NIPPON STEEL TECHNICAL REPORT No.

103 MAY 2013

UDC 669 . 14 . 018 . 262 . 011

Technical Report

Springback Problems in Forming of High-Strength Steel

Sheets and Countermeasures
Tohru YOSHIDA* Eiji ISOGAI
Koichi SATO Koji HASHIMOTO

Abstract
Springback is one of the most difficult problems in applying high strength steel
sheets to automotive body parts. The mechanism of springback behavior classified by
the phenomenon and countermeasures based on each mechanism were reported. It
was made clear that section opening of member parts was reduced by crash forming
and wall tension control. And torsion and camber of complicated shape parts were
possible to decrease by planer stress control using the developed analytical methods
of CAE. In addition, about the buckling torsion of panels, the mechanism of the oc-
currence was studied and effects of countermeasures were reported. Basic concept of
countermeasure for springback is expected to design the part high rigidity at first,
utilize the stress control methods and minimize the compensation of die tools.

facturing costs and other technical problems. While advanced high-

1. Introduction strength steels that are excellent in formability, such as DP (dual-
The automotive industry is facing challenges of reducing body phase) and TRIP (transformation induced plasticity) steels, have
weight in consideration of environmental problems and higher colli- been developed and applied to car body manufacturing to solve such
sion safety; as a solution for both these factors, use of higher- problems,2) approaches from the forming technology side are also
strength steels for car bodies is expanding.1) High-strength steels very important for further enhancing strength of automotive parts
have been developed with different strength levels to give a wide and expanding application of high-strength steels.
selection of materials for different applications according to the re- As compared with that of steel sheets of conventional strength,
quired function. Compared with other light-weight materials, high- in sheet forming of high-strength steel sheets in cold, dimensional
strength steels are advantageous in terms of costs, availability of accuracy of formed pieces is important. While it is necessary to take
production facilities, etc., and as such, they are used as the principal adequate measures to cope with increased elastic recovery of high-
material for improvement of body weight reduction and collision strength sheets, springback behavior largely depends on the modu-
safety. Higher-steel strength, however, leads to forming problems: lus of elasticity, a property specific to the material in question, and
low elongation consequent to higher strength increases the risk of there is a certain limit to improvement measures from the material
sheet breakage during sheet forming, and a higher yield stress side. A common countermeasure against springback is to design
causes dimensional defects (springback), wrinkles, and other trou- forming dies that anticipate springback compensation, but the com-
bles. pensation amount is a difficult question even for experienced die de-
To cope with these problems, forming dies have to be adjusted signers, and field practice is largely based on trial and error. Given
many times during trial process, which leads to increased die manu- the situation, in the first place, this paper classifies typical dimen-

* Chief Researcher, Dr. of information science, Forming Technologies R&D Center, Steel Research Laboratories
20-1 Shintomi, Futtsu, Chiba 293-8511

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 NIPPON STEEL TECHNICAL REPORT No. 103 MAY 2013

sional defects due to springback that constitute problems in forming to the deformation, namely rigidity, mainly depends on sheet thick-
process of high-strength sheets and elaborates the mechanisms that ness. This understanding of the deformation mechanism leads to the
cause them. Then, it reports the effects of different countermeasures following types of countermeasures.3)
in view of the causal mechanisms based on the results of verification (1) Reduction of driving force: to make uniformly and lower dis-
tests using models. In addition, based on the understanding that tribution of residual stress to decrease driving force (moment)
CAE analysis is indispensable in the study of countermeasures in of different springback modes.
industrial production, its application technique is outlined. (2) Increase in rigidity: to change the sheet thickness or the part
shape so as to increase the rigidity against different springback
2. Basic Concept of Measures against Dimensional modes.
Defects in Sheet Metal Forming (3) Prediction and compensation of deformation: to differently de-
When a formed parts is released from the dies or trimmed flange sign the shape of forming dies from the product shape inten-
area, restriction is removed from the work, and residual stress in it tionally by anticipating deformation so that after springback,
causes elastic deformation to bring about a new equilibrium. Since the shape of formed pieces conforms to the intended one.
the elastic recovery of high-strength steel sheets is large, it is often Table 2 lists examples of these countermeasures and their char-
difficult to satisfy the dimensional accuracy required for final prod- acteristics. For example, driving force of wall warp that occurs at
ucts. Dimensional defects of forming are typically classified into draw bending into a hat-shaped section is the bending moment in
opening angle, wall warp, torsion, camber, and the buckling torsion the thickness direction due to bending and unbending when the
of panels (see Table 1). In any one of these, distribution of residual sheet goes around a die shoulder, and the problem can be decreased
stress in the formed sheet exerts a bending or twisting moment, by adequately defining the die shoulder radius to apply reverse
which causes deformation by overcoming the rigidity of the formed bending and increasing unbending tension.4) A countermeasure that
parts, which is determined by the elastic modulus, thickness, and combines an increase in rigidity and a decrease in driving force is
shape. The most common dimensional defects seen at a section are being studied, wherein a step is formed in each of the vertical walls
opening angle and wall warp. The driving force of such defects is of a hat-shaped section.5) Such countermeasures are important be-
the difference in stress in the thickness direction, and the resistance cause they can be applied in the early stages of die design, if possi-
ble in the part design stage, so as not to adversely affect die costs or
productivity.
Table 1 Classification of typical springback problems and its mecha-
nisms of occurrence 3. Measures against Forming Defects of Member
Parts
3.1 Springback suppression effects by crash forming
Crash forming, a press forming method without blank holders, is
becoming popular in forming process of high-strength sheets. Fig. 1
schematically compares crash forming with draw bending using
blank holders; bending of the material sheet around a die shoulder is
milder by crash forming, which is expected to reduce bending de-
formation that causes wall warp. In consideration of this, the authors

Fig. 1 Schematic figures of draw bending and crash forming

Table 2 Basic concept of countermeasures against springback

Effect on parts
Mechanism Countermeasure Example Costs Stability
performance
Reduction of Crash forming tension
Forming methods High Mid.
driving force control Mid.
(low moment)
Parts design Emboss, bead Low Mid. - large
Increase rigidity High
Prediction Modified die tool Compensation Mid. - high Low Small

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conducted test forming of high-strength steel sheets by crash form-

ing and draw bending using simple-shape dies and examined effects
of material strength over dimensional accuracy.
A set of hat-shaped forming dies applicable to both crash form-
ing and draw bending were prepared; to evaluate effects of the angle
of the vertical walls, one of the walls was slanted by 5°. Sheets from
ordinary steel to high-strength steel (780-MPa class) were formed
up to a punch stroke of 80 mm; by draw bending, the blank holding
force P was set at 150 kN, and by crash forming, the back pressure
F for the punch was set to 20 kN. After forming, the width opening
ΔW, the warping radii ρ of the walls, and the change in the angle θ
between a wall and a web were measured at a section using a con-
tact-type 3D measuring device.
Fig. 2 shows the relationship between the width opening ΔW and
the tensile strength σB of the specimen sheets by draw bending (DB) Fig. 4 Relationship between wall tension and opening width ΔS
and crash forming (CF). The graph shows that the width opening by
crash forming is smaller than that by draw bending and that the dif-
ference between the two methods increases with steel strength. To from Fig. 3, the decrease in wall warping by crash forming is more
clarify the reason for this, the authors looked into the relationship conspicuous in the slanted wall than the vertical one.
between the causes of the width opening, namely the wall warp, This is presumably because by crash forming, whereby the ma-
opening angle, and the tensile strength σB of the specimens. As seen terial sheet undergoes less tension during forming work, wrapping
in in Fig. 3, the wall curvature 1/ρ is smaller by crash forming than of the sheet around the die shoulder is significantly milder on the
by draw bending, although the decreasing effect of crash forming is slanted wall side, where the die clearance is larger, and thus, bend-
different with the vertical and slanted walls, and the effect increases ing deformation that causes wall warping is smaller. Based on these
with higher steel strength. On the other hand, although not shown basic findings, to obtain good springback suppressing effects by
herein, the angle θ between a wall and a web did not significantly crash forming, it is presumed effective to combine measures such as
change depending on the forming method. From the above, the de- bottoming at the lower dead center with the punch ridge and a mea-
crease in the width opening by crash forming is considered to be sure against angle change taking advantage of the spring-go utiliz-
mainly caused by the smaller wall warping. In addition, as is clear ing the sag at the punch head face.
To further improve dimensional accuracy for forming of ultra-
high-strength steel sheets, the authors developed a new efficient
bending method based on crash forming, whereby a blank holding
force is applied to the flanges just before the punch hits the lower
dead center. Fig. 4 shows the results of bending steel sheets having
a tensile strength of 980-MPa into a hat shape by the developed
method. The graph, wherein the wall tension σt , in terms of the av-
erage in the sheet thickness direction, is plotted along the abscissa,
and the width opening ΔS along the ordinate, shows that there is a
linear correlation between them and that the width opening could be
significantly suppressed by applying tension of 60 - 90% of the frac-
ture stress in plane-strain deformation to the vertical walls.
3.2 Measures against torsion and camber of rear member model
No general measures have been established against three-dimen-
Fig. 2 Effect of reducing opening width ΔW by crash forming sional forming problems that occur in industrial production, such as
torsion and camber. In consideration of this, using a set of dies for a
rear member model having curvatures in the in-plain and punch-
stroke directions (see Fig. 5), the authors investigated the mecha-
nisms that cause torsion and camber and studied countermeasures.
High-strength steel sheet specimens of tensile strengths from
270 to 980 MPa were formed at a reference blank holding force
(BHF) of 400 kN and using rust-preventive oil as a lubricant. To
evaluate effects of lubricating conditions, some specimens of 980
MPa steel (1.2 mm thickness) were coated with Teflon sheets. To
evaluate dimensional accuracy, the torsion angle θAB and the camber
δB between sections A and B were obtained by calculating coordi-
nates defined through non-contact shape measurement. Fig. 6 com-
pares the torsion angle and camber of the formed specimens. While
both of them tended to increase with material strength, sheet thick-
ness and lubrication were found to have significant effects. One of
Fig. 3 Effect of reducing wall curvature 1 /ρ by crash forming the reasons why it is difficult to work out measures against forming

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 NIPPON STEEL TECHNICAL REPORT No. 103 MAY 2013

in height, were formed as shown in Fig. 7. The torsion and camber

of the formed pieces with the beads at different positions are shown
in Fig. 8.
With respect to torsion, the torsion direction reversed depending
on whether a bead was formed in the stretch or shrink flanging re-
gion, and the improvement effect was significant when the bead po-
sition was in the stretch flanging region on the wide-end side (type
1). This is supposedly because the partial bead increased the residual
stress in specific portions of the walls and flanges, and thus, the
overall balance of the twisting moment was improved to decrease
the torsion angle. Further, as seen with types 4 - 6, a bead in the
shrink flanging region caused the torsion angle to reverse; the re-
verse torsion was large, especially with type 4. Type 1 was also
found to be effective at controlling camber, and so was type 4
(shrink flanging region on the wide-end side).
Fig. 5 Dimensions of rear member model
(2) In the study of width expansion/reduction, width expansion
(WE, i.e., narrow local width in the first step is widened in the sec-
ond step) and width reduction (WR, i.e., wide local width in the first
step is narrowed in the second step) were applied to stretch and
shrink flanging regions as shown in Fig. 9. As seen in Fig. 10, either
WE or WR was applied to the wall on one side in three different
patterns: to the stretch flanging region; to the shrink flanging region;
and to both. Fig. 11 shows the results. Both WE and WR proved ef-
fective at suppressing torsion. The effect of WE was more signifi-
cant when it was applied to both the stretch and shrink flanging re-

Fig. 6 Torsion angle θAB and camber δB of formed specimens

problems of parts involving a three-dimensional shape change is

that the positions at which the dimensional defects are detected and
the locations of the causes are different.
Given the situation, the authors analyzed the causes of the de-
fects based on CAE analysis of torsion and camber to locate posi-
tions of stress unevenness that cause such defects; the details of the Fig. 7 Positioning of partial bead in rear member model
analysis methods are given in reference report.6) With respect to tor-
sion, the analysis made it clear that position of the main cause at
which the twisting moment is the largest was the vertical walls, es-
pecially the regions where stretch flanging deformation was large.
With respect to camber, on the other hand, the problem was found to
originate from the web and the flange on the side where stretch and
shrink flanging were significant. Based on the findings, the authors
conducted tests of two measures against the forming problem to dis-
perse or reduce the stress in specific portions: (1) forming of partial
beads; and (2) width expansion/reduction. High-strength steel sheets
of 980 MPa class, 1.2 mm in thickness, were used as the specimens
for the tests. The tools (dies, punch, and blank holders) were divided
into several sections so that the measure was only applied to intend-
ed positions by changing the sections.
(1) In the study of partial beads, to disperse or reduce the longi-
tudinal stress imposed on the vertical walls that caused the torsion,
beads were formed along the corners in the portions where shrink
and stretch flanging occurred, and their effects were examined. Fig. 8 Influences of partial bead positioning on torsion angle θAB , and
Beads, of a round section 3 mm in radius (on the die side) and 2 mm camber δB

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NIPPON STEEL TECHNICAL REPORT No. 103 MAY 2013

Fig. 9 Forming methods of width expansion and width reduction

Fig. 12 Planer stress transition by width expansion and reduction

stretch flanging region, and in the case of WR1, in contrast, the

width reduction in the second step left tensile residual stress locally,
and thus, residual stress was effectively dispersed. In addition, in
both WE1 and WR1, residual axial stress was reduced at both the
walls of the region where the width was changed. This seems to in-
dicate that width expansion/reduction decreased and lead to disper-
sal of residual stress, which effectively suppressed torsion and cam-
ber.

4. Measures against Forming Defects of Panel Parts

Sometimes, shallow drawn panels exhibit a large twist after
Fig. 10 Positioning of width expansion and reduction in rear member forming. The geometric characteristics of shallow panels are such
model
that the rigidity against in-plane bending is by far larger than that
against out-of-plane bending and sectional torsion, and thus, when
released from the restriction by dies, such a work piece tends to un-
dergo not only in-plane bending in the most difficult direction but
also a combination of out-of-plane bending and sectional torsion,
which can occur easily. In such a case, where a forming defect is di-
rectly attributable to the geometry of the part, it is very difficult to
work out preventive measures without changing the part design.
There have been reports that propose measures to minimize internal
stress by coining of the punch head face and beading of flanges
based on tests using model dies.7) However, the shapes of industrial-
ly used panels are more complicated, and simple measures do not al-
ways prove successful in controlling torsion. In consideration of the
situation, the authors tried to clarify the mechanism of buckling tor-
sion of shallowly drawn model panels and studied countermeasures
using CAE analysis.
Test panels were drawn from 0.7-mm-thick sheets of 590-MPa
Fig. 11 Influences of width expansion and reduction on torsion angle class high-strength steel using square punches 420 mm × 260 mm in
θAB and camber δB size to a stroke of 25 mm. The following different punches were
used: one having a flat head face (corresponding to Base in Fig. 13);
a second with a longitudinal groove, 3 mm in depth, cut in the head
gions (WE3) than when applied to either one of them (WE1 or face (E01); a third with three such grooves (E03); a fourth with five
WE2). On the other hand, while the effect of WR was the largest grooves (E05).The torsion angle between the two longitudinal end
when applied to the stretch flanging region (WR1), the torsion direc- sections was measured after forming the specimen panels. Fig. 13
tion was reversed when applied to the shrink flanging region (WR2), shows the measurement results together with the torsion predicted
and the effect decreased when applied to both the regions (WR3). by CAE analysis. Here the abscissa represents the twist angle per
With respect to camber, width reduction was found to be more unit length of the deformation in which elastic strain energy attains
effective than width expansion; the improvement effect of WR1 was a stable equilibrium; the angle was calculated from the stress at the
found to be the largest. To examine these test results, the authors bottom dead center of the forming stroke by CAE analysis.8) Only
conducted FEM analyses of the width expansion (WE1) and reduc- the specimen of base case without the longitudinally embossed pro-
tion (WR1). Fig. 12 shows the result in terms of the stress in the trusions was free of torsion, while all the other specimens had twist-
longitudinal direction when the forming punch was at the lower ed protrusions, but the angle varied depending on their number,
dead center. The analysis showed that, in the case of WE1, the width which agreed with the prediction by CAE analysis.
expansion in the second step left compressive residual stress in the CAE analysis was conducted using the specimen with five pro-

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 NIPPON STEEL TECHNICAL REPORT No. 103 MAY 2013

Fig. 15 Effects of reducing buckling torsion of experiments by counter-

measures (E05)
Fig. 13 Comparison between torsion angle of experiments and ratio of
torsion angle by prediction
blanks. Fig. 15 shows the results. The tests confirmed that any of the
measures increased the in-plane tension of the panel, and thus, the
torsion angle decreased. However, since all these measures lead to a
decrease in sheet thickness of formed parts, care must be taken
when there are restrictions to minimum thickness.

5. Closing
Steel materials have been intensively used for automotive bodies
in appreciation of excellent recyclability, formability, and weldabili-
ty. Among them, high-strength steel sheets are expected to be effec-
tive at decreasing body weight to reduce CO2 emission and to en-
hance collision safety, and their strength will be increased further. In
view of the situation, the present report has sorted out the mecha-
nisms that cause dimensional defects, the most conspicuous of the
Fig. 14 Transition of planer tension along ref. axis on each area in problems related to forming of high-strength sheets, and elaborated
forming process (E05)
the effects of preventive measures against each of the causing mech-
anisms. Desirable countermeasures basically consist of designing
shapes of the parts to form as rigid as possible and minimize spring-
trusions (E05) to identify the cause of buckling torsion. Fig. 14 back compensation at the die design stage through residual stress
shows the change in the average planar tension in the longitudinal control. Understanding that application of CAE analysis is indis-
direction in the web, walls, and flanges as the punch stroke S ad- pensable in elaborating measures against forming defects in indus-
vanced. The graph shows that, up to a stroke of 22 mm, the longitu- trial practice, Nippon Steel Corporation has worked out related
dinal stress monotonously changes from tensile in the web (upper techniques such as prediction of springback with a higher accuracy
portion), around zero in the walls (middle of the panel), to compres- and the method of analyzing the causes of forming defects, which
sive in the flanges (lower portion). Because the stress imposed dur- were not included herein owing to space restriction; reference
ing forming work is reversed at the upper and lower portions of the report 9) gives more details of the analysis methods.
panel, stress decreases, and elastic strain energy reaches a stable
equilibrium only with bending deformation. In the range of S greater References
than or equal to 23 mm, however, the compressive stress in the ver- 1) Sato, A.: Journal of the Japan Society for Technology of Plasticity (JSTP).
tical walls rapidly increases, the stress does not decrease with bend- 46 (534), 548-551 (2005), for instance
2) Takahashi, M.: Ferrum (Bulletin of Iron & Steel Institute of Japan (ISIJ)).
ing deformation alone, and therefore, buckling torsion occurs to re- 7 (11), 34 (2002)
duce the outstanding stress. The compressive stress in the vertical 3) Hiwatashi, S., Yoshida, T.: Text for Sheet Metal Forming Forum, ISIJ.
walls increases because reduction-of-area deformation occurs in the 2005
region where material flow was caused by embossing. 4) Yoshida, T., Katayama, T., Hashimoto, K., Kuriyama, Y.: Shinnittetsu
Giho. (378), 25-29 (2003)
From the above, it became clear that, to decrease the cause of 5) Sato, Y., Toyoda, D., Noguchi, S., Yoshida, T., Kojima, Y., Kuriyama, Y.:
buckling torsion, it is important to change the planar tension in the Proceedings of the 2005 Japanese Spring Conference for the Technology
longitudinal direction due to the embossing toward the tensile defor- of Plasticity. 2005, p. 139-140
mation side. With these results, using E05 of Fig. 13 as the speci- 6) Yoshida, T., Satoh, K., Isogai, E., Hashimoto, K., Kuriyama, Y., Ito, K.,
mens, the authors studied the following measures to increase tensile Uemura, G.: Proceedings of the 59th Japan Joint Conference for the
Technology of Plasticity. 2008, p. 377-378
deformation during panel forming through tests: increase in flange 7) Handbook of Press Forming Severity. 3rd edition. Edited by Japan Sheet
restriction simulating bead forming; increase in blank holding force Metal Forming Research Group, Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun, Ltd., 2007,
during embossing using a variable BHF function; and use of larger p. 335-339

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NIPPON STEEL TECHNICAL REPORT No. 103 MAY 2013
8) Yoshida, T., Uemura, G., Ito, K., Mizumura, M., Suehiro, M.: Proceed-
ings of the 62nd Japan Joint Conference for the Technology of Plasticity.
2011, p. 399-400
9) Yoshida, T., Uenishi, A., Isogai, E., Satoh, K., Yonemura, S.: Shinnittetsu
Giho. (392), 65-71 (2012)

Tohru YOSHIDA Koichi SATO

Chief Researcher, Dr. of information science Senior Researcher, Dr. of information science
Forming Technologies R&D Center Nagoya R&D Lab.
Steel Research Laboratories
20-1 Shintomi, Futtsu, Chiba 293-8511

Eiji ISOGAI Koji HASHIMOTO

Senior Researcher Chief Researcher, Dr. of information science
Hirohata R&D Lab. Forming Technologies R&D Center
Steel Research Laboratories

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