Manufacturing of Innovative Car Seat Components by Forming of Advanced High Strength Steels – Fundamental Research and Application

Nowadays advanced high strength steel sheets and related forming technologies play an important role in lightweight construction in the transportation sector. Since especially car seat components are subject to very strict safety demands, the application of these modern steel grades, which provide enhanced strength levels, seems to be a promising strategy to meet the challenge of reducing the sheet metal thickness while maintaining the crash energy absorption capacity. Concerning the high required level of part complexity and accuracy both the reduced formability and the increased springback tendency of advanced high strength steels are challenges for forming technologies compared to conventional steel grades. Against this background the forming potentials of advanced high strength steels are investigated and are made accessible for an application in structural car seat components. The analysis is to be done both experimentally and numerically, focusing on the finite element method (FEM) regarding a reliable process design.