Experimental Research of the Formability of Lightweight Metallic Materials Used in Automotive Industry

This paper aims to study the plastic deformation behaviour of lightweight metallic materials in order to reduce the total weight of the vehicles without affecting their performances. For the theoretical and experimental researches presented here, among these materials the AZ31B magnesium alloy has been chosen, a representative alloy for the magnesium-zinc-aluminium alloy system. The results of the theoretical researches, made on finite elements models, were validated by means of experimental researches consisting of tensile tests, forming limit curves determination tests and AZ31B magnesium alloy drawing, respectively.