Development of a novel in-situ measurement method for thermo-mechanically coupled material characterization of high-strength aluminum alloys

Abstract

High-strength aluminum alloys are more and more used for safety and crash-relevant components due to their advantageous density-to-strength ratio. By using thermal-supported forming strategies, failure-free deep drawing is possible for these materials. In this context, the hot form quench process (HFQ®) has shown to be a promising thermally-assisted forming strategy. By using locally tempered forming tools, the production of tailored components with different mechanical properties is possible. However, material characterization and process design with conventional characterization methods are quite challenging in this context. A new approach is the use of ultrasound-assisted material characterization in combination with a thermo-mechanical simulator. Thereby it is possible to perform an in-situ material characterization. So far, this technology is mainly used for steel materials. In this contribution, the potential of an adapted measurement strategy for high-strength aluminum alloys is presented. For this purpose, the influence of different measurement parameters on modified samples and the resulting measurement signal is investigated. With the help of this study, new standards are set for time-bound material characterization under thermo-mechanical stress. As a result, thermally-assisted forming methods can be designed more efficiently and faster in the future.