Development of Finite Element Analysis Method for Three-Dimensional Hot Bending and Direct Quench (3DQ) Process

摘要

The automotive industry has been focusing on developing lighter vehicles to improve fuel economy and crash safety. In order to meet these requirements, Three Dimensional Hot Bending and Direct Quench (3DQ) Technology has been developed, which enables a manufacturer to form hollow tubular automotive parts with a tensile strength of 1,470 MPa or over. 3DQ is a type of consecutive forming that allows bending and quenching at the same time, with a tube feeding device, an induction heater, a cooling device, and a bending device. In this research, a coupled thermomechanical-metallurgical finite element analysis (FEA) method has been developed to investigate the deformation behavior and to predict the forming capability of 3DQ. In the developed FEA procedure, the temperature distribution was calculated with electro magnetic and heat transfer analysis, and the flow stress was defined by transformation models and linear mixture rule. An experimental formula was used to track the ferrite-austenite transformation, and a Koistinen-Marburger relationship was employed to describe austenite-martensite change. The simulated results were compared with the experimental measurements, and the effectiveness of the developed FEA method was confirmed. Furthermore, the deformation characteristics of 3DQ, such as the wrinkling limit and the thickness change, were investigated, and simple equations to describe them were proposed.