Springback analysis in Advanced High Strength Steel using a new flexible semi-industrial tool geometry

The automotive industry is using more and more of Advanced High Strength Steel in order to reduce the weight of the car. Since this will generate more springback, it is of vital importance to be able to predict the amount of springback in the parts. Otherwise, many late changes have to be made in order to fit the parts in their position. In order to increase the ability to understand and test the behavior of the springback in sheet-metal parts, a new semi-industrial experimental tool, the flex-rail, has been developed. This is a very flexible tool, which can be used for various kinds of materials, from mild steel and aluminum to advanced high strength steel such as TRIP-steel and CP-steel by using different inserts. The tool is designed for experimental analysis of 3D-springback, which is the case in the more complicated automotive parts, such as b-pillars and side members. The scope of this work is to analyze the springback behavior and prediction for Advanced High Strength Steel both numerically and experimentally. Sheet-metal-forming simulations were made in LS-DYNA. The results proved that the new geometry, flex-rail, gave a complex springback behavior for all tested materials. Furthermore, the prediction of springback showed good correlation in sections with small amounts of twist but that LS-DYNA under-predicts the springback for sections with large amounts of twist for all materials