Advances in FEM Simulation of HFQ^® AA6082 tailor welded blanks for automotive applications

Vehicle weight reduction has been identified as one of the most effective ways of achieving reduced energy consumption and CO₂ emissions in the automotive industry. Aluminium has been used as a lightweight replacement to steel in the automotive industries for many years. In addition to the high specific strength, the formability of high-strength sheet aluminium is increased significantly at elevated temperatures. New manufacturing technologies that allow forming of high and ultra-high strength aluminium alloys have emerged recently. One such technology is HFQ^® - solution heat treatment, forming and in-die quenching which combines material tempering with mechanical deformation. In this article, firstly, HFQ^® Technology is used when forming a uniform thickness blank and, secondly, further benefits are shown when combining the HFQ^® technology with friction stir welding. The friction stir welded AA6082 tailor welded blanks (TWBs), with gauge of 2.0-3.0 mm have been prepared and successfully formed into automotive components using the HFQ^® process. The recent advances in the FE analysis and the implementation of a novel CDM model in industrial applications of the HFQ^® process has been described. This paper presents the use of CDM, integrated into FEA package Pam-Stamp, to accurately predict the forming of an automotive tailor welded cross member panel. (paper)