Assessing the Feasibility of Cold Forming of Automotive Parts from Quenched and Partitioned Martensitic Stainless Steels

Sheet metal forming is among the most widely employed processes in manufacturing. Its economic feasibility relies on many factors, including the mechanical properties of the processed materials, energy efficiency of the metal‐forming processes, and quality of the manufactured parts. This work focuses on developing a computational approach to assess the mechanical behavior of quenched and partitioned (QP) martensitic stainless steels (MSSs) undergoing cold forming, aiming at the serial production of automotive parts. The Johnson–Cook (J–C) constitutive model and forming limit diagram (FLD) are derived and validated for each alloy using the experimental data from tensile and Nakajima tests. From the simulated FLD, a theoretical forming limit stress diagram (FLSD) is calculated. The latter is used as a fracture criterion for the cold‐forming process. Cold stamping of two automotive parts, B‐pillar and tunnel, is modeled using the J–C constitutive model and the FLSD. It is demonstrated that the tunnel can be successfully cold‐formed from all three studied steels. In contrast, extensive cracking is expected during the cold forming of the B‐pillar from all materials. It is envisaged that these computational models can be employed for the assessment of any comparable part manufacturing procedure from the QP MSSs.