Formability and carbon footprint of a martensitic anti-intrusion bar

The objective of the thesis work is to analyse the production of an anti-intrusion beam obtained by a particular cold sheet metal forming process: the crash forming process and his environmental impact. The component analysed in this case study is a vehicle door side beam, a safety component which main purpose is to dissipate part of the kinetic energy in a lateral impact scenario, M.A. s.r.l. is producing this product on a customer specific request, in this way the company is not responsible for the object geometry definition but only for the industrialisation phase. One of the objectives of this thesis work is to test the effectiveness of the LS-Dyna simulation software on the metal sheet forming process topic, it is a simulation software which can be used in a vast number of simulation activities. The thesis consists in carrying out FEM simulations on the production operations and to confront the obtained results with the physical objects obtained in the production plant. The first desired outcome is to understand how reliable and precise the software is compared to the physical results obtained, in second place the R&D department of the company wants to implement the utilization of new materials for the series production, particularly UHSS (Ultra High Strength Steels) with the aim of reducing the component overall thickness and consequently the weight maintaining the specified product characteristics. The third and last part of the work consist in analysing the environmental aspect of the production with a particular attention on the carbon dioxide emissions, CO2. The decarbonisation topic is fundamental in the automotive industry and for this reason is not only a concern for the carmakers but for all the production chain.