C. Binotsch

Formability of Hybrid Aluminum-Magnesium Compounds

In the SFB 692 HALS (High-strength aluminum based lightweight materials for safety components), subproject B-3, the production of an aluminum magnesium compound by a hydrostatic co-extrusion process was investigated. The quality of these semi-finished products, especially the stability and robustness of the interface between the aluminum (AlMgSi1) sleeve and magnesium (AZ31) core, was of particular interest. Previous papers have described the first process optimization steps as the improvement of the die design as well as the numerical methods for identification of important process parameters and the development of a quality model for the interface. This paper describes the formability of such semi-finished products with subsequent forging processes, especially die forging. Therefore, two different die forging strategies were investigated. In the first approach the strand-shaped work piece, with a circular cross-section, was formed along its longitudinal axis with die forging. In the second approach the same geometry was radially formed with die forging. Thereby, the compound was formed in longitudinal direction up to an analytical equivalent strain value of 1.61 and in radial direction up to 1.38. First results showed that the interface of the aluminum magnesium compound is very stable and ductile enough to be forged. Dye penetration tests were performed to prove the stability of the interface in a first step. Then, micro sections were made to investigate the interface metallographically. No cracks or damages were detected with both test methods in the interface of the forged aluminum magnesium compound. Furthermore, numerical simulations were performed to analyze the forging processes in detail. Therefore, a full 3D simulation model was set-up with Forge2011 and the calibration was performed with the press force as well as the geometry aspects. The correlations between experiments and simulations are very well. By means of the calibrated simulation detailed analyses of interface section are performed and the stability of the interface was investigated. This shows that the compound quality reached by the hydrostatic co-extrusion process is very suitable for subsequent forming steps as die forging. The investigations show the potential of such hybrid compounds and clarify their application, especially in the automotive sector.

Forging of eccentric co-extruded Al-Mg compounds and analysis of the interface strength

Within the subproject B3 of the Collaborative Research Center 692 it has been shown that Al-Mg compounds with a good bonding quality can be produced by hydrostatic coextrusion. During processing by forging, the aluminum sleeve is thinned in areas of high strains depending on the component geometry. To solve this problem an eccentric core arrangement during co-extrusion was investigated. Based on the results of FE-simulations, the experimental validation is presented in this work. Rods with an offset of 0.25, 0.5 and 0.75 mm were produced by eccentric hydrostatic co-extrusion. Ultrasonic testing was used to evaluate the bonding quality across the entire rods. For the forging investigations the basic process Rising was chosen. The still good bonding quality after forging was examined by dye penetrant testing and optical microscopy. For an optimal stress transfer between the materials across the entire component, a sufficient bonding between the materials is essential. To evaluate the interface strength, a special bending test was developed. For the conception of the bending specimens it was required to analyze the Rising specimens geometry. These analyses were performed using a reconstruction of the geometrical data based on computer tomography (CT) investigations. The comparison with the numerically deter-mined Rising specimen geometry shows good correlation. Parametric Finite Element Analyses of the bending test were used to develop the load case and the specimen geometry. By means of iterative adaption of load application, bearing and specimen geometry parameters, an advantageous stress state and experimentally applicable configuration were found. Based on this conception, the experimental setup was configured and bending tests were performed. The interface strength was deter-mined by the calculation of the maximum interlaminar interfacial tension stress using the experimental interface failure force and the bending FE model.

Experimental and numerical investigation on cold flat rolling processes of DC04 sheets with special focus on residual stresses

The process of cold flat rolling is a widespread industrial technique to manufacture semi-finished products, e.g., for the automotive or homewares industry. Basic knowledge of the process regarding dimensioning and adjustment of defined characteristics is already state of the art. However, a detailed consideration and analysis with respect to local inhomogeneous residual stresses in several process steps mostly remains disregarded. A broad understanding of the process due to the distribution of residual stresses in the workpiece and the direction of the stress tensors allows for a definition of the characteristics of the workpiece even before the actual manufacturing process. For that purpose, it is necessary to perform numerical investigations by means of the finite element analysis (FEA) of cold flat rolling processes. Within this contribution, several approaches for the calibration of the FEA with the real flat rolling process will be addressed and discussed. To ensure that the numerical consideration provides realistic results, this calibration is indispensable. General parameters such as geometry, height reduction, rolling temperature, process time, and the rolling speed are considered as well as a photogrammetric survey, and calculated residual stresses with results of X-ray diffraction (XRD) will be compared. In the course of the experiments, a good agreement between the stress results of the FEA and the XRD was found in the center of the specimen. In combination with the allocation of the stress orientations, the agreement close to the edges is also fine. Some issues that cause differences between the FEA and the experiment are dis-cussed.