Feasibility of one-shot forming for manufacturing of steel/CFRP hybrid B-pillar
Jae-Chang Ryu, Jae-Hong Kim, Dong-Hyuck Kam, Dae-Cheol Ko
Abstract
In this study, the feasibility of one-shot forming for manufacturing of steel/CFRP hybrid B-pillar was investigated using a steel sheet with a CFRP patch. The design of one-shot forming process has been described in three stages. First, CFRP reinforcement was designed to substitute for the steel reinforcements for weight reduction. The thickness of CFRP reinforcement was determined through structural analysis by comparing the strengths of the conventional and hybrid B-pillars. Second, the stamping of B-pillars using only the steel sheet was preliminarily designed to determine a proper blank shape that could be used as an initial blank shape in one-shot forming. Third, one-shot forming of the steel/CFRP hybrid B-pillar was designed by finite element (FE) simulation to investigate if fracture and wrinkling occur during the forming process. The feasibility of the designed one-shot forming was evaluated by experimentally manufacturing a steel/CFRP hybrid B-pillar. The FE simulation and experimental analysis indicated that one-shot forming is efficient and suitable for manufacturing steel/CFRP hybrid structures and can be used for mass production of automotive parts at low cost without an additional assembly process.