Research On The Formability Of Automotive Aluminum Alloy Sheet

In recent years, with the attention and concern for environmental protectionand energy saving, the weight reduction of automobiles has become a fundamentalobjective of the development of automotive technology. So far, the use of newmaterials or new forming method is a primary means for reducing the weight of avehicle. The basic requirements of a series of lightweight vehicles can be satisfiedas aluminum alloy has low density, high strength-to-weight ratio, corrosionresistance, etc. Aluminum alloy has gradually become the main materials instead ofsteel in the automotive light weighting process.Several aluminum alloys used in automobile bodies were studied as theresearch object in this paper. Based on the mechanism of plastic forming, thesealuminum alloys were investigated deeply and systematically by combining withexperimental research, theoretical research, numerical simulation and experimentalvalidation. And according to the requirements of mechanical properties in use, anautomobile covering part was taken as an example, the appropriate aluminum alloysheets were chosen to replace low carbon steel sheets, finally aluminum sheetsshould be applied in production practice. Specific work is as follows:(1)5754and6061aluminum alloy sheets were determined ultimately bycombining with the actual conditions and theoretical analysis of the different typesof aluminum alloy sheets. And components of the materials were analyzed toidentify the specific composition.(2) For these two kinds of aluminum alloy sheets, through uniaxial tensile test,maximum drawing deformation degree test and Erichsen test, mechanical propertiesand stamping formability were carried out. And then scanning fracture andmicrostructure were observed and analyzed to study the difference of fracturemorphology and microstructure of these two kinds of aluminum alloy sheets, sothat the microscopic deformation mechanism was explained.(3) The influence rules of material parameters and process parameters on theproperties of aluminum alloy sheets stamping forming were found out byestablishing a finite element model and simulating. Furthermore the correctness ofsimulation results was proved by physical tests.(4) An the basis of the above results, an automobile covering part was taken asan example, through strength calculation, the aluminum alloy sheets were used toreplace low carbon steel sheets on the premise of stiffness and strength meeting the design requirements.