Influence of the strain path on crash properties of a crash-box structure by experimental and numerical approaches

In order to reduce the gas emission without decreasing the passengers safety, the UHSS (Ultra High Strength Steel) steels are more and more used in the automotive industry. The very high mechanical characteristics of these steels allow to reduce the car weight thanks to the thickness reduction of the structure parts. The aim of this study is to analyse the plastic pre-strain effect (forming) on the crash properties of a crash-box structure. In order to achieve this goal, experimental rheological tests have been performed by combining quasi-static tensile tests followed by dynamic tensile test (8.10(-3) s(-1) <= epsilon <= 1000 s(-1)) for a TRIP steel produced by ARCELOR. The combination of these results allows to obtain a better understanding of the steel behaviour in dynamic loading under different strain paths. All these information are necessary for an efficient simulation of crash test by including a pertinent material response. A special attention is given to the influence of the previous forming process on the dynamical response of crash boxes.