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.