Research services

The Forming and Crash Lab provides a wide range of research services to industry and government laboratories on a contract or collaborative basis (depending upon confidentiality and IP ownership requirements). The following non-exhaustive list outlines available research services:

Material Characterization & Model Development

Quasi-Static Constitutive and Fracture Characterization

  • MTS 100 kN tensile frame
  • Instron 100 kN test frame
  • Shimadzu 50 kN test frame
  • MTS Dome Vesting Apparatus
  • Custom small load adhesive characterization frames
  • CT, LS, KSII weld testing

Constitutive and Fracture Characterization at Intermediate Rates (10 -100 s-1) 

  • Hydraulic Intermediate Rate (HISR) apparatus

  • ±30kN Kistler load cell
  • Data Acquisition at up to 250,000 samples/sec

High Rate Material Characterization (500 s-1 to over 1,500 s-1) using  Hopkinson Bars 

  • Tensile and compressive bars

  • Metal and Polymeric bars
  • High speed DAQ up to 20 MS/sec

Metallographic analysis

  • Keyence VHX-5000 Opto Digital Microscope
  • Precision cutting and polishing
  • X-ray diffraction phase identification and texture measurement
  • Hole drilling and X-ray diffraction residual stress measurement

High Speed Imaging & Digital Image Correlation

Digital Image Correlation (DIC)

  • Low (1 fps) to ultra-high speed (5,000,000 fps) DIC
  • High resolution DIC
  • DIC on test frames, presses and crash sled tests
  • High temperature DIC at up to 920° C
  • Correlated Solutions DIC software analysis and acquisition

High Speed Video

  • High speed video recording at up to 10,000,000 fps
  • Two Shimadzus HPV-X2s, up to 10,000,000 fps at 400 x 250 pixesl
  • Two Photron SA-Zs, 20,000  fps at 1 mega pixel resolution, 2,100,000 fps max
  • Two Photron SA-5s, 7,000 fps at 1 mega pixel resolution,1,000,000 fps max
  • Two Photron AX 100s, G-hardened, 4,000 fps at 1 mega pixel resolution, 540,000 fps max
  • One Photron SA 4, 3,600 fps at 1 mega pixel resolution, 500,000 fps max

High Speed Infrared Photography

  • Two Telops FAST 2K IR cameras
  • Record at up to 90,000 fps
  • IR material failure detection at high rates

Conventional, Warm & Hot Sheet Forming Process Development & Testing

Large-scale forming trials

Warm Forming Formability Testing

Formability Testing MTS Dome Testing Apparatus

  • MTS Dome Testing Apparatus
  • Nakazima and Marcianiak dome tests
  • Stretch bend test

Six Axis Robot for High Speed/High Temperature Material Handling

  • ABB IRB-6700 Robot  - 200 kg payload
  • 3D vision system
  • Precision lubricant application system

Press-Tending Equipment

  • Coil Handling Equipment – Decoiler, Straightener, and Feeder (up to 300 mm wide x 1.5 mm thick)
  • Automated blank and tooling lubrication system

Processing Furnaces (for sheet metal)

  • Two Electric Hot Stamping Furnaces (1000°C) for conventional heating (1000 x 600 mm  and 610 mm x 457 mm capacities)
  • Rapid-Heating Contact Furnace (500°C) – Hot-platen contact furnace for rapid heating (600 x 300 mm capacity)

V-Bend Testing for Formability and Fracture Characterization

  • Optical VDA238-100 / V-Bend Test Frame
  • Custom designed and built to allow for 3D DIC
  • Provide uniaxial plane strain failure strains

Twist Compression Friction Test

  • Lubricant evaluation for sheet metal forming
  • Room temperature to 430 ºC

Impact Testing

Structural Crashworthiness Sled Facility 

  • SESA Crash Sled
  • Max energy 169,500 kJ
  • 90 km/hr max speed
  • Max payload of 1,400 kg
  • Can record tests with up to 7 high speed cameras
  • Six Kistler 120 kN load cells
  • Laser displacement sensor
  • On board accelerometers
  • Axial crush, three and four-point bend, and component testing

CAE Model Development

Constitutive and Fracture CAE Model Development

  • Provide data for standard LS-DYNA and AutoForm models
  • GISSMO model development

Yield surface calibration and development

Model validation with in-house forming and impact experiments

Linux Cluster computing

Cyclic Plasticity model development

For additional information contact prof. Michael Worswick or prof. Cliff Butcher.