Toughness properties influence on the automotive stamped components

The CO2 emissions of passengers cars and commercial vehicles are becoming more and more important year by year because they have a direct effect on climate change. For this reason, the main OEMs are increasing the usage of Advance High Strength Steel (AHSS) to replace the common low carbon steels (mild steel) in order to reduce the vehicle weight and so in parallel reduce the CO2 emissions in compliance with the international requirements that are becoming more restrictive than the past.

AHSSs forming operations are complicated due to their lower formability (global and local). , Therefore, it is crucial to be able to predict and select the best material for the components based on their shape and mechanical properties. This is the reason why CRF and Eurecat are working on several projects together, such as ToughSteel, to implement new fracture criteria for edge cracking sensitivity prediction in order to prevent and/or solve potential problems during forming.

In this paper, case study in which the Essential Work of Fracture (EWF) measurement was essential to define failure’sroot cause during the forming operation will be presented.