Formability of Aluminum 5182-Polypropylene Sandwich Sheet for Automotive Application

Abstract

The AA5182/polypropylene/AA5182 (AA/PP/AA) sandwich sheet is the material fabricated by adhering two aluminum skins to one polypropylene core. When it has the same flexural rigidity as a steel sheet, it is 65% lighter than the steel sheet and 30% lighter than an aluminum alloy sheet. Therefore, it is notified exclusively as good substitutive materials for a steel body to improve the fuel efficiency. Through AA/PP/AA sandwich sheet, however, it has relatively lower formability than that of the steel sheet for automotive application. In this study, we developed formability evaluation techniques in order to apply AA/PP/AA sandwich sheet for an automotive parts. For this purpose, newly adopting formability evaluations (using limit dome height and plane strain test) were carried out in order to secure the fundamental data for the measurement of sheet metal forming and the establishment of optimum forming conditions of the sandwich sheet. The results showed that there were in good agreements between the old formability evaluation method and the new one which was more simplified than that of the old one. From the results of these formability evaluations, the formability of sandwich sheet was higher than that of aluminum alloy sheet alone which was the skin component for the sandwich sheet. In addition, it was found that sandwich sheet could reduce the weight and could have the same flexural rigidity simultaneously when it was compared to the automotive steel sheet.