaling is applied by using increased tool
velocities. This approach is widely used since the
material models typically used in sheet metal
forming have no strain rate dependency. In contrast
to this approach hotforming necessitates a material
model with yield curves dependent to both
temperature and strain rate. Thus the tool velocity
in the real process must be known to quantify the
time scaling factor. The rate dependency of the
material has to be adapted to the applied time
scaling. Due to the sequential coupling method all
thermal velocity terms in the thermal part must be
scaled accordingly. When applying time scaling to
a thermal problem the dimensionless quantities
fourier number Fo and biot number Bi must be in
agreement with the real process.

l h
Bi
l c
t
Fo
p
=

= ;
2
(4)
Increasing the tool velocity leads to a shortening of
the time scale. This will be compensated by scaling
up all thermal conductivities in the model by the
ratio of the simulation velocity to the real velocity
to keep Fo constant. If the thermal conductivities
are scaled up all boundary heat transfer
coefficients h must be scaled up in the same way to
remain Bi unchanged.
Beside time scaling it is usual to enhance the
performance of a forming simulation by the use of
mass scaling. The default approach is to prescribe
the time step for the entire simulation. lements
with a critical time step lower than the prescribed
one become mass scaled to meet the desired time
step. During the forming simulation the mesh is
refined by adaptive mesh refinement so that mass
is permanently added. Typical time step sizes used
in coldforming are 0.4 microseconds if the forming
simulation is followed up by a springback
calculation and up to 1 microsecond for formability
analysis. Those values often are inconsiderately
adopted for hotforming simulations.
section cut
section coordinate
die counter
punch
punch
blankholder
blank
model setup
Figure 4: Channel strip example
This can lead to erroneous results and will be
demonstrated using a small example (figure 4).
Hotforming a strip of a channel is simulated using
different time steps and the thickness reduction
along a section cut is compared. The tool velocity
in the simulation is 10 m/s and is assumed to be
100 times faster than the real process. The high
tool velocity together with higher mass scaling
618
leads to a drastic overestimation of the thickness
reduction (figure 5). Nevertheless in many cases
those results seem to be reasonable because the
friction in hotforming is very high and the yield
strength of the hot material is rather slow. Thus an
overestimated thinning may remain undiscovered
in a feasibility study, especial if it locally occurs in
regions where higher thinning is expected anyway.
20
15
10
5
0
0 20 40 60 80
20
15
10
5
0
0 20 40 60 80
distance along section
t
h
i
c
k
n
e
s
s

r
e
d
u
c
t
i
o
n
[%]
[mm]
no mass scaling no mass scaling
dt = 4.0 e-7 s
dt = 8.0 e-7 s
dt = 1.0 e-6 s
Figure 5: Thickness reduction for different time
step sizes
From the above results one can conclude that there
is a higher sensitivity to both time and mass scaling
in hotforming simulation. The reason is that in
hotforming the blank is not clamped between die
and blankholder. Unlike in conventional forming
where the clamped blank is stretched over the
punch to utilize the work hardening in hotforming
the aim is to fold the blank around the punch
curvature and keeping the thickness distribution as
homogeneous as possible. Typically some areas of
the blank therein perform rigid body motions
similar to a flange in bending. Furthermore in
hotforming the deformation is dominated by the
wall areas where the material does not come into
direct contact with the tools and remains at high
temperatures during the forming operation.
4
3
2
1
0
0 20 40 60 80
distance along section
t
h
i
c
k
n
e
s
s

r
e
d
u
c
t
i
o
n
[%]
[mm]
5
no mass scaling
dt = 1.0 e-6 s sms
dt = 2.0 e-6 s sms
dt = 4.0 e-6 s sms
dt = 4.0 e-7 s
Figure 6: Thickness reduction for different time
step sizes with selective mass scaling (sms)
This leads to local minima of the current yield
strength and the deformation concentrates on those
weak regions. The weak unsupported material is
very sensitive to non-physical yielding caused by
inertia forces. Hence one should make a more
conservative choice for both time step size and the
amount of time.
In the recent version LS-DYNA offers an attractive
alternative to use time scaling and substantial
higher time steps without affecting the accuracy of
the solution. This feature is called selective mass
scaling and has been implemented by Olovsson [4,
5]. The basic idea is to add artificial mass terms
such that the highest eigenfrequencies are
decreased but the lower ones are affected as little
as possible. Figure 6 shows the results for the
channel example. Using selective mass scaling
(sms) the solution with a time step size of
1 microsecond is in very good agreement with the
reference without mass scaling. A further increase
of the time step still leads to reasonable results.
Since a penalty contact is used the two solutions
with higher time steps have a magnified numerical
noise in the contact forces. Nevertheless it should
be noted those results are still comparable to a
solution with a considerably lower time step using
conventional mass scaling
Table 1 gives a survey of the performance
enhancement when using selective mass scaling.
Table 1: Total number of time steps and speed-up
for the different variants
time step size time steps speed up
no mass scaling 58010 1.0
4.0 e-7 s 16655 2.9
8.0 e-7 s 8355 4.5
1.0 e-6 s 6684 5.4
1.0 e-6 s sms 6684 5.6
2.0 e-6 s sms 3342 9.0
4.0 e-6 s sms 1671 10.9
At a first glance it might seem astonishing that for
1.0e-6 s the speed-up is higher for the variant using
selective mass scaling since this method normally
requires more computational cost. In this case the
difference is caused by the thermal sub problem
which is solved in 82 thermal steps for the case
with selective mass scaling and in 104 thermal
steps for the case with conventional mass scaling.
The results from this little study apparently show
that with selective mass scaling it is possible to run
hotforming simulations much faster than using
conventional mass scaling. In contrast to
conventional mass scaling the quasi-static nature of
a forming process is not violated and there is no
loss in accuracy.
4 COOLING SIMULATION
The simulation of the cooling stage requires a 3-
dimensional volume mesh to account for the heat
dissipation into the tools. Furthermore the
discretization of the tool surface has to fulfil the
619
same accuracy requirements as for the forming
simulation. Thus it would be quite simple if one
can carry over the tool model from the forming
simulation and extend it with a 3-dimensional
mesh for the bulk material below the surface. This
simple approach is demonstrated with the small
channel example. Figure 7 shows the tool model of
the punch with the surface shell mesh from the
forming stage and an additional volume mesh.
surface shell mesh
punch volume mesh
Figure 7: Tool model with surface shell mesh
The surface shell mesh and the volume mesh are
connected with a thermal contact. If the cooling
simulation is performed as thermal only the tools
are rigid and the tool position is the final
configuration of the previous forming stage. The
tool motion in the forming simulation is typically
controlled by a prescribed velocity and is stopped
if the clearance between the tools reaches the initial
blank thickness. In this case the contact heat
transfer coefficient is only a function of the contact
gap. If the pressure dependency as shown in
figure 3 should be taken into account the cooling
simulation has to be performed coupled. Since the
duration of the cooling stage takes much longer
than the forming stage the explicit time integration
is not efficient and both mechanical and thermal
part will be solved using implicit time integration.
Nevertheless the coupling is still sequential. In this
case according to the real process a force is applied
on the moving tools to get the right contact
pressure in the closed position. The tool surface
shells are weak contact segments which are
connected with a tie contact to the volume mesh.
The volume mesh can be rigid or deformable. All
three possible tool modelling approaches have been
used in a cooling simulation of the channel strip.
50 65 80 95 110 125 140
temperature [C]
thermal coupled rigid coupled elastic
Figure 8: Punch surface temperature after 1 s for
different tool modelling approaches
The final temperatures from the forming simulation
are used as initial conditions. For the thermal only
simulation an intermediate constant contact heat
transfer coefficient has been chosen and the critical
gap width for closed contact has been set to
0.005 mm. For the coupled cooling simulations the
critical gap was set to 0.001 mm and the heat
transfer coefficient varies between 1100 and
5000 W/m
2
K. Figure 8 shows the punch
temperature after 1 second holding time in the
closed tool. Since the thermal only model predicts
in large areas of the contact surface a closed
contact situation the heating of the punch surface is
slightly overestimated compared to the coupled
runs. The coupled model with a rigid volume mesh
has a more inhomogeneous pressure distribution
and thus the temperature fringes are not as smooth
as in the elastic case. After 10 seconds holding
time the results of the two coupled runs are nearly
identical. The thermal only run showed higher
surface temperatures, especially in the picked out
radii region. The maximum deviation was about
20 C. Table 2 gives an overview of the required
time steps and cpu time for the small example.
Table 2: Total number of time steps and cpu time
for the different tool modelling approaches
thermal rigid elastic
mechanical steps - 29 35
thermal steps 86 102 111
cpu time [s] 1728 1900 2453
Nevertheless due to its simplicity the thermal only
approach might be accurate enough for a thermal
die analysis where a sequence of production cycles
will be ran one after each other. The deviations to
the coupled runs will smear out during the transfer
time between two forming operations where the
surface heat diffused into the tools. For a thermal
die analysis the forming simulation is performed
only one time to get the initial temperatures for the
following cooling stages. After each cooling
simulation the final tool temperatures are carried
over as initial conditions for the next cycle. The
blank initial temperature is always taken from the
end of the forming stage. After several cycles the
forming simulation can be repeated with new initial
tool temperatures.
5 COOLING PASSAGES
There are two possible ways to consider cooling
passages in the tools. The simplest way is to define
a convective boundary condition on the wall
segments of the passage. This requires the average
water temperature and the heat transfer coefficient
between the water and the wall as input data. Since
the passage is short and the flow rate is high the
620
water might not heat up too much along the
passage and thus the convection approach might be
convenient. If the inlet temperature and the mass
flow rate are given and the outlet is of interest the
use of the new bulkflow feature can account for
this. The bulkflow feature is a recent development
in LS-DYNA and offers the ability of a simplified
1D-fluid flow calculation inside the thermal solver.
Using the bulkflow feature the centreline of the
passage is discretized with beam elements to
account for the fluid flow. The fluid mass is
concentrated on the nodes, the so called bulk
nodes. The beams are wrapped by shells which
represent the wall of the passage. This wall is
connected to the solid tool with a thermal contact.
Figure 9 shows this modelling approach in detail.
Tool Model
Volume Mesh
BeamElements
Fluid Flow
Bulk Node
Wall
Shell Elements
Thermal Contact
Shells - Volume

b
a
Water
a
Wall
T T q
Fluid Structure Interaction

Figure 9: Representation of cooling passages
If a recent version of LSPrePost 2.2 is used one
needs only an IGES or VDA curve of the centreline
of the passage. The beams with wrapping shells
and the required keywords are generated
automatically.
The use of the bulkflow feature is recommended
for thermal tool analysis where the thermal
response of the tools after several production
cycles is in the focus of interest. Herein the mass
flow rate through each passage can be varied to get
a more homogenous temperature distribution in the
tools.
6 CONCLUSIONS
Splitting the hotforming process into the partial
stages forming and cooling is a very effective
modelling approach in the simulation of
hotforming processes. The sequential coupling
method in LS-DYNA makes it possible to use the
explicit solver for the mechanical part and the
iterative thermal solver for the thermal part to solve
the coupled problem very efficient. It has been
demonstrated that with selective mass scaling the
required cpu time can be drastically decreased and
the accuracy of the results is higher compared to
conventional mass scaling with lower time step
size. The extension of the forming model by an
additional volume mesh for the tools turned out to
be a simple and reliable approach to account for the
calculations of the 3-dimensional heat flow into the
tool during the cooling simulation. The use of a
pressure dependent contact heat transfer coefficient
in the cooling simulation gives more realistic tool
surface temperature distributions but requires a
coupled simulation. Due to its static nature and the
long duration time for coupled cooling simulations
the implicit mechanical solver should be used. For
thermal tool analysis a thermal only simulation is
faster, requires less memory and might be accurate
enough. Dealing with a water cooling system in the
tools the bulkflow feature is a quite simple to use
method to account for the impact of the cooling
system on the tools thermal response.
7 REFERENCES
[1] Bergman G.,Oldenburg M.:
A Finite Element Model for Thermo-
mechanical Analysis for Sheet Metal
Forming. In: International Journal for
Numerical Methods in Engineering, 2004
[2] Owen, D.R.J.: Reduced Numerical Integration
in Thermal Transient Finite Element Analysis.
In: Computers and Structures, 1983
[3] Lorenz D., Haufe A.: Simulation von
Warmumformprozessen mit LS-DYNA.
In: 2. Erlanger Workshop Warmblech-
umformung, 2007
[4] Olovsson L., Simonsson K., Unosson M.:
Selective Mass Scaling for explicit finite
element analysis. In: International Journal for
Numerical Methods in Engineering, 2005
[5] Olovsson L., Simonsson K.: Iterative Solution
Technique in Selective Mass Scaling. In:
Communications in Numerical Methods in
Engineering, 2006
621
____________________
* Corresponding author: Institute Tools & Forming, Graz University of Technology, Inffeldgasse 11/1, 8010 Graz, mail:
wolfgang.weiss@tugraz.at

ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES FOR THE SIMULATION OF THE
HOT FORMING PROCESS

Kolleck, R., Lscher, H., Veit, R
.
, Wei, W.
*

Graz University of Technology, Institute Tools & Forming

ABSTRACT: As a rising number of components is being produced via a hot forming process, there is an
increasing interest in a complete virtual representation of the process. In the following paper the possibilities
for the remodelling of the hot forming process are examined. The most important parameters and their
consideration in commercial FE tools are presented and discussed. The currently available simulations tools
come with significant simplications of physical processes and particularly in terms of thermo-mechanical
coupling. An alternative approach is found in the CFD simulation. This paper describes an approach for the
design of press hardening tools based on a coupled CFD and forming simulation. The forming simulation
allows a prediction of part failures during production and the optimal tool topology can be attained. By the
consideration of thermodynamic and fluid mechanical principles in the CFD simulation the performance of
the cooling system can be optimized, considering the planned technology for the production of the tool. The
coupling of both simulation systems offers the possibility to consider all relevant boundary conditions and
also the interactions between them. Consequently, a more precise prediction of the press hardening process
and forming outcome, and an optimum tool design is possible.
KEYWORDS: Hot forming, Thermo-mechanical coupling, CFD

1 INTRODUCTION
Shorter and shorter development times and the
demand for an optimized press hardening process
requires the use of virtual development tools. The
increased use of hot forming components makes
further development of new or already existing
simulation tools inevitable. The purpose of these
tools is a better forecast of the feasibility of a part
and the performance of the heat exchanger press
hardening tool. This presupposes the virtual
representation of the complete process.
Therefore, the design of cooled forming tools
confronts the engineer with new challenges. If the
required cooling capacity is not reached, cycle
times increase and consequently component costs
increase. Besides shorter cooling times, a uniform
temperature distribution must be ensured, i.e., hot
spots on the tools and the component must be
avoided. This requires an optimal lay-out of the
cooling channel geometry. It turns out that the
CFD simulation offers a comprehensive possibility
to design an optimal heat exchanger layout.

2 STATE OF THE ART
In comparison with cold forming the physical
system of hot forming is considerably more
complex [1]. For the analysis of the hot forming
process the examination of all relevant parameters
that describe the press hardening process, is
necessary. Commercial FEM software packages for
the evaluation of the feasibility of component
geometries confine themselves to a simplified
representation of the press hardening process.
An important precondition for the evaluation of the
feasibility of a press hardened component is the
consideration of strain dependent yield stress
curves with dependence on the sheet temperature
and different materials [2].
Furthermore, critical to a part feasibility study is
the start temperature of the martensitic phase
transformation [3]. The temperature must not fall
below 400C [11] during the forming process due
to low deformability of the martensitic phase.
As parameters like the thermal conductivity k and
the specific heat capacity c
p
tend to be strongly
temperature dependent, an exact representation of
the temperature profile is useful, and in fact,
necessary. In the commercially available
simulation programs, the tool temperatures are
often not calculated but provided by the user [4].
This leads to a strong simplification of the physical
process. Equation (1), a heat transfer equation in
3D, assumes temperature independent material
parameters as a simplification.

622
2
2
2
2
2
2
y
T
y
T
x
T
t
T
k
c
p
c
c
+
c
c
+
c
c
=
c
c
(1)

It turns out that material parameters like the heat
conductivity k or the specific heat capacity c
p
of the
tool material influence the cooling down behaviour
of the component strongly. Figure 1 shows a
simple estimate of the influence of the heat
conductivity k on the cooling down behaviour.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
300
350
400
450
500
550
600
650
700
750
800
850
900
950
1000
1050
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r

[
K
]
Time [sec]
Factor 1
Factor 2 = Factor 1 x 2

Figure 1: Influence of the heat conductivity k on the
cooling down behaviour
Another important parameter for the determination
of the cooling down behaviour of the blank is the
heat-transfer coefficient, also called heat-transfer
resistance, from the sheet to the tool. This value
has a lower dependence on the material, but on the
surface quality of sheet and tool. i.e., surface
coatings, scalings and roughnesses can have both, a
positive and a negative effect on the cooling down
and heating up behaviour of sheet and tool. Figure
2 illustrates the difference in the temperature
sequences caused by the temperature leap between
two bodies [5].

1
2
T
1
(x)
T
1
=T
2
T
2
(x)
x
T
1
T
1
(x)
T
1
T
2
2
T
2
(x)

Figure 2: Temperature course at the boundary
surface of two bodies
For the first case both temperatures are the same at
the boundary surface. This is, however, only valid
when both bodies are connected tightly to each
other. Otherwise a contact resistance h
KT
which
results in a temperature leap appears. This
temperature leap can be described by the contact
heat-transfer coefficient.

3 HOT FORMING SIMULATION
3.1 THERMO-MECHANICAL COUPLING
OF THE FORMING PROCESS
A common representation of the impact of the
temperature on mechanical properties is the thermo
mechanical coupling of the forming simulation.
The simulation has to satisfy both the mechanical
and the thermal equilibrium. A calculation of the
influence of the component temperature on the tool
temperature is possible. To calculate the thermal
field within the tool, a volume mesh of the tool
becomes necessary which leads to a considerable
rise of the computing times. For a feasibility study
merely the consideration of the temperature fields
is decisive at the surface. A pure discretization of
the relevant area is carried out with simple shell
elements. This is called a sequential or weak
coupling of the thermal and mechanical field
equations. This means solving partial equations
independently from each other. An exchange of the
parameters is carried out only at a particular time.
In the case of a strong coupling the parameters
are calculated at the same time simultaneously.
The weak coupling has two decisive advantages:
Firstly, the heat transfer equation can be calculated
in the thermal subproblem and the dynamic
equation in the mechanical subproblem by different
solvers. Secondly, the choice of the time increment
can be carried out independently for the different
subproblems.
The dynamic calculation of the forming process is
carried out typically with the dynamic explicit time
integration method [6]. This time integration
method limits the maximum time step using the so-
called Courant-Friedrich Levy condition [7]. The
time step is limited by the quotient of the
characteristic length l of the element and the
velocity of sound c as follows:

;
c
l
t
mech
s A

( )
2
1 v
=
E
c
(2)

The thermal subproblem is solved most efficiently
with an implicit time integration method [6]. With
equation (3) the time increment of the thermal
subproblem can be assessed. The thermal time step
is limited essentially by the thermal material
properties in the form of the thermal conductivity
and the characteristic length l of the element.

;
12
1
2
a
l
t
therm
s A
c
a
(3)

Evaluating these relations for the material
properties of steel, one should notice that the time
step for the thermal subproblem is much higher
than the mechanical time step. Furthermore it
becomes evident that for the solution of the
623
mechanical subproblem the number of time steps is
much larger.

3.2 SIMULATION OF THE PRESS
HARDENING PROCESS
The simulation of the quenching process in the
closed tool requires a detailed representation of the
complete tool since the heat transport into the tool
is of greatest importance. Not only the heat
transport from the sheet into the tool has to be
considered but also from the tool to the cooling
medium. This analysis of the flow has been
completely disregarded in the past. For a
comprehensive analysis of the quenching process
the modelling of the fluid behaviour is
recommended. The conductive heat transmission
from solid (tool) to fluid (cooling medium)
increases as a function of the flow velocity.

3.3 WEAK POINTS OF THE
CONVENTIONAL THERMO
MECHANICAL COUPLED
SIMULATION
Previous thermo mechanical couplings disregard an
integral analysis of the press hardening process.
Merely the heat transport from the blank to the tool
is considered. A simplified modelling of the
cooling channel geometry is carried out partly with
so-called "Bulk-Flow" elements [5]. This
modelling approach, however, merely allows a
simplified estimation of the effects of the streaming
fluid on the cooling down process. A question
arises as to how the layout of the heat exchanger
hot forming tool can be designed with the help of
CFD simulations.

4 ALTERNATIVE APPROACH -
THE CFD SIMULATION
A comprehensive analysis of the heat transport is
carried out from the sheet metal to the tool, and
through the tool into the fluid. Figure 3
schematically illustrates a typical temperature
distribution through a hot forming tool.

Blank
Tool
Cooling
Channel
x
T

Figure 3: Typical heat flow in a hot forming tool
A CFD simulation allows for the variation of heat
conductivity of the tool material and the heat
transfer coefficient with contact pressure and tool
surface characteristics. At the same time an
analysis of the flow of the cooling medium is
carried out for different cooling channel
geometries. In this case the characteristic number is
the heat transfer coefficient h
w
. Newton's law
represents the relationship between the heat
transfer coefficient and the heat flux.

) ( ' '

T T h q
s w
(4)

The convective heat flux q ([q]=W/m
2
), is
proportional to the difference between the surface
and the fluid temperature, T
s
and T
. In forced
convection of liquids the value for the convective
heat transfer coefficient varies between 100-20.000
W/m
2
K [5]. This value is strongly dependent on the
velocity of the fluid and the material parameters of
the cooling medium.
A calculation of the heat-transfer coefficient is
carried out by the help of the Nusselt number Nu.

k
D h
Nu

(5)

Where D describes the pipe diameter and k the
conductivity of the coolant medium.

For turbulent flow the following condition is
assumed:
3 1 5 4
Pr Re 023 , 0 Nu (6)

This relation is valid for 0,6<Pr<60, where the
Prandtl number describes the ratio of the kinematic
viscosity and thermal diffusivity. The primary
number correlating the viscous behaviour of all
newtonian fluids is the dimensionless Reynolds
number:
L V
Re
(7)

with V and L as the characteristic velocity and the
length scale and as the kinematic viscosity.
This relationship indicates that a rise or reduction
in the speed has a direct effect on the coefficient of
heat transfer and consequently on the heat transport
from the tool into the fluid and through the tool
itself, resulting in an increase in the velocity of the
fluid.
Another advantage is the opportunity of the
analysis of the flow behaviour in the tool itself. In
principle, the design of a hot forming tool
corresponds with the one of a cold forming tool.
The difference is the base plate, which is also
responsible for the distribution of the cooling
medium into the cooling channels. Up until now
624
this base plate was designed on the basis of
experience of the respective engineer. It, however,
turns out that the degree of complexity of cooled
tools is increased, since it is necessary to minimize
holding times and consequently to maximize the
number of parts per hour. Figure 4 shows the
complex geometry of the cooling channel and the
distribution plate.
Streaming-
pockets
Coolant-
bores

Figure 4: Typical cooled segment of a hot forming
tool
4.1 THE DISCRETIZATION
Unlike FE simulations, with CFD simulations the
discretization is done by finite-volumes. As the
finite-volume method works with control volumes
and not with grid intersection points, it has the
attribute to accommodate any type of grid. Here,
instead of structured grids, unstructured grids can
be employed that allow a large number of options
for the definition of the shape and location of the
control volumes.
One important feature of the method is that a
finite-element type mesh can be used, in which
the mesh can be formed by the combination of
tetrahedra and hexahedra. This type of unstructured
mesh offers greater flexibility for handling
complex geometries.
This is a big advantage at the discretization of
warm forming tools. For the discretization of the
solid parts a simple tetrahedral net is sufficient.
The flow channels are built up by a structured
mesh with a fine surface layer. Thus the
turbulence, mainly occurring in the surface layer,
can be calculated more exactly.
However, some problems arise from this
combination. A net quality meeting the
requirements of the software is needed. This causes
a comparatively fine "resolution" of the flow
channel and one which is a little bit rougher at the
tool body. Figure 5 shows an example of the grid
generation.

Cooling Channels
Tool

Figure 5: Combination structured-unstructured grid
for a hot forming tool
On the transition from the structured (cuboid) to
the unstructured (tetrahedral) grid exactly two
tetrahedra have to fit onto one rectangle of the
outside wall of the cooling channel. This means
that one angle of the base of the tetrahedral might
get too acute if the rectangle is very narrow. An
angle greater than 5 should be ensured to avoid
convergence problems.
Problems may also arise form the transition of the
cells (increase of the cell size towards the interior
of the tool domain). Too low growing rates of the
cells cause a uselessly high number of elements.
This appears primarily on the outer surfaces of the
tool domain.
A delicate topic is the discretization of the sheet
metal. The problem here is the length to thickness
ratio. At a conventional B-pillar, which is 1,200
mm long and 2 mm thick, the length to thickness
ratio is 600:1. At the CFD simulation, the sheet
metal has to be discretizised with volume elements.
This differs from the FE-simulation, where shell
elements are used. To minimize the fault at the
simulation of the cooling, at least 3 tetrahedral
elements should define the sheet thickness. The
result is an extremely high cell number. Figure 6
shows a section of a B-pillar.

Figure 6: Discretization of a B-pillar
For the discretisation of the whole hot forming tool
a number of 25 million cells is generated.

625
4.2 THE CALCULATION
The thermodynamic model of the warm forming
tool is relatively simple. It is a typical heat
transport problem from the blank to the tool and
consequently from the tool to the fluid. The
simplified assumption of an incompressible
medium suffices for water as a cooling medium.
Because of the relatively low velocities of the flow
there are no big difficulties when solving the
systems of equations and convergence problems
can be avoided.
The simulation is transient. Cooling down and
heating up curves of the blank, the tool and the
cooling medium and the loss of pressure within the
cooling circuit, shall be calculated.

4.3 TIME DISCRETIZATION
At this transient simulation, the physical sizes are
dependent on the time steps. Euler approximation
is used in the calculation. The time discretization is
obtained by approximation of the time derivative at
time t
n
by means of a forward difference equation
[8] ( can be any physical parameter):

n
n n
n
t t
t

1
(8)

To ensure a faster calculation only the first time
step is fixed and the calculation is done with
automatic time step control.
The criterion for the extension or reduction of the
time step is the maximum temperature variation in
a time step, which is defined by the user. With this
specification the timing step is adapted optimally
and therefore a reduction of computing time is
reached during the complete simulation.

4.3.1 Turbulence modelling
For the analysis of the consequences of the
turbulence of the flow on the cooling performance
of the complete system, turbulence modelling is
essential.
A simplification of the calculation is reached by
the application of the Reynolds-Averaged-Navier-
Stokes-methods (RANS-methode) [9].
This method is different from the DNA (Direct-
Numerical-Simulation) by the fact that a complete
dissolution of the whirls does not take place. The
turbulence is represented by a fluctuation value and
a mean average value.
There are different mathematical RANS models for
the description of the turbulence. For the engineer-
like analysis of the turbulence the k--model is
completely sufficient. This model describes the
turbulent kinetic energy k and the dissipation rate
by means of two differential equations. The k--
model is commonly used for the calculation of
turbulent inside flows. It has the advantage, that no
geometry parameters are related in the modelling
[8]. With this turbulence model only few
convergence problems appear using the typical
boundary conditions of the hot forming process
and a stable calculation is assured.

5 COUPLING FEM-CFD
It turns out that also by means of CFD simulation a
complete representation of the hot forming process
is not possible. By the help of the FE method the
feasibility of the component forming can be
assessed. The CFD simulation offers the possibility
of a realistic estimation of the temperature flow
against the time and of the behaviour of the flow of
the cooling medium within the tool.
The coupling of FE and CFD codes is planned in
further research work. One possibility of such a
coupling is offered with the help of MpCCI (Mesh-
based parallel Code Coupling Interface), developed
by the Fraunhofer Institute for Algorithms and
Scientific Computing [10]. MpCCI performs an
interpolation between two codes with the exchange
of the relevant parameters. The CFD code receives
the information about the progress of the forming
from the FE code. Therefore the CFD code can
calculate the temperature variation. The calculated
temperature is transmitted again to the FE code and
the temperature-dependent stretching instalment of
the material can be determined. This interpolation
is repeated until the component is formed
completely. Afterwards a decoupling can take
place and only a simulation of the heat exchanger
hot forming tool is necessary.
In this way the complete hot forming process is
represented. On the one hand the feasibility of the
component forming is assessed and on the other
hand the performance of the heat exchanging warm
forming tool is assured. It can be assessed via
coupled simulations if all cooling channels are
supplied sufficiently with cooling medium or if
overheating occurs in some areas of the tool and
consequently in the component.
Of course the method of coupling a CFD- with
FE- code rises the required time of the mesh
development since every cooling channel must get
discretised manually and faulty cells must be
corrected by hand. The needed computer power
cannot be underestimated, especially the storage
space, which is necessary for a complete analysis
of the simulation.
But it can be assumed, that in future the general
computing power will increase and the
discretization of hot forming tools will get more
efficient. This will lead to a clear reduction of the
resources needed for the virtual execution of the
hot forming process.

6 CONCLUSION
The press hardening of boron alloyed steels is a
innovative and complex process to increase the
626
strength of critical body parts. It is reached through
a structural transformation from austenite into
martensite.
The complete simulation of the hot forming
process is a very complex topic with parameters
influencing each other. Among others the heat
transfer coefficient from the blank to the tool and
the temperature-dependent stretching instalment
have to be taken into account. Meanwhile, these
parameters can at least be represented in simplified
terms in the virtual modelling of the hot forming
process. Thermo-mechanical coupling only gives
an estimation of the feasibility in principle. To be
able to ensure a martensitic structure in the
component, a minimal cooling rate of 29K/s must
be reached. An analysis of the cooling down
behaviour include the critical boundary conditions
is made possible by the CFD simulation.
Furthermore an exact representation of the flow
behaviour of the cooling medium is guaranteed.
The CFD simulation however, comes along with a
considerably higher effort for the clean modelling
of the 3D mesh, but on the other hand it offers
possibilities for the combination of different
meshes.
It was noticed that a complete representation of the
hot forming process is not possible neither with a
FE programme nor by means of CFD simulation.
Therefore the coupling of both codes is the logical
next step.
In the future the simulation of the hot forming
process, including a complete thermodynamic and
fluidic simulation will be possible within one
single software package. This program will provide
a simulation solution that will predict local
thickness, strain and yield strength of the final part
accurately and accounts realistically for the
influences of important process parameters such as
the cooling system design, the stamping speed and
the blank holder force. Computer power will be
high enough to allow simulation based
optimization of the forming process with standard
personal computers.
7 REFERENCES
[1] Burkhardt L., Grigo B., Griesbach B.:
Parameter. 1. Erlanger Workshop
Warmblechumformung, 31-45, 2006
[2] Lechler J., Merklein M., Geiger M.:
Beschreibung des mechanischen
Werkstoffverhaltens beim Warmumformen
hchstfester Vergtungssthle. 1. Erlanger
Workshop Warmblechumformung, 13-30,
2006
[3] A. Brosius et al.: Modellierung und
Simulation der Warmblechumformung:
Aktueller Stand und zuknftiger
Forschungsbedarf. 2. Erlanger Workshop
Warmblechumformung, 38-58, 2007
[4] Kerausch M., Schnbach T.: FE-basierte
Prozessauslegung mit Form-HotForming. 2.
Erlanger Workshop Warmblechumformung,
59-72, 2007
[5] Incropera F., DeWitt D.: Fundamentals of
Heat and Mass Transfer. John Wiley & Sons
Ltd., 2002
[6] Lorenz D., Haufe A.: Simulation von
Warmumformprozessen mit LS-Dyna. 2.
Erlanger Workshop Warmblechumformung,
163-177, 2007
[7] Tu J., Yeoh G., Liu C.: Computional Fluid
Dynamics. Elsevier, 2008
[8] Oerterl H., Laurien E.: Numerische
Strmungsmechanik., Springer, 1995
[9] Ferziger J., Peric M.: Computational Methods
for Fluid Dynamics. Springer, 2002
[10] http://www.mpcci.de/, Query: 2008-03-15
[11] Merklein M., Lechler J.: Investigation of the
steels. Journal of Materials Processing
Technology 177, 452-455, 2006

627
____________________
* Corresponding author: Via Venezia, 1 - 35131 Padova, Italy, Phone: +39 049 8276819, Fax: +39 049 827 6816,
e-mail: silvio.fanini@unipd.it
CALIBRATION OF LEMAITRE DAMAGE MODEL FOR
FRACTURE PREDICTION IN HOT STAMPING
Silvio Fanini
1*
, Alberto Turetta
1
, Andrea Ghiotti
1
, Stefania Bruschi
2
1
Via Venezia, 1 - 35131 Padova, Italy (University of Padova, DIMEG)
2
Via Mesiano, 77 - 38050 Trento, Italy (University of Trento, DIMS)
ABSTRACT: The use of High Strength Steel (HSS) in automotive applications has dramatically
increased by the development of hot stamping. By this innovative process, sheet metal parts are deformed at
elevated temperatures, in order to improve both the material formability and, at the same time, to guarantee
the desired microstructure and mechanical properties of the final parts. Despite the relevant advantages that
this technology presents, the proper calibration of the temperature-related parameters (in terms of
microstructure, formability, interface conditions, etc.) is the most critical aspect and cannot be overcomed
with the current numerical simulation tools developed for the standard sheet metal working operations at
room temperature. In particular, the description of material formability by FLDs, which are usually
implemented in FEM dedicated codes, appears strongly limited when applied to hot stamping, as the
material behaviour is strongly dependent on temperature and strain rate. Accordingly, damage models may
represent an alternative instrument to describe the material formability at elevated temperatures, enabling a
comprehensive description of the thermo-mechanical-microstructural events that interact during the process.
This work presents the calibration of the Lemaitre damage model derived from the Continuum Damage
Mechanics (CDM) theory that has been implemented in an advanced FE model to describe the fracture onset
of 22MnB5 sheet metal in hot stamping. Hot tensile tests on sheet metal samples are used to determine the
necessary parameters for the Lemaitre damage model, while the final validation of the proposed method is
performed on a Nakazima test carried out at elevated temperature, in which typical conditions of hot
stamping operations are replicated.
KEYWORDS: Hot stamping, numerical simulation, fracture.
1 INTRODUCTION
Nowadays High Strength Steels (HSS) are widely
used to form sheet parts for those particular
applications where it is necessary to guarantee both
high structural strength and light weight. Hot
stamping process permits the production of sheet
metal parts with complex geometrical features, by
carrying out the deformation at high temperatures
to increase the material formability, and, in the
meantime, with high mechanical properties due to
a fully martensite microstructure by quenching the
formed component through the contact with the
cold dies. Accordingly to the industrial practice,
the sheet metal is heated to a temperature just
above A
c3
(austenitic phase transformation) and
then deformed in a still metastable austenite phase,
letting only the martensite transformation to take
place. For this reason any experimental test
devoted to the material behaviour determination
should be carried out maintaining the material in
the metastable austenite phase and avoiding other
transformations except the martensitic one [1-4,14-
18].
The proper calibration of FE models of hot
stamping operations results very complex due to
the combination of the numerous thermo-
mechanical and microstructural variables that
interact during the process and strongly affect the
material formability. The evaluation of material
formability and the prediction of material failure is
usually accomplished in sheet forming at room
temperature through the forming limit diagrams
(FLDs). However, this approach presents strong
limitations in the description of material behaviour
when the sheet metal is formed at high
temperature. In principle, response surfaces given
by the combination of forming limit curves
obtained at different temperature and strain rate
conditions could be drawn. Such approach would
require a large number of expensive tests (e.g.
Nakazima test, Marciniak test, or Swift test) in
order to describe material formability over the
628
whole range of parameters of the hot stamping
process [5].
In this work an alternative approach is proposed,
which enables to predict the material failure during
forming operations at elevated temperature through
the implementation of a suitable damage model
into the numerical simulation. Few researches in
this context are present in scientific literature;
however they are mainly limited to analyze the
sheet metal forming operations when carried out at
room temperature [6-10].
For the calibration and validation of the damage
model, all the experimental tests on the high
strength steel 22MnB5 (commercially known as
USIBOR 1500) were carried out performing the
thermal cycle of Figure 1. In this way, the
experimental investigations were performed on
such a material in a still metastable austenite state
as it happens during the industrial process.
Time
Temperature
100C/s
360 s
900C
600C
TEST
Figure 1: Imposed thermal cycle to guarantee
metastable austenite phase testing condition
All the numerical simulations were carried out
using the commercial code Forge2005
in the 3D
version through modelling the sheet thickness with
at least 5 tetrahedron elements.
2 DAMAGE MODEL
CALIBRATION
The proposed coupled damage approach is based
on the effective stress concept according to the
Lemaitre formulation. The identification of
necessary damage parameters for the model
implementation into the numerical model was
carried out using a simple material testing
procedure able to replicate the fundamental
forming process conditions in terms of temperature
and strain rate.
2.1 LEMAITRE DAMAGE MODEL
The concept of effective stress is at the basis of
the Continuum Damage Mechanics (CDM) and the
Lemaitre damage model was developed from it
[11-13]. In this framework, the progressive
degradation of the material when exposed to a
tensile state of stress (due to nucleation, growth
and coalescence of internal voids during
deformation) is considered in its stress-strain
response by coupling mechanical and damage
properties.
The material loss of strength is described by the
damage variable D that is theoretically defined as
the ratio between the voids area A
VOIDS
and the
gross area A
0
(1).
0 0
1
A
A
A
A
D
EFF VOIDS
= =
(1)
where A
EFF
represents the effective resistant
section; the effective stress
EFF
is then defined as:
D
EFF
=
1
o
o
(2)
In equation (3) the damage evolution law is
reported: the damage growth is considered as soon
as the equivalent strain is greater than the
material dependent threshold strain value
th
:
c
s
S
Y
D
|
|
.
|
\
|
=
0
(if
th
c c >
) (3)
( )
( ) ( )
(
(
|
.
|
+ +
=
2
2
2
1 3 1
3
2
1 2 o
v
o
H
D E
Y
\
|
2
o
v
(4)
The quantity in square brackets in equation (4) is
usually known as the triaxiality function [11] in
view of the presence of the triaxiality factor
o
o
H
(ratio between hydrostatic stress and equivalent
stress) that permits taking into account the effect of
multi-axial states of stress on damage calculation.
According to [3], the Youngs module temperature
dependence is modelled. For the damage model
calibration, it is necessary to identify the
parameters
th
, S
0
, s and D
c
.
In order to perform the coupling between damage
and material rheology during the numerical
simulation of the forming operation, the flow stress
in the current time step is reduced by the effect of
the amount of the damage calculated at the
previous time step following the definition of
effective stress.
2.2 DAMAGE PARAMETERS
IDENTIFICATION
The uniaxial tensile test at elevated temperatures
on sheet samples is chosen as the most appropriate
test for the determination of the necessary damage
parameters.
COOLING
SYSTEM
TERMOCOUPLES
INDUCTION
HEATER
SPECIMEN
Figure 2: Scheme of the equipment for elevated
temperature tensile testing
629
The high-strength-steel 22MnB5 samples are tested
with the thermal cycle in Figure 1.
The experimental equipment represented in Figure
2 and the complete testing procedure used for
tensile tests are described in details in [14-16]. The
experimental plan is shown in Table 1.
For the aim of this work, the observable tensile test
parameter is the material response in terms of load-
displacement curve that is then compared with the
numerically calculated one in order to get the final
damage parameters set.
The numerical model of the hot tensile test is
developed with particular attention to:
- the rheological behaviour of 22MnB5
experimentally obtained in the metastable
condition at different temperature and strain
rates [3,14-16] and consequently expressed
through Hansel-Spittel thermo-visco-plastic
law whose coefficients were obtained through
non-linear regression analysis;
- the temperature distribution on the sheet at the
beginning of the deformation due to the
induction heating (Figure 3), obtained from
data recorded by several thermocouples spot-
welded on the sample.
Inverse analysis technique is applied to a fixed
testing condition changing simultaneously the three
damage parameters (S
0
, s, D
C
) until the numerical
curve reaches the corresponding experimental one
while
th
is maintained constant.
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
Displacement [mm]
F
o
r
c
e

[
K
N
]
4
FE Model
Experiment
570 510 450 390 330 270
C
Figure 3: Numerical and experimental load-
displacement curves
Figure 3 reports the comparison between the
experimental load-displacement curve at 570 C
and ram velocity of 10 mm/s (Table 1) and the
corresponding numerically calculated one when the
damage parameters reported in Table 2 are utilised
for the simulation.
Table 1: Tensile test conditions
Austenitization Temperature 900 C
Cooling rate 100 C/s
Testing temperature 570 C
Ram velocity 10 mm/s
Table 2: Damage parameters
S
0
0.782
s 1.437
D
C
0.486
th
0.01
3 FRACTURE PREDICTION IN
HOT STAMPING CONDITION
The calibrated damage model was then
implemented in the numerical simulation of a
Nakazima test carried out at elevated temperature
and the results were compared with the
experimental ones in order to prove the capability
of the presented approach.
3.1 NAKAZIMA TEST AT ELEVATED
TEMPERATURE
The experimental apparatus for the Nakazima test
is reported in Figure 4 and it is described in details
in [16-18]. The imposed thermal cycle of the
22MnB5 sheet is the same reported in Figure 1.
INDUCTOR
PUNCH
CCD
BLANKHOLDER
DIE
Figure 4: Experimental equipment for Nakazima
test
In this work, the chosen testing conditions can be
summed up as follows:
- preliminary austenitization of the blank at
900C;
- quick cooling phase (100C/s) to maintain the
material in the metastable austenite phase until
the deformation begins in order to avoid the
bainitic phase transformation;
- maximum initial temperature of the sheet when
the deformation starts set around 600C;
- constant temperature around 550C maintained
in the punch during the test thanks to a
cartridge-based heating system;
- constant punch speed set at 10 mm/s.
On the basis of the experimental set-up, a
numerical FE model of the test was developed; its
scheme is reported in Figure 5, considering three
sheet samples with different widths in order to vary
the strain condition.
630
The rheological behaviour of the sheet is the same
adopted for the tensile test simulation. Heat
transfer parameters were chosen according to
technical literature [3] and the initial temperature
distribution due to the induction heating system
was accurately reproduced (Figure 5) according to
experimental measurements obtained by placing
several thermocouples on the sheet sample. The
hottest zone is located at the blank centre, with a
maximum temperature value around 600C.
610
528
446
364
282
200
C
50mm
100mm
200mm
Figure 5: Blank initial temperature distribution in
the numerical simulation of the Nakazima test
The punch was modelled as a deformable body and
its initial temperature was set equal to 550C; dry
friction was set between sheet and punch according
to the experimental testing condition.
The die was modelled as a rigid one and a sticking
friction condition was chosen between die and
blank to reproduce the blankholder condition.
The damage parameters, implemented in the
numerical model and coupled with the material
reology, were identified through the inverse
analysis on the basis of the tensile tests results,
which describe the fracture behaviour of the
material in the temperature range of the Nakazima
test.
3.2 FRACTURE PREDICTION
Figure 6 reports the comparison between
experimental and numerical results in terms of
force/displacement curves for three blanks of
different widths (corresponding to three different
states of deformation). The numerical simulation is
capable to predict the load peak during the
deformation as measured in the experimental tests.
The implemented damage model is capable to
describe the material behaviour during the
deformation, identifying the localization and the
occurrence of the failure in the specimen. The FE
model also give a good prediction of the load drop
when the failure appears in sheet metal.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Displacement [mm]
F
o
r
c
e

[
k
N
]
200x200 - Experimental
200x200 - Numerical
200x100 - Numerical
200x50 - Numerical
Figure 6: Load-Displacement curves in numerical
simulation and experiments.
In Figure 7 the fracture site prediction for the three
analyzed sheet samples is shown: the darkest areas
represent the damage maximum amount just
before the crack initiation in the numerical
simulation (when the maximum damage is
approaching the critical value D
C
).
(a)
(b) (c)
Figure 7: Numerical and experimental fracture sites
in 200x200 mm (a), 200x100 mm (b) and 200x50
mm (c) blanks.
Figure 8 reports the forming limit curve of
22MnB5 obtained through Nakazima test carried
out at 600C with the ram velocity of 10 mm/s, by
following the procedure reported in ISO 12004
standard [19,20]. The numerical fracture prediction
in the three different analyzed cases is in good
agreement with the forming limit curve determined
in the experiments.
631
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
-0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3
Minor strain
M
a
j
o
r

s
t
r
a
i
n
ISO 12004
200x50x1.5
200x200x1.5
200x100x1.5
Experiments
Numerical simulation
[6] Cesar de Sa J.M.A., Areias P.M:A:, Zheng C.:
Damage modelling in metal forming problems
using an implicit non-local gradient model.
Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg., 195:
6646-6660, 2006.
[7] Texeira P., Santos A.D., Andrade Pires F.M.,
Cesar de Sa J.M.A.: Finite element prediction
of ductile fracture in sheet metal forming
processes. Journal of Material Processing
Technology, 177: 278-281, 2006.
[8] Uthainsangsuk V., Prahl U., Munstermann S.,
Bleck W.: Experimental and numerical
failure criterion for formability prediction in
sheet metal forming. Computational Material
Science, 2007.
Figure 8: Comparison between numerical fracture
prediction (black dots) and forming limit curve
experimentally determined through Nakazima test
[9] Uthainsangsuk V., Prahl U., Bleck W.: Stress
based failure criterion for formability
characterisation of metastable steels.
Computational Material Science, 39-1: 43-48,
2007.
4 CONCLUSIONS
A damage model based on Continuum Damage
Mechanics was implemented to predict material
failure during hot sheet forming operations of high
strength steels. The main features of the newly
proposed procedure can be summarized as follows:
[10] Zimniak Z.: Implementation of the forming
limit stress diagram in FEM simulations.
Journal of Materials Processing Technology,
106: 261-266, 2000.
- the calibration of the damage model is carried
out by experimental tensile tests at elevated
temperature, taking into account the complex
strain evolution in the necking zone;
[11] Lemaitre J., Desmorat R.: Engineering
Damage Mechanics. Springer, 2005.
[12] Lemaitre J.: How to Use Damage Mechanics.
Nuclear Engineering and Design, 80: 233-
245, 1984.
- the damage model implemented in the
numerical simulation is capable to predict
material failure during a Nakazima test
covering the different states of deformation; [13] Lemaitre J.: A Continuous Damage
Mechanics Model for Ductile Fracture.
Journal of Engineering Materials and
Technology, 107: 83-89, 1985.
- the proposed method can be considered a less
expensive procedure than the utilization of
forming limit diagrams for failure prediction
during hot stamping for a fixed temperature
condition.
[14] Merklein M., Lechler J., Godel V., Bruschi S.,
Ghiotti A., Turetta A.: Mechanical properties
and plastic anisotropy of the quenchenable
high strength steel 22MnB5. Proceeedings of
SheMet 2007 International Conference, 2007.
5 REFERENCES
[1] Neugerbauer R., Altan T., Geiger M., Kleiner
M., Sterzing A.: Sheet metal forming at
elevated temperature. Annals of the CIRP,
55/2: 793-816, 2006..
[15] Bruschi S., Ghiotti A., Turetta A.: Testing
material formability in hot stamping
operations. Proceedings of IDDRG 2006
International Conference, 2006.
Characterization of the flow properties of the
quenchenable ultra high strength steel
22MnB5. Annals of the CIRP, 55/1: 229-232,
2006.
[16] Turetta A., Bruschi S., Ghiotti A.:
Investigation of 22MnB5 formability in hot
stamping operations. Journal of Materials
Optimization of Nakazima test at elevated
temperatures. Proceedings of 10th
ESAFORM International Conference, 2007.
Determination of thermal and mechanical
properties of hot stamping processes of ultra
high strength steel. Proceedings of 2007 SAE
International World Conference, 2007.
[18] Turetta A, Ghiotti A., Bruschi S.:
Investigation of 22MnB5 mechanical and
phase transformation behaviour at high
temperature. Proceedings of IDDRG 2007
International Conference, 2007.
[4] Merklein M., Lechler J.: Investigation of the
steels, Journal of Materials Processing
Technology, 117: 452-455, 2006.
[19] Turetta A, Pellegrini D.: Dimeg internal
report, December 2007, 2007. ISO 12004
[5] Hora P., Merklein M., Tong L., Lechler J.:
Numerical and experimental evaluation of
thermal dependent FLC (FLC-T). Proceedings
of IDDRG 2007 International Conference, 23-
30, 2007.
[20] Standard ISO 12004-2:1997, TC 164/SC 2.
633
DETERMINATION OF FLOWCURVES BY STACK
COMPRESSION TESTS AND INVERSE ANALYSIS FOR THE
SIMULATION OF PRESS HARDENING
B. Hochholdinger
1
, H. Grass
2
, A. Lipp
2
, A. Wahlen
1
, P. Hora
1
1
Institute of Virtual Manufacturing, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
2
BMW AG, 80788 Munich, Germany
ABSTRACT: Due to the increasing number of body-in-white parts that are manufactured by press hard-
ening of boron alloyed sheet metal (22MnB5), the demand for an virtual representation of this specic manu-
facturing process is evident. For a realistic simulation of hot stamping processes, the accurate modeling of the
ow stress as function of strain, strain rate and temperature is essential.
In the last years a large varity of empirical-analytical as well as physically based models for the yield stress has
been proposed. Three existing models, that in recent publications have shown a good capability to represent
the ow behavior of 22MnB5 are presented and tted to the experimental data. The underlying experimental
data for the determination of the ow stress is obtained by stack compression tests. Since in compression
tests the friction between anvil and specimen can have an signicant inuence on the state of stress within the
specimen, an inverse, simulation-based approach for the determination of the model parameters is presented.
KEYWORDS: ow stress, 22MnB5, press hardening, stack compression test, parameter identication,
inverse modeling
1 INTRODUCTION
Press hardening of sheet metal for the production
of ultra high strength structural steel parts is a well
established process in the automotive industry to-
day. The permanent demand for weight reduction
and improved crash performance of the body-in-
white will most likely lead to a even higher fraction
of crash relevant structural parts, that are manufac-
tured by the press hardening process. Due to the fact
that press hardening is regarding cycle times, energy
consumption, cooling of the tools, etc. compared to
classical cold forming an expensive process, it is es-
sential that the process and tool layout are done vir-
tually prior to money and time consuming real try-
out loops. In contrast to cold sheet metal forming
press hardening can not be considered isothermal,
which means that the temperature eld must not be
neglected in the simulation and therefore a thermo-
mechanically coupled solution strategy has to be fol-
lowed.
For the coupled IBVP (Initial Boundary Value Prob-
lem) the simulation engineer has to dene not only
mechanical and thermal initial and boundary con-
ditions but also the temperature dependency of the
Corresponding author: postal address: Institute of Vir-

tual Manufacturing, ETH Zurich, Tannenstrasse 3, 8092 Zurich,
Switzerland; phone: +41-44-6322609; fax: +41-44-6321165;
email address: hochholdinger@ivp.mavt.ethz.ch.
mechanical parameters, as e.g. for the friction and
the yield stress. Especially for the direct press
hardening process, where the blank is formed and
quenchend simultaneously within one process step,
the denition of the ow stress as a function depend-
ing not only on the strain but also on the strain rate
and the temperature is essential in order to achieve
reliable results.
In the subsequent chapters the experimental pro-
cedure for the determination of the strain, strain
rate and temperature dependency of the yield stress
is presented. Furthermore different mathematical
models are tted to the experimental results and the
capability of the models to reproduce the test data is
compared. In order to account for the inuence of
friction on the test results, an inverse, simulation-
based method to identify the model parameters is
presented.
2 MATERIAL PROPERTIES AND
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
The material examined is phs-ultraform
R
, which
is the trade name for steel grade 22MnB5 from
voestalpine AG. The experiments for the deter-
mination of the plastic ow properties were con-
ducted in a high-speed deformation dilatometer
B ahr DIL805A/D by upsetting tests.
Currently 22MnB5 is more or less the only steel
634
grade used for parts that are manufactured by press
hardening in the automotive industry. 22MnB5 is
a low carbon steel that contains a small amount of
boron in order to enhance the quenching behavior
in such way, that even for moderate cooling rates
(greater than 30 K/s) a fully martensitic microstruc-
ture is obtained. The chemical composition of phs-
ultraform
R
as stated by FADERL [1] is listed in table
1.
Table 1: Chemical composition of phs-ultraform
R
from [1]
C Si Mn Cr B
0.22 % 0.2 % 1.2 % 0.25 % 30 ppm
The distinguishing feature of phs-ultraform
R
com-
pared to 22MnB5 steel from other steel suppliers
is mainly its zinc coating, which provides cathodic
corrosion protection for the base material. For de-
tails on the zinc coating, its corrosion resistance and
the chemical processes of and in the coating during
quenching see FADERL[1] and LAUMANN [2].
The tested material is sheet metal with a thickness
of 1.83 mm. In order get a sufcient initial height
of the cylindrical specimen of min. 5.0 mm, 3 cir-
cular slices with a diameter of 5.0 mm are stacked
upon each other. The slices were cut out of a sheet
by wire-electro discharge machining and glued to-
gether. When stacking and glueing the sheet slices,
care has to be taken to get reproducable, cylindri-
cal specimen. In order to minimize the heat ow
into the ceramic dies (Al
2
O
3
) and hence to ensure
a homogeneous temperature distribution within the
specimen, molybdenum platelets with a diameter of
8 mmand a thickness of 0.1 mmwere attached to the
upper and lower face of the test sample. As lubricant
between the molybdenumplatelets and the specimen
MOLYKOTE
R
HSC Plus paste was used. The tem-
perature was measured with a Ni/NiCr thermocou-
ple, which was spot-welded to the specimen. Figure
1 shows the setup of a specimen, which is ready to
be tested. Regarding the experimental procedure it
Figure 1: Upsetting specimen ready-to-test:
3 stacked sheet slices, lubricant, molybdeneum
platelets and Ni/NiCr thermocouple.
is important that the material undergoes a tempera-
ture history as close as possible to the real process.
Therefore a temperature-time program according to
gure 2 was used in the experiments. After applying
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
0
200
400
600
800
1000
Time [s]
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e

[
C
]
6 forming
temperatures
austenitization
phase
deformation
phase
heatup
phase
Figure 2: Temperature versus time program used
for the experiments.
a vacuum to the test chamber of approx. 10
4
mbar,
the specimen is heated up by inductive heating to a
temperature of 900

C within 90 s. Then the tem-
perature is held constant for another 180 s to achieve
a fully austenized microstructure. Afterwards the
specimen is cooled down to the actual test temper-
ature with a cooling rate of 50 K/s. In order to en-
sure a constant cooling rate of 50 K/s, helium gas is
applied onto the sample. Before nally applying the
deformation, the test temperature is held constant for
one second to allow the control unit of the dilatome-
ter to adjust the preset temperature exactly. Then
the deformation is applied with a constant strain rate
at a constant temperature up to a true strain of 0.5.
Since the plastic work during the deformation is al-
most completely converted into heat, the tempera-
ture in the specimen is not constant. If the measured
temperature deviates more than 4
C fromthe des-
ignated temperature the results of the experiment are
not taken into account for further evaluations. Table
2 shows the complete test matrix and the number of
valid experiments for the 18 congurations. Since
Table 2: Number of vaild test results for different
congurations of strain rate and forming tempera-
ture.
T/ 0.1 1/s 1.0 1/s 5.0 1/s
600
C 3 4 3
650
C 5 3 3
700
C 6 4 3
750
C 6 4 3
800
C 5 8 3
850
C 4 3 3
the temperature control of the dilatometer is quite
sensitive, much more than 3 experiments had to be
done to get at least 3 valid results per conguration.
635
3 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
Figure 3 shows exemplarily the experimental re-
sults for strain rate 1.0 1/s for test temperatures
T = 650, 750 and 850
C, respectively. For
each test conguration the individual curves of the
valid experiments (thin line) as well as the aver-
aged curve (thick line) are displayed. Accordingly,
in gure 4 the experimental results for the strain
rates = 0.05, 0.1, 1.0 and 5.0 1/s at a test
temperature of T = 650
C are displayed. The

oscillations within the individual stress curves are
mainly due to uctuations of the temperature during
the compression of the specimen.
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
0
100
200
300
400
500
p
[]
y

[
M
P
a
]
750 C
850 C
650 C
Figure 3: Flowstress curves for 3 test temperatures
at a constant strain rate = 1.0 1/s.
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
0
100
200
300
400
500
p
[]
y

[
M
P
a
]
5.0 1/s
0.1 1/s 1.0 1/s
Figure 4: Flow stress curves for 3 strain rates at a
constant test temperature T = 650
C.
4 MATHEMATICAL MODELING
During the last years several papers have been pub-
lished presenting different models for the ow stress
of 22MnB5 as a function of strain, strain rate and
temperature. The experimental results were either
obtained by hot tension tests as for example in BRO-
SIUS [3] and MERKLEIN [4] or by compression tests
using conventional (ERIKSSON [5], NADERI [6]) or
stacked specimens (BURKHARDT [7]).
According to BARIANI [8] one can generally distin-
guish between empirical anlytical, physically-based
and empirical non-analytical models. Empirical an-
alytical models deploy phenomenological derived
expressions to model the ow stress as a function
of macroscopic process parameters. The material
constants within such formulations do not have a
physical meaning and are usually determined by re-
gression analysis. In contrast to empirical analytical
models, the so-called physically-based models are
functions of internal variables, which reect the ini-
tial physical (micro-)structure of the material as well
as its evolution. Empirical non-analytical models,
which use instead of an explicit analytical expres-
sion for the ow stress usually a neural network-
based approach, are not considered in this paper.
For practical applications empirical analytical mod-
els due to their simplicity are often favored over
physically-based models. The later require complex
and expensive experiments to determine the internal
variables with an adequate accuracy. It is also popu-
lar to use a combination of both approaches. When
for such models the parameters are tted to the ex-
perimental data, the resulting values for the parame-
ters with a physical meaning can be checked versus
values from literature. This provides a rst check
regarding the validity of the model and/or the tting
procedure, respectively. In this paper three models,
which have shown a good capability to reproduce
the experimental data for 22MnB5, have been se-
lected and evaluated.
4.1 NORTON-HOFF MODEL
The rst model considered is a modied Norton-
Hoff approach as described in BROSIUS [3]. As
in most models, that follow the empirical-analytical
approach, the components that account for the
strain-, strain rate- and temperature- dependency of
the ow stress are multiplied with each other. The
original NORTON-HOFF model has the following
form.
y
(
p
,
p
, T) = K
K

K
T
= K
n
p

m
p
e
T
(1)
In order to correctly reproduce the initial yield stress
and to account for the temperature dependency of
K
and K

equation 1 has been extended by dening
parameters n and m as a function of temperature T,
respectively (see equation 2 as dened in [3]).
y
(
p
,
p
, T) = K (b +
p
)
n(T)

m(T)
p
e
T
with n(T) = n
0
e
cn(TiT0)
(2)
and m(T) = m
0
e
cm(TiT0)
Consequently 7 parameters (K, b, n
0
, c
n
, m
0
, c
m
,
) have to be determined in order to approximate the
636
ow stress with this model.
4.2 NEMAT-NASSER MODEL
The second model, which is applied to t the experi-
mental data, is a physically-based model and was de-
veloped by NEMAT-NASSER [9]. This model can be
used to approximate the ow behavior of both fcc as
well as bcc polycrystals and was initially employed
to pure tantalum and oxygen free, high conductiv-
ity (OFHC) copper. As shown by AKERSTR OM [10]
the model is also capable to reproduce the owstress
of 22MnB5 in its austenitic (fcc) state. The expres-
sion of the ow stress as a function of the strain,
strain rate and the temperature uses various material
constants on the dislocation scale and has the fol-
lowing form.
y
=
0
1 [A]
1/q
1/p
f (
p
, T) +
0
a
g (
p
, d
g
, . . .) (3)
with A =
kT
G
0
ln

0
+ ln f (
p
, T)
Where
0
is an effective stress, which has to be de-
termined empirically, k is the BOLTZMAN constant
(k = 1.3806505 10
23
J/K), parameters p and
q dene the shape of the energy barrier, G
0
is the
magnitude of the activation energy and
0
is a refer-
ence strain rate related to the density and the average
velocity of the mobile dislocations and the barrier
spacing (see [9] for details). Depending on the lat-
tice structure fcc or bcc the function f (
p
, T)
takes a different expression. In AKERSTR OM [10]
the formulation according to equation 4, which was
initially used for OFHC copper, is also used for
22MnB5 in its austenitic state.
f (
p
, T) 1 +a
0
T
T
m
p
1/2
(4)
The last term
0
a
g(
p
, d
g
, ...) denes the athermal
part of the ow stress and may be approximated by
0
a
g(
p
, d
g
, ...)
0
a

p
n
(5)
For a thorough tretamtent of all parameters in equa-
tions 3 - 5 please refer to NEMAT-NASSER [9].
Even though this model is physically-based the 8
model parameters
0
, (k/G
0
),
0
, a
0
, q, p,
0
a
and n
are determined by regression analysis.
4.3 TONG-WAHLEN MODEL
The last model considered contains both, physically-
based as well as empirical parameters. It is based
on the so-called ZENER-HOLLOMON parameter Z,
which denes a temperature compensated strain
rate. In WAHLEN [11] the following relation for
connecting strain rate, temperature and stress is pro-
posed.
Z =
p
e
Q
RT
= K
n
(6)
With Q being the activation energy and R =
8.314472 J/molK the universal gas constant. Solv-
ing equation 6 for the stress leads to
y
= K
1/n
e
Q
RT
1/n
= A
e
Q
RT
m
. (7)
In order to include the strain dependency of the ow
stress as well as softening effects because of either
recovery or recrystallization TONG [12] proposed
the following extension of equation 7.
y
(
p
,
p
, T) = A

p
e
Q
RT
1 +e
c(p0)
2
(8)
1 e
N
n
p
Where the second term accounts for softenig effects

and the third term, which is a HOCKET-SHERBY
type formulation, accounts for the strain hardening.
Since the experimental results did not show signi-
cant reductions of the ow stress the model was
simplied in such way, that the second term is ne-
glected. Furthermore, in order to account for an in-
creasing strain rate sensitivity with increasing tem-
perature, BURKARDT[7] denes the strain rate ex-
ponent m as a linear function of the temperature
T. This leads to the following form of the TONG-
WAHLEN model.
y
= A

p
m1(TT0)
e
m
2
Q
RT
1 e
N
n
p
(9)
For 22MnB5 the activation energy Q is assumed to
be equal to 280 kJ/mol. Consequently equation 9
contains 7 model parameters (A, m
1
, m
2
, T
0
, ,
N, n), that have to be determinded by regression
analysis.
5 REGRESSION ANALYSIS
For the direct identication of the model parame-
ters, two different optimization algorithms within
MATLAB
R
are used. The rst function applied
is fminsearch, which uses the NELDER-MEAD
simplex algorithm a direct search method that does
not use numerical or analytic gradients. The objec-
tive for the optimization procedure is to minimize
the residual between experimental data and model
result. The residual is dened as the proportionally
weighted mean square error (MSE), which for this
problem is dened by the following expression.
MSE =
18
k=1
1
p
p
i=1
exp
i

mod
i
exp
i
(10)
where N is the number of different strain
rate/temperature congurations considered and p is
the number of points in each conguration, respec-
tively. The second function employed is nlinfit,
637
which directly minimizes the mean square error
of the model prediction compared to the test data
using the LEVENBERG-MARQUARDT (LM) algo-
rithm. In general the gradient-based LM algorithm
needs much less iterations to nd a converged so-
lution than the simplex algorithm. On the other
hand the convergence behaviour of fminsearch
is more robust regarding variations of the starting
values for the unknown material parameters. If the
same starting vector is used, both algorithms con-
verge from an engineering point of view to the
same set of model parameters.
Comparing the convergence behaviour for the 3
models considered, it is obvious, but nevertheless
should be mentioned, that the less parameters have
to be determined the easier a converged solution is
obtained. In table 3 the mean error (ME) in [MPa]
and [%], the root mean square error (RMSE) as well
as the coefcient of determination (R
2
) of the non-
linear regression analysis for all models are tabu-
lated. With the model by TONG-WAHLEN (eq. 9)
Table 3: Results of the nonlinear regression analy-
sis for the different models.
ME ME RMSE R
2
Model [MPa] [%] [MPa] []
Norton-Hoff 11.1 3.9 13.8 0.977
Nemat-Nasser 13.1 4.7 16.8 0.966
Tong-Wahlen 8.4 3.0 10.5 0.987
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
0
100
200
300
400
500
p
[]
y

[
M
P
a
]
NortonHoff
TongWahlen
Experiments
NematNasser
Figure 5: Flow stress curves of the 3 models and
the experiments for T = 650
C and = 1.0 1/s.

the best t of the experimental data can be realized.
As can be seen in gure 5 the NORTON-HOFF and
the NEMAT-NASSER model do not catch the satu-
ration of the ow stress at higher values of the ef-
fective plastic strain. Mainly due to the HOCKET-
SHERBY term in equation 9 the TONG-WAHLEN
model has a good capability to match the experimen-
tal stress values also for higher strains.
6 PARAMETER IDENTIFICATION
BY AN INVERSE METHOD
One major problem of the tting procedure de-
scribed in chapter 5 is the neglection of the inu-
ence of friction [13], which is present in the com-
pression tests. Even though a high temperature re-
sistant lubricant is used, the specimens showthe typ-
ical bulging behavior (see g. 6), which indicates
that the inuence of friction could not be eliminated.
That means that the stress state in the specimen is
Figure 6: Undeformed and deformed specimen.
not an uniaxial one and hence the resulting ow
curves, which are obtained by assuming a uniaxial
state of stress, are too high.
In order to overcome this problem an inverse ap-
proach is chosen, using one-to-one simulations of
the different compression tests.
6.1 SIMULATION OF THE COMPRESSION
TEST
For the simulation of the compression tests, a simple
2D LS-DYNA
R
[14] model using axisymmetric el-
ements is set up. Figure 7 shows the quarter-model
consisting of 30 quadrilateral elements in the de-
formed state, when friction between anvil and spec-
imen is considered in the simulation. In a rst step
Figure 7: Quarter FE model of compression test in
the deformed (mesh) and undeformed state (edge).
in order to ensure that the simple FE model is able
to reproduce the experiment with adequate accuracy
simulations were set up without friction, using di-
rectly the experimental ow curves as input for the
material model. The resulting force-displacement
curves were compared with the ones measured in
the experiments . From these rst simulations it got
obvious that it is necessary to include the small vari-
ations of the initial specimen height in the FE model
638
in order to match the experimental results with a
high accuracy.
Since it was unfortunately not possible to measure
the diameter of the specimen online during the ex-
periment, the nal, deformed geometry was com-
pared with simulation results using various coef-
cients of friction. From that a Coulomb friction co-
efcent = 0.2 was determined, which was used
for all subsequent simulations.
6.2 OPTIMZATION PROCEDURE
Since the TONG-WAHLEN model showed the high-
est capabilty to t the experimental data (see chap-
ter 5), this model was chosen for the simulation-
based tting procedure. For each of the 18 cong-
urations listed in table 2 a specic, isothermal FE
model was set up. The optimization was dened
within LS-OPT
R
[15], which uses a successive re-
sponse surface method (SRSM) in order to mini-
mize the MSE (eq. 10) of the force-displacement
curves from the simulations and the experiments. In
LS-OPT
R
linear polynomial response surfaces and
a D-optimal approach for the point selection were
selected. Hence 13 simulations runs per congura-
tion were necessary to determine the 7 model pa-
rameters. After 14 iterations (14 18 13 = 3276
runs), a converged solution was obtained. The sheer
amount of simulations necessary underlines the fact,
that an approach which follows the maxime A sim-
ple model is a better model is still adequate. Alter-
natively an approach as proposed by AKERSTR OM
[10] using simultaneous cooling and compression
experiments for the parameter identication is prob-
ably more effective regarding the number of simu-
lation runs necessary. Figure 8 shows the differ-
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
0
100
200
300
400
500
p
[]
y

[
M
P
a
]
850 C friction
NOT considered
650 C friction
considered
850 C friction
considered
650 C friction
NOT considered
Figure 8: Flow curves of experiments, with and
without consideration of friction for = 1.0 1/s
ence for the TONG-WAHLEN model if tted with
and without considering the inuence of friction. It
can be noted, that the inclusion of friction results in
a signicant reduction of the effective yield stress
and therefore must not be negelected for the deter-
mination of the model parameters.
7 CONCLUSIONS
For the determination of the ow stress as function
of strain, strain rate and temperature, stack com-
pression tests have been performed. Three different
mathematical models are employed to t the exper-
imental data. From the models considered, an ap-
proach as developed by TONG and WAHLEN, which
is based on the ZENER-HOLLOMON parameter and
a HOCKET-SHERBY type formulation, provided the
best t of the experimental data. Furthermore, in or-
der to exclude the inuence of friction on the ow
curves, which is inherently present during compres-
sion tests, an inverse parameter identication is per-
formed. For this purpose a simple 2D FE model
for each test conguration is set up. The resulting
friction-free yield stress is up to 15% lower than
the one without considering friction.
8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The kind support of this work by the BMW Group
ist gratefully acknowledged. Also many thanks to
Dr. R. Gr uebler from the Institute of Virtual Man-
ufacturing (ETH Zurich) for the technical support
regarding the experiments.
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voestalpine. In 1. Erlanger Workshop
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[2] T. Laumann and M. Pfestdorf. Potential
verzinkter warmumformteile f ur den einsatz
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J. Lechler, M. Merklein, M. Geiger,
R. Springer, M. Schaper, Fr.-W. Bach, H. So,
and H. Hoffmann. Modellierung und
simulation der warmblechumformung:
Aktueller stand und zuk unftiger
forschungsbedarf. In 2. Erlanger Workshop
[4] M. Merklein, J. Lechler, and Geiger M.
Characterisation of the ow properties of the
quenchable ultra high strength steel 22mnb5.
In CIRP Annals 2006 - Manufacturing
Technology, volume 55/1, pages 229232,
2006.
[5] M. Eriksson, M. Oldenburg, M. C. Somani,
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of material data for analysis of forming and
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2002.
[6] M. Naderi, J.-R. Klepaczko, and W. Bleck.
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Constitutive modeling of the ow stress
during isothermal and non-isothermal forming
at high temperatures. Journal of Materials
Processing Technology, 2007.
[7] L. Burkhardt. Eine Methodik zur virtuellen
Beherrschung thermo-mechanischer
Produktionsprozesse bei der
Karosserieherstellung. PhD thesis, ETH
Z urich, 2008.
[8] P. F. Bariani, T. Dal Negro, and S. Bruschi.
Testing and modelling of material reponse to
deformation in bulk metal forming. In CIRP
Annals 2004 - Manufacturing Technology,
volume 53/2, pages 573595, 2004.
[9] S. Nemat-Nasser. Experimentally-based
micromechanical modeling of metal plasticity
with homogenization from micro- to
macro-scale properties. In O. T. Bruhns and
E. Stein, editors, IUTAM Symposium on
Micro- and Macrostructural Aspects of
Thermoplasticity, pages 101113. Kluwer
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[10] P.

Akerstr om and M. Oldenburg. Studies of
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boron steel by inverse modelling. Journal de
Physique IV, 120:625633, 2004.
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Computer controlled measurement and
analytical modelling of ow stresses during
hot deformation of the copper alloy
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[12] L. Tong, S. Stahel, and P. Hora. Modeling for
the fe-simulation of warm metal forming
processes. In L. M. Smith, F. Pourboghrat,
Yoon J.-W., and T. B. Stoughton, editors,
NUMISHEET 2005 - Proceedings of the 6th
International Conference and Workshop on
Numerical Simulation of 3D Sheet Metal
Froming Processes, volume 778, pages
625629. American Institute of Physics, 2005.
[13] R. Gr uebler. Simulation des
umformtechnischen Tribosystems. PhD thesis,
ETH Z urich, 2003.
[14] J. O. Hallquist. LS-DYNA Keyword Users
Manual - Version 971. Livermore Software
Technology Corporation, May 2007.
[15] N. Stander, R. Willem, T. Goel, T. Eggleston,
and K. Craig. LS-OPT Users Manual.
Livermore Software Technology Corporation,
June 2008.
641
TEMPERATURE AND VELOCITY DEPENDENT FRICTION
MODELING FOR SHEET METAL FORMING PROCESSES
R. Grueebler
1
, P. Hora
1
1
ETH Zurich, Institute of Virtual Manufacturing (IVP), Switzerland
ABSTRACT: Stainless steels in cold forming processes showa hardening behavior, which can be described
only in dependency of the deformation and temperature history. Because of the temperature inuence on the
material properties of those steels, the temperature dependence of the friction in the process has to be taken into
account. The friction characteristics in stainless steel forming has been examined regarding to the temperature
and velocity inuence. Friction tests were performed using different temperatures and velocities. From the
experimental observation the temperature and velocity dependence of the friction was modeled and integrated
in a nite element code for metal forming. The FE simulation has been applied to the biaxial stretching test
and compared with the experiment. The numerical results showed a good agreement with the failure behavior
of the stainless steel.
KEYWORDS: Friction modeling, FEM simulation, Lubrication
1 INTRODUCTION
In the manufacturing of stainless sheet metal prod-
ucts the processes are optimized regarding the re-
quirements for efciency as well as for quality im-
provement and for the augmentation of piece variety.
Therefore the process parameters have to be well
known. An important parameter in the process is
the friction because of the large contact area. Hence
the friction plays a major role in sheet metal forming
processes.
The contact area between the sheet and the form-
ing tool, including the lubricating agent, is the most
complex part of the tribological system. The pres-
ence of an effective lubricant lm thickness be-
tween contact surfaces in the metal forming pro-
cess increases the forming limit, reduces tool wear,
and improves the product quality. Different lubri-
cation regimes may occur in different areas of the
interface or at different time due to different fac-
tors inuencing the friction like temperature, normal
force, velocity. Therfore the analysis of the tool-
ing/workpiece interface friction with lubrication in
metal forming processes is extremely complicated.
Since the strain distribution in the workpiece is inu-
enced by friction, the formability of the workpiece
depends not only the material properties but also on
the friction at the tooling/workpiece interface. The
friction is essential to guarantee the formability of
the sheet and to improve the accuracy of the com-
puter simulation. Because of the temperature inu-
Corresponding author: Tannenstr. 3 8092 Zurich, p +41 44

632 26 17 f +41 44 632 11 65, grueebler@ivp.mavt.ethz.ch,
ence on the material properties of those steels, the
temperature dependence of the friction in the pro-
cess has to be taken into account. The consideration
of the temperature dependence in the material prop-
erties and friction is important for the formability of
the stainless sheet metal.
There are different approaches to include the depen-
dencies of the friction. Keum et al. [1] measured
experimentally the effects of lubricant viscosity, sur-
face roughness and hardness of the sheet, punch ve-
locity and die corner radius on the friction. He sug-
gested a mathematical model of the friction coef-
cient as a function of friction parameters. This is an
empirical model on the macroscale, which is easy
to use in a computer simulation but that does not
consider the physical processes. For a more theoret-
ical approach the processes on the microscopic scale
have to be considered. On this scale it is possible to
divide the friction in different regimes. Wilson et al.
[2] developed a theoretical model of thick lm lu-
brication for a simple stretch forming process with
a cylindrical or spherical punch. This model con-
siders no asperity contact at the tooling/workpiece
interfaces. But the boundary friction regime is im-
portant in sheet metal forming especially for stain-
less steels. The surface texture has an important
inuence on the friction ([3][4]). A lot of models
consider the asperity contact, most of them with the
static equilibriumsolution in pure attening [5], [6],
[7] and [8]. The asperity contact in sliding atten-
ing is more complicated, because of the additional
tangential stress. Lo and Yang [9] proposed a new
concept of asperity attening. The different friction
642
regimes depend on the surface topography affecting
the formation and transport of lubricant. Grueebler
et al. [10] presented results of different surface tex-
tured modeled with a nite element simulation on
the microscopic scale. This model distinguishs ex-
plicitly between the different friction regimes by cal-
culating the boundary friction at the real contact area
and the hydrodynamic friction in between.
The friction in sheet metal forming of stainless steel
has an important impact, because of the deformation
and temperature dependent hardening behavior. For
the modeling of the forming process the deforma-
tion, temperature and phase structure are essential
factors for a proper description of the material prop-
erties. So the inuence of temperature and velocity
on the friction coefcient has to be considered.
2 FRICTION IN SHEET METAL
FORMING
The tribosystem in metal forming processes consists
of the elastic tool, the elasto-plastic sheet, and the
visco-elastic lubricant in between. In the commonly
used FE-simulation the explicit consideration of the
lubricant in the calculation is ignored as well as the
topography of the surfaces. The friction is taken
into account with simple friction models such as the
Amontons law
F
=
N
(1)
or the shear friction model
F
= mk (2)
with
F
the shear friction, and m the friction co-
efcients,
N
the normal pressure and k the shear
stress of the softer material. With these equations
the inuences of the lubricant and the topography of
the surfaces are integrated in the friction coefcient
without the dependence of velocity and temperature.
However, the friction depends on the contact forma-
tion of the tool and sheet with the lubricant in be-
tween. The force of the tool is applied by asperi-
ties in contact as well as by the lubricant between
the asperities in lubricant pockets. The rst friction
regime results in boundary friction, where the size
of this contact zone and the composition of the addi-
tives play an important role. For the boundary fric-
tion regime in sheet metal forming the friction stress
can be expressed as:
b
=
a
A +
p
A (3)
where A is the contact area and
a
and
p
are the
adhesion and plowing friction stress components. In
the case of smooth tool and relatively rough work-
piece, which is the normal condition in sheet metal
forming, the plowing component can be neglected.
The boundary friction can be described with the ad-
hesion model of Bowden and Tabor [11]:
F
F
=
a
A
R
. (4)
The full lm lubrication or hydrodynamic friction
regime depends on the viscosity of the lubricant and
can be written as
h
=
dv
rel
dh
(5)
where is the viscosity, v
rel
the relative velocity and
h the thickness of the lubricant layer.
Because in sheet metal processes local temperature
variations of 60
C to 100
C can occur, the temper-

ature dependence of the viscosity has to be consid-
ered. The temperature dependence can be described
with the equation of Vogel[12]:
= Ae
B
T+C
(6)
where A, B and C are constants and T is the tem-
perature in Kelvin.
The contact formation is directly connected to the
viscosity of the lubricant. With lower viscosity the
boundary friction is becoming more dominant be-
cause of the increase of the real contact area. This
temperature-viscosity dependence of the friction can
be expressed similar to the temperature dependence
of the viscosity in equation 6:
= 1 ae
b
T+c
. (7)
The velocity dependence of the friction is assumed
to be linear decreasing:
= k
1
v
rel
+k
2
(8)
where k
1
and k
2
are constants. This has been ap-
proved by the friction tests later on.
Figure 1: Stribeck curve.
As mentioned in the introduction the friction in sheet
metal forming of stainless steel takes place in the
mixed lubrication regime. This regime is the com-
bination of the boundary friction and the hydrody-
namic friction regime. The two friction regimes ap-
pear in sheet metal forming at the same time but in
different areas. This mixed lubrication regime can
be written as
F
=
b
A +
h
(1 A) . (9)
643
The friction condition depends on the relative ve-
locity, the normal force and the viscosity of the lu-
bricant. This is described with the Stribeck curve
shown in gure 1.
The problemis to determine the friction in the mixed
lubrication regime. For this the real contact area
A has to be known. In a macroscopic nite ele-
ment simulation the determination of the real con-
tact area A is not possible, because the surface ge-
ometry with its asperities is not considered. For
this reason the mixed lubrication can not be simu-
lated from the hydrodynamic and boundary friction.
However a way to model the friction regimes is to
measure the friction dependence of the velocity and
temperature in the tribosystem and to use the mea-
sured friction dependencies in the simulation with
the according characteristics.
3 RESULTS
The determination of the friction for the nite ele-
ment simulation of sheet metal forming of stainless
steel has been done by strip drawing and pin-on-disk
tests. The measured data has been approximated by
the theoretical model shown in section 2. Then the
biaxial stretch forming process is used to compare
the simulation with the experiment. Tests and calcu-
lations with different speed have been performed.
3.1 EXPERIMENTS
Several experiments were carried out to measure the
friction behavior in the forming process of stainless
sheet metal. This has been done with pin-on-disk
and strip drawing tests. The pin-on-disk test simu-
lates rather the boundary lubrication regime whereas
the strip drawing test models the hydrodynamic lu-
brication regime.
The hydrodynamic friction depends on the viscosity,
which itself is strongly temperature dependent. This
temperature dependence is important for the con-
tact formation between sheet metal and tool. With
increasing temperature the viscosity decreases and
the real contact area grows. The temperature depen-
dence of the viscosity was measured on a Paar Phys-
ica MCR 300 Rheometer. The results are shown in
gure 2. The temperature dependence in gure 2
was approximated with equation 6 and plotted as
continuous line. The measured data is depicted as
crosses.
In sheet metal forming of stainless steel the contact
conditions are varying among others in temperature
and speed. Local areas with high speed as well as
others with low speed occur during the forming pro-
cess. According to this the friction is changing de-
pending on the conditions. A good possiblity to in-
vestigate the friction at certain conditions is the pin-
on-disk test. With this test it is possible to mea-
sure the friction coefcient at different velocities and
280 300 320 340 360 380
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
Temperature [K]
V
i
s
c
o
s
i
t
y

[
P
a

s
]

Approximation
Measured data
Figure 2: Temperature dependence of the viscosity:
Measurement and approximation.
temperatures. To get the velocity and temperature
dependency of the tribosystem stainless steel - lu-
bricant - tool, several pin-on-disk tests were carried
out. The friction coefcient of this tribosystem was
measured for three different velocities v
1
= 0.0007
m/s, v
2
= 0.01 m/s and v
3
= 0.16 m/s and for three
different temperatures T
1
= 23
C, T
2
= 60
C and
T
3
= 100
C. In gure 3 the results of the measured

friction coefcients are plotted.
280 300 320 340 360 380
0.11
0.12
0.13
0.14
0.15
0.16
0.17
0.18
0.19
Temperature [K]
F
r
i
c
t
i
o
n

c
o
e
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
t

Velocity 0.0007 m/s
Velocity 0.01 m/s
Velocity 0.16 m/s
Figure 3: Friction coefcient for three velocities and
three temperatures measured with the pin-on-disk
test.
For the temperature dependence of the hydrody-
namic lubrication regime the parameter of equation
7 can be approximated by the data of the pin-on-
disk tests in gure 3. The approximation results in
the following parameters a = 0.828, b = 5.9 and c =
-203.5. The data points and the approximation are
plotted in gure 4.
In sheet metal forming the full lm lubrication
regime contributes more to the mixed friction than
in the pin-on-disk test. This test shows the depen-
dency of the inuencing parameters. In order to get
the friction coefcient for sheet metal forming pro-
cesses the strip drawing test provides more accurate
results. In this test a strip of the AISI 304 sheet metal
is drawn over a drawing die with a radius of R = 8
644
280 300 320 340 360 380 400
0.11
0.115
0.12
0.125
0.13
0.135
0.14
0.145
0.15
Temperature [K]
F
r
i
c
t
i
o
n

c
o
e
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
t

Approximation
Measured data
Figure 4: The temperature dependence of the fric-
tion for a velocity of 0.16 m/s: Measurement and ap-
proximation by equation 7.
mm. During the test the strip is elongated by the
driving clamp and the rear clamp. The friction is
measured for the elongating sheet metal strip sliding
over the die radius. The conguration simulates the
tribological condition of sheet metal forming. In g-
ure 5 the schematic setup of the strip drawing test ist
shown. The test were carried out with a velocity of
Figure 5: Schematic setup of the strip drawing test.
0.16 m/s and with strains of 15% and 25%. Because
of the possibility to elongate the strip within the test,
it is possible to simulate the roughening due to the
bulk straining. The results of the strip drawing tests
are listed in table 1.
Table 1: Friction coefcient measured with the strip
drawing test for two different strains.
elongation 15% 25%
friction coefcient 0.04 0.05
3.2 MODELING
In order to investigate the friction model the biax-
ial stretch forming process is simulated and com-
pared with experimental data. The temperature de-
pendence of the friction was implemented in a nite
element code for sheet metal forming and compared
with the experimental measurement of the stretch
forming process. The blank material is 1.4301
(AISI304) steel with a thickness of 0.7 mm. The me-
chanical properties of the blank are: Youngs mod-
ulus 210 GPa, tensile strength 618.11 MPa, yield
strength 282.60 MPa and the anisotropy coefcients
R
0
= 1.1, R
45
= 1.6 and R
90
= 1.0. The diam-
eter of the punch is 100 mm. The viscosity of the
lubricant is shown in gure 2 in dependence of the
temperature. The setup of the biaxial stretching test
is shown in gure 6.
Figure 6: Setup of the biaxial stretching test.
The biaxial stretch forming process has been con-
ducted with two different velocities to simulate two
different tribological conditions. A punch speed of
0.167 mm/s and 0.83 mm/s has been used. Due to
the different velocities there is a difference in the
temperature due to the heat ux. In gure 7 the tem-
perature distribution for the two velocities is shown
with a heat ux to the punch of 350 W/mm
2
K.
Figure 7: Temperature distribution for heat ux to the
punch of 350 W/mm
2
K: left 0.167 mm/s, right 0.83
mm/s.
Depending on the heat ux between the punch and
the sheet metal the temperature variies at the pole.
For lower heat uxes (teon punch) higher temper-
atures occur at the pole and for a higher heat ux
of 1200 W/mm
2
K (steel punch) the temperature is
lower. In gure 8 the temperature at the pole for
different heat uxes is plotted. Figures 9, 10, 11 and
12 show results with a heat ux of 1200 W/mm
2
K.
The results displayed in gure 13 have been calcu-
lated with a heat ux of 350 W/mm
2
K.
The punch speed of 0.167 mm/s simulates the mixed
lubrication regime with a higher importance of the
boundary friction. The slow speed results in mod-
erate temperatures because of the heat conduction.
With a punch speed of 0.83 mm/s the higher ve-
locity implies a higher importance of the hydrody-
namic friction. In gure 9 the temperature distri-
bution along the radial direction for the two punch
645
0 500 1000 1500
30
40
50
60
70
heat flux [W/mm
2
K]
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e

a
t

t
h
e

p
o
l
e

[
C
]
Figure 8: Temperature at the pole for different heat
uxes.
speeds for a heat ux of 1200 W/mm
2
K is shown.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
22
24
26
28
30
32
34
Punch radius [mm]
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e

[
C
]

velocity 0.83 mm/s
velocity 0.167 mm/s
Figure 9: Temperature distribution in the simulation
along the radial direction for the two velocities: below
0.167 mm/s, above 0.83 mm/s.
Figure 10 shows the radial strain distribution pre-
dicted by the simulation for the two different veloci-
ties. With the lower velocity and therefore the higher
friction the highest strain appears at the side. How-
ever with the higher velocity the highest strain arises
at the pole.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
0.1
0.15
0.2
0.25
0.3
0.35
0.4
0.45
0.5
Punch radius [mm]
r
a
d
i
a
l

s
t
r
a
i
n

velocity 0.167 mm/s
velocity 0.83 mm/s
Figure 10: Radial strain distribution in the simulation
for the two velocities.
The biaxial stretching tests show a velocity and tem-
perature dependent behavior. For the slow punch
speed the failure occures at the side of the sphere.
But for the faster speed the sheet metal fails at the
pole of the biaxial stretching test. In gure 14 the
failure for the two punch velocities is shown.
Figure 11: Radial strain distribution of the simula-
tion with constant friction coefcient: left 0.167 mm/s,
right 0.83 mm/s.
Figure 12: Radial strain distribution of the simula-
tion with thermal and velocity dependent friction: left
0.167 mm/s, right 0.83 mm/s.
In gure 11 the radial strain for the simulation with
a constant friction coefcient is shown. The distri-
bution is similar for the two different velocities, for
the higher velocity the highest strain value tends to
move towards the side of the punch.
The inuence of the temperature and velocity depen-
dent friction is shown in gure 12. For the slower
velocity the highest strain appears at the side of the
punch. In case of the higher velocity the highest
strain occurs at the pole. This behavior has been
approved by the biaxial stretching test in gure 14.
Also in the temperature distribution the inuence of
the non-constant friction coefcient is visible. Like
for the strain distribution for the slow velocity the
highest temperature occurs at the side while for the
faster velocity the highest temperature appears at
the pole. The different temperature distributions are
shown in gure 13.
4 DISCUSSION
The tribological tests show the temperature and ve-
locity dependence of the friction. In the hydrody-
namic lubrication regime the friction has a similar
646
Figure 13: Temperature distribution of the simulation
with temperature and velocity dependent friction: left
0.167 mm/s, right 0.83 mm/s.
Figure 14: Failure of the biaxial stretching test for
different speeds and different lubrication: left 0.167
mm/s, right 0.83 mm/s.
temperature dependence as the viscosity, which is
shown in gures 2 and 4. For slow velocities, i.e. in
the boundary friction regime the temperature depen-
dency is very low and tends to decrease with higher
temperature (gure 3). This can be explained by the
temperature dependence of the material in the inter-
face layer. The friction decreases with increasing
velocity.
In the biaxial stretching test the temperature and ve-
locity have an important inuence on the friction.
For the slow punch speed the temperature is low.
The failure occurs at the side of the specimen. With
the simulation this can be explained with the high
friction because of the low velocity. The tempera-
ture inuence is small because of the low heating of
the sheet metal due to the slow forming velocity. In
case of the higher punch speed the friction is lower
because of the higher velocity. The higher temper-
ature is less important for the friction than the ve-
locity. Because of the lower friction the sheet metal
fails at the pole. The peak value of the radial strain
is greater in the slow velocity case and the position
of the peak value of the radial strain is about 22 mm.
For the higher velocity case the peak value of the
radial strain is smaller and the position of the peak
value of the radial strain is near the center of the
punch. The distribution of the friction coefcient
due to the velocity and temperature dependence ef-
fects the strain distribution signicantly. The lower
friction results in a lower peak value of the radial
strain.
The failure behavior of the biaxial stretching test us-
ing the two velocities can be explained with the tem-
perature and velocity dependent friction.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The temperature and velocity dependence of the
friction in sheet metal forming for stainless sheet
material has been applied to a nite element sim-
ulation. The temperature dependence of friction
has been found to be connected to the tempera-
ture dependence of the viscosity. The pin-on-disk
test showed this dependence for high relative ve-
locities. This shows the higher importance of the
hydrodynamic friction for higher velocities in the
mixed lubrication regime. In contrast for slow ve-
locities the boundary lubrication regime contributes
more to the friction. With the nite element simula-
tion these two effects could be shown in the biaxial
stretching process. For slow velocities and there-
fore low temperatures the friction is high and the ra-
dial strain shows the highest values at the side of
the punch. The higher velocity causes lower fric-
tion and the highest strain value moves towards the
pole. Hence it is important to consider the tem-
perature and velocity dependence of the friction for
forming of stainless sheet metal. It is possible to
implement the dependencies using empirical mod-
els in the FE-simulation. However it is not possible
to calculate the exact fraction of hydrodynamic fric-
tion and the boundary friction with the macroscopic
friction model.
REFERENCES
[1] Y. T. Keum, R. H. Wagoner, and J. K. Lee.
Friction model for fem simulation of sheet
metal forming operations. Materials
Processing and Design: Modeling, Simulation
and Applications, Numiform2004, pages
989994, 2004.
[2] W. R. D Wilson and J. J. Wang.
Hydrodynamic lubrication in simple stretch
forming processes. ASME J. Trib., 106:7077,
1984.
[3] H. Sprenger. Simulationsgerechte
Modellierung von umformtechnischen
Reibaechen mit Fraktalen. Libri Books on
Demand, 2000.
[4] B.T. Meier. Beitrag zur Beurteilung des
Einusses der Werkstueckoberaeche auf die
Reibung waehrend der Umformung. 1991.
[5] A. Majumdar and B. Bhushan. Fractal model
of elastic-plastic contact between rough
surfaces. ASME J. Trib., 113:111, 1991.
[6] Y. Ju and L. Zheng. A full numerical solution
for the elastic contact of three-dimensional
real rough surfaces. Wear, 157:151161,
1992.
[7] W.R.D Wilson and S. Sheu. Real area of
contact and boundary friction in metal
forming. Int. J. Mech. Sci., 30:475489, 1988.
[8] M.P.F. Sutcliffe. Flattening of random rough
647
surfaces in metal forming processes. ASME J.
Trib., 121:433440, 1999.
[9] S. W. Lo and T. S. Yang. A new mechanism
of asperity attening in sliding contact - the
role of elastic tool microwedge. ASME J.
Trib., 125:713719, 2003.
[10] R. Grueebler and P. Hora. Modeling of
surface texturing of sheet metal and tool in
sheet metal processes. Proceeding of
ICTMP07, 2007.
[11] F. P. Bowden and D. Tabor. The Friction and
Lubrication of Solids. Clarendon Press, 1986.
[12] H. Vogel. Das
Temperaturabhaengigkeitsgesetz der
Viskositaet von Fluessigkeiten. Physikalische
Zeitschrift, XXII:645646, 1921.

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CHAPTER 8

Corresponding author: postal address; Lule a University of

C, according to the experiment, and assumed

Fluid Structure Interaction

Corresponding author: postal address: Institute of Vir-

C are displayed. The

Where the second term accounts for softenig effects

C and = 1.0 1/s.

Corresponding author: Tannenstr. 3 8092 Zurich, p +41 44

C can occur, the temper-

C. In gure 3 the results of the measured

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