Induction Assisted Single Point Incremental Forming of Advanced High Strength Steels

Induction Assisted Single Point Incremental Forming (IASPIF) is a die-less hot sheet metal forming. The IASPIF does not apply characteristic complex tooling like those applied in deep drawing and bending. In this thesis, induction heating was used to heat up the sheet while simultaneously forming with a tool. The research goal is to improve the formability of high strength steels by heating. The IASPIF consists of non-complicated set up that allows induction heating to be utilized through the coil inductor moved under the sheet and synchronized with the forming tool that moves on the upper side of the sheet. The advanced high strength steel alloys, DP980, DP600 and 22MnB5 steels, were investigated. The influence of induction heating on formability was evaluated by the maximum wall angle that can be achieved in a single pass. Additionally, tool diameter and tool feed rate was also varied. The most influencing parameters were tool feed rate, induction power, and the profile depth. A new forming strategy was also developed by control the heating temperature through coupling the formed profile depth with a successively increased tool feed rate. The forming forces of DP980 steel sheet, were reduced from 7 kN to 2.5 kN when forming process was performed at room and elevated temperature, respectively. Stretching stresses were developed during forming process causing a high reduction in the resulting wall part thickness. New findings in this investigation were the reverse relationship between the step-down depth and the thickness reduction percentage. The smaller the tool diameter, the better was the formability. The finite element simulation of the investigated forming process showed that the increase in heating temperature has a direct effect on rising the plastic strain from 0.2 at room temperature to 1.02 at 800 ◦ C. The maximum true strain achieved in the resulting wall part thickness was determined by FEM simulations and validated with experimental trials. The part shape accuracy was measured and the highest deflection was founded when the part was formed by the highest step-down depth. Moreover, the minimum deflection in the part shape was achieved by utilizing a high induction power in the experiments. Finally, the resulting mechanical properties of the 22MnB5 alloy sheet material were tailored during IASPIF. For this purpose, the sheets were locally heated by induction during the forming process and subsequently quenched at different rates. As a result, the produced tailored parts consist of three different regions, which consist of a ductile, transitional and hardened region. The proposed procedure allows forming and quenching at the same time without transfer and thus, process time was reduced.