Development of new hole expansion testing method

Abstract

This paper introduces a new hole expansion (HE) testing method that could be more relevant to the edge cracking problem observed in stamping advanced high strength steel (AHSS). The new testing method adopted a large hole diameter of 75 mm compared to the standard hole diameter of 10 mm. An inline monitoring system was developed to visually monitor the hole edge cracking during the test and synchronize the load-displacement data with the recorded video for capturing the initial crack. A new hole expansion testing method was found to be effective in evaluating the edge cracking by considering the effects of material properties and trimming methods. It showed a much larger difference, up to 11%, of the HE ratio between DP980 and TRIP780 compared to the standard HE testing method giving less than a 2% difference.