Cracking Prediction in Hot Stamping of High-Strength Steel by a Temperature-Dependent Forming Limit Surface Approach

Hot stamping of high-strength steel (HSS) can significantly improve ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of hot-stamped part and thus meet the increasing demands for weight reduction and safety standards in vehicles. However, the prediction of forming defect such as cracking in hot stamping using traditional forming limit curve (FLC) is still challenging. In this paper, to predict HSS BR1500HS cracking in hot stamping, a temperature-dependent forming limit surface (FLS) is developed by simulations combined with experiments of biaxial tension of the plate with a groove at different temperatures. Different from the FLC, the newly developed FLS in which temperature is included suits the hot stamping of HSS. Considering the interplay among phase transformation, stress and strain, a finite element (FE)-coupled thermo-mechanical model of the hot stamping is developed and implemented under ABAQUS/Explicit platform where the developed FLS is built-in to predict strain distributions and HSS BR1500HS cracking in the hot stamping. Finally, the developed FLS is used to evaluate hot formability of HSS BR1500HS by using a hot stamping experiment for forming a box-shaped part. Results confirm that the developed FLS can accurately predict HSS BR1500HS cracking occurrence in the hot stamping.