The increasing demand for car body structures with optimised energy absorption capacity and the ability to maintain their structural integrity even under the highest dynamic load has stimulated the development of new thermo-mechanical process routes for the production of pressed and roll-formed sheet metal parts in order to combine both extreme formability and a highest level of strength for the final product. These process routes offer a high potential for further improvements in the field of strength-strain correlation and load adapted property distribution of the components, as well as an enhanced process productivity. A new type of thermo-mechanical tailored processing of sheets and profiles is presented, based on the adequate application of differential heating and cooling strategies. By the control of local microstructural effects, the components develop a property distribution adapted to complex load situations. New tooling concepts complement these developments in order to ensure high process efficiency and reliability.

The present work focuses on the effect of thermo-mechanical processing on the mechanical properties and microstructural evolution of AA6082 and AA7075 aluminum alloys using a novel forming process, i. e. integrating solution heat treatment, hot forming and tool quenching. Different tool temperatures ranging from 24 °C to 350 °C were applied to investigate their influence on mechanical strength and ductility. By using various tool temperatures, this study aims to provide insights needed for tailoring the mechanical properties of two different high-strength aluminum alloys. Further it is shown, how the different resulting cooling rates affect the final property distribution. Upon processing, uniaxial tensile tests were carried out at room temperature to characterize the mechanical properties of the investigated conditions. Microstructural investigation was further conducted by using scanning electron microscopy to reveal the prevalent deformation and strengthening mechanisms. Results obtained by mechanical testing reveal that reduction in tool temperature finally results in the realization of parts with higher strength upon aging. Tool temperatures above 200 °C deteriorate the strength of both alloys, however, improve ductility. Most importantly, the thermo-mechanical process used in the present work has only minor impact on the grain size of both alloys. However, the process appears to have a strong influence on the final morphology and size of precipitates. Elevated tool temperatures and, thus, lower cooling rates, make both alloys prone to the formation of coarse precipitates eventually deteriorating strength.

This study focuses on the high temperature characteristics of thermo-mechanically processed AA7075 alloy. An integrated die forming process that combines solution heat treatment and hot forming at different temperatures was employed to process the AA7075 alloy. Low die temperature resulted in the fabrication of parts with higher strength, similar to that of T6 condition, while forming this alloy in the hot die led to the fabrication of more ductile parts. Isothermal uniaxial tensile tests in the temperature range of 200–400 °C and at strain rates ranging from 0.001–0.1 s−1 were performed on the as-received material, and on both the solution heat-treated and the thermo-mechanically processed parts to explore the impacts of deformation parameters on the mechanical behavior at elevated temperatures. Flow stress levels of AA7075 alloy in all processing states were shown to be strongly temperature- and strain-rate dependent. Results imply that thermo-mechanical parameters are very influential on the mechanical properties of the AA7075 alloy formed at elevated temperatures. Microstructural studies were conducted by utilizing optical microscopy and a scanning electron microscope to reveal the dominant softening mechanism and the level of grain growth at elevated temperatures.

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