Strength enhancements induced during cold forming of stainless steel sections

The material properties of stainless steel are sensitive to plastic deformation which causes an increase in yield strength by a process termed cold working. The different strain paths experienced around cold-formed cross sections during manufacture create unique material strength distributions for sections from different forming routes and also influence residual stress patterns. The research program presented herein has examined experimentally the material and residual stress distributions found in two types of cold-formed sections–cold-rolled box sections and press-braked angles. Predictive tools to harness the observed strength enhancements have been proposed and incorporated into models. Subsequent comparisons have shown that these strength enhancements, in particular those observed for cold-rolled box sections, should be employed in structural design to avoid considerable underestimation of member resistance.