Ductile Failure in High Strength Steel Sheets

Abstract: Developments in computer-aided engineering and the rapid growth of computational power have made simulation-driven process and product development efficient and useful since it enables detailed evaluation of product designs and their manufacturing processes. In the context of a sheet metal component, it is vital to predict possible failure both during its forming process and its subsequent usage. Accurate numerical models are needed in order to obtain trustworthy simulation results. Furthermore, the increasing demands imposed on improved weight-to-performance ratio for many products endorse the use of high-strength steels. These steels often show anisotropic behaviour and more complex hardening and fracturing compared to conventional steels. Consequently, demand for research on material and failure models suitable for these steels has increased.In this work, the mechanical and fracture behaviour of two high-strength steels, Docol 600DP and Docol 1200M, have been studied under various deformation processes. Experimental results have been used both for material characterisation and for calibration of fracture criteria. One major requirement as concerns the fracture criteria studied is that they should be simple to apply in industrial applications, i.e. it should be possible to easily calibrate the fracture criteria in simple mechanical experiments and they should be efficient and accurate. Consequently, un-coupled phenomenological damage models have been the main focus throughout this work.Detailed finite element models including accurate constitutive laws have be used to predict and capture material instabilities. Most of the fracture criteria studied are modifications of the plastic work to fracture. Ductile tensile and ductile shear types of fracture are of particular interest in sheet metal applications. For these fractures the modification of the plastic work relates to void coalescence and void collapse, respectively. Anisotropy in fracture behaviour can be captured by the introduction of a material directional function.The dissertation consists of two parts. The first part contains theory and background. The second consists of five papers.