Mechanical Behaviour of Stamped Aluminium Alloy Components by Means of Response Surfaces

In the automotive industry, the use of stamped aluminium alloy components has become a very common occurrence. For the appropriate design of these components, it is necessary to know how the manufacturing process affects the material properties. In the first place, high plastic strains ( ε p ) can be generated during the stamping process, which can result in a change in the residual stress and mechanical properties in the plastically deformed areas. Furthermore, if a last coat of paint that is usually subjected to a thermal cycle, characterized by temperature ( T ) and exposure time ( t ), is applied, it can also influence mechanical behaviour. Consequently, this paper studies how both processes affect the mechanical behaviour of an aluminium alloy of the 5000 series, commonly used in these types of components. In particular, the mechanical properties such as the yield stress at 0.2% ( σ 0.2 ), the ultimate tensile strength ( s u t ) and the engineering strain at break ( e f ) have been analysed. To achieve this, a response surface technique, based on the design of experiments, has been used. The response surfaces obtained allow for the prediction of mechanical properties σ 0.2 , s u t and e f for any combination of values of t , T and ε p .