NEWS

The main objective of the CEN/WS 'Fracture toughness evaluation methodologies applied to advanced high strength steel sheets' is to provide guidelines describing different methodologies, informing about their suitability, and to provide recommendations that can be applied by the manufacturers during the planning, design, and operational phases of the manufacture of AHSS sheets.

The sheet metal forming sector faces a major challenge with respect manufacturing of metal sheet parts, represented by the lack of adequate test methods to assess sheet formability and part performance at the product design stage. This is essential to be able to develop high-performance parts at a reduced cost with new high strength materials, such as high strength steel (AHSS). Such high strength makes them processing sensitive, so forming parameters and sheet properties must be assessed to assure a zero-defect production and part quality, avoiding unexpected defects that cannot be predicted at the product design stage using traditional experimental or computational approaches.