Optimization Of Nakazima Test At Elevated Temperatures

Nowadays hot forming of High Strength Steel is gaining the strict requirements of automotive producer: in fact deformation performed simultaneously with quenching assures a fully martensitic microstructure at room temperature and thus high strength properties that allow the thickness reduction of the body-in-white components. Basic aspects of hot stamping are still under investigation and supplementary achievements are expected for a successful application of sheet metal forming technologies at elevated temperatures. Among data needed to settle a numerical model of the process, information about material formability may help in better designing and optimizing hot stamping operations. In the first part of the work, a new experimental apparatus based on Nakazima concept is presented; process parameters are optimized in order to accurately replicate the thermo-mechanical conditions typical of the industrial process, paying particular attention to the thermal and microstructural evolution. On the other hand, as commercial FE codes require the implementation of Forming Limit Diagrams at constant temperature, numerical investigations have been performed in order to determine the proper testing conditions to obtain FLD at nearly constant temperature.