Investigation of Surface Damage in Forming of High Strength and Galvanized Steel Sheets

Powdering/exfoliating of coatings and scratching are the main forms of surface damage in the forming of galvanized steels and high strength steels (HSS), which result in increased die maintenance cost and scrap rate. In this study, a special rectangular box was developed to investigate the behavior and characteristics of surface damage in sheet metal forming (SMF) processes. U-channel forming tests were conducted to study the effect of tool hardness on surface damage in the forming of high strength steels and galvanized steels (hot-dip galvanized and galvannealed steels). Experimental results indicate that sheet deformation mode influences the severity of surface damage in SMF and surface damage occurs easily at the regions where sheet specimen deforms under the action of compressive stress. Die corner is the position where surface damage initiates. For HSS sheet, surface damage is of major interest due to high forming pressure. The HSS and hot-dip galvanized steels show improved ability of damage-resistance with increased hardness of the forming tool. However, for galvannealed steel it is not the forming tool with the highest hardness value that performs best.