FEM - Modeling of Bendability of Ultra-High Strength Steel

Ultra-high strength steels have been widely used in different industrial applications. It is necessary to understand the behavior of these materials in common forming processes such as air bending. It is known that the bendability of ultra-high strength steels is lower than other high-strength steels but what are yet to be discovered are the parameters that define the limits of bendability of these steels. The aim of this study was to investigate the factors affecting the bendability of ultra-high strength steel using optical strain measurements and FEM-modeling of the bending process. By using the true stress-strain relation measured by optical strain measuring system the bendability of ultra-high-strength steel was modeled fairly accurately. As a result, it was noted that the strain distribution at the bend of a steel possessing better uniform strain was more widely distributed and there were no highly localized strains. On the other hand as the failure occurred the strains were considerably smaller than the true failure strain of the material in uniaxial tension. As a conclusion it was stated that the ability to withstand the localization of deformation might describe the bendability of ultra-high-strength steel better than the values of the uniform or true failure strain in uniaxial tension test.