Tool steel selection for cold forming of high strength steels based on the stress distribution in tools
- Publication date
- Publisher
- Greyden Press
Abstract
The excellent combination of high mechanical strength, high elongation and strain
hardening of Advanced High Strength Steels (AHSS) has allowed their increasing use in the
automobile industry to reduce vehicle weight and thereby fuel consumption while improving
crash performance. However, the implementation of such high strength materials has generated
difficulties related to wear acceleration and premature failure of forming tools. High loading
during cold forming of AHSS increases to a great extent the tool requirements in terms of
toughness and hardness properties. The main alternative to overcome these difficulties involves
an optimized selection tool material through a proper evaluation of the stress state in the tools
themselves.
In this work, stress states on tooling during cold forming of AHSS have been evaluated
by means of finite element simulation. The calculated results allow selecting the most suitable
tool steel in terms of microstructure and mechanical properties