A new test design for assessing formability of materials in hot stamping

Hot stamping has been widely used in the forming of lightweight automotive body structural panel components. The assessment of the formability of the materials in the non-isothermal stamping conditions is challenging. A new testing method with a new specimen design is introduced in this paper for the evaluation of the formability and failure of materials in hot stamping processes. A series of tests have been carried out for an AA6082 at different forming rates. The failure mechanisms and failure locations have been analysed. A set of mechanism based stress-state dependent damage equations for AA6082 is introduced and this has been inputted into the commercial FE code, ABAQUS, through the user defined subroutine, VUMAT. An FE model has been created and validated from experimental results. Studies have been carried out to optimise the specimen shape designs, so that the formability and failure of the material can be predicted in hot stamping conditions. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.