Conventional experimental approaches used to generate forming limit diagrams (FLDs) for sheet metals at different linear strain paths are not applicable to hot stamping and cold die quenching processes because cooling occurs prior to deformation and consistent values of heating rate, cooling rate, deformation temperature and strain rate are not easy to obtain. A novel biaxial testing system for use in a Gleeble testing machine has been adopted to generate forming limits of sheet metals, including aluminium alloys, magnesium alloys and boron steel, under practical hot stamping conditions in which heating and cooling occur. For example, the soaking temperature is about 900 °C and the deformation temperature range is 550–850 °C for boron steel [1] and the soaking temperature is about 535 °C and the deformation temperature range is 370–510 °C for AA6082 [2]. Resistance heating and air cooling were introduced in this pioneering system and the thermal analysis of different heating and cooling strategies was investigated based on a type of cruciform specimen. FE models with a UAMP subroutine were used to predict temperature fields on a specimen in ABAQUS 6.12. Digital image correlation (DIC) system was used to record strain fields of a specimen by capturing images throughout the deformation history and its post-processing software ARAMIS was used to determine forming limits according to ISO standards embedded in the software. Heating and cooling strategies were determined after the analysis. Preliminary results of forming limit curves at the designated temperatures are presented in order to verify the feasibility of this new method.
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