Many demands are placed on automotive body structures which influence the material selection process. The impact on safety, manufacturability, and longevity are among the most critical, with each of these balanced against cost and environmental concerns.
Formed sheet metal products experience a complex series of deforming, cutting, and joining before being placed in a body structure, where these components will be subjected to complex loading conditions during the product life cycle. Understanding the failure limits and the conditions which produce failure allows for the design of body structures which can withstand these demands.
Testing helps determine whether a metal is suitable for its intended use. Different tests characterize specific performance aspects. Historically, manufacturers relied on tensile testing to understand metal flow. However, new tests help us understand the behavior of new steel grades and their interactions more thoroughly with new manufacturing technologies.
- Bulge, Hole Expansion, and Bend testing provide critical data for the simulation models leading to better springback prediction.
- Hole Expansion and Bend testing address local formability failures which are of increasing importance in AHSS
- Friction Testing describes metal flow under different conditions encountered in stampings.
- Delayed Cracking addresses in-use embrittlement risks.
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