Study of High Alloy Steel Forming Process: Comparing between Hydraulic Pump Equipment and Mechanic Pump Equipment Referring from JSTAMP Program

At present, ultra-high-strength steel is widely used in the automotive parts industry due to its enhanced tensile and impact impact strengths. This makes it possible to produce lighter weight automotive parts and still maintain the required strength. However, the production of automotive parts using ultra-high-strength steel is more difficult and complex. The reduced ductility of these steels results in problems, such as greater springback after forming. Thus, finite element simulations are used for analyzing and solving forming problems and now have a huge role in the production process. In this research, JSTAMP software was used to simulate part forming from ultra-high-strength steel to examine crack/wrinkle problems and to solve the springback problem by die face compensation. Experimental ultra-high-strength steel parts were produced with both hydraulic and mechanical presses according to data from the JSTAMP simulations. The results of springback values in 40 positions were compared between the simulations and the experimental parts. It was found that the springback values of the parts obtained from the hydraulic press were significantly consistent and closest to the springback values predicted from the simulations, compared with the springback values of the parts obtained from the mechanical press.