Sensitivity of the final properties of tailored hot stamping components to the process and material parameters

The final mechanical properties of hot stamped components are affected by many process and material parameters due to the multidisciplinary nature of this thermal-mechanical-metallurgical process. The phase transformation, which depends on the temperature field and history, determines the final microstructure and consequently the final mechanical properties. Tailored hot stamping parts - where the cooling rates are locally chosen to achieve structures with graded properties - has been increasingly adopted in the automotive industry. In this case, the robustness of final part properties is more critical than in the conventional hot stamping parts, where the part is fully quenched. In this study, a wide range of input parameters in a generalized hot stamping model have been investigated, examining the effect on the temperature history and resulting final material properties. A generic thermo-mechanical finite element model of hot stamping was created and a modified phase transformation model, based on Scheil's additive principle, has been applied. The comparison between modeling and experiments shows that the modified phase transformation model coupled with the incubation time provides higher accuracy on the simulation of transformation kinetics history. The robustness of four conditions relevant to tailored hot stamping was investigated: heated tooling (with low and high tool conductance), air cooling, and conventional hot stamping. The results show the high robustness of the conventional hot stamping compared to tailored hot stamping, with respect to the stamped component's final material properties (i.e. phase fraction and hardness). Furthermore, tailored hot stamping showed higher robustness when low conductivity tools are used relative to high conductivity tools.

Understanding wear conditions during hot stamping

Wear and galling are significant issues during production hot stamping processes. This paper uses thermo-mechanical finite element analysis to study the contact pressure, sliding distance and temperature conditions that occur at the wearing interface during hot stamping. Several hot stamping processes are studied, representing the numerous methods that are used in industry to form a typical hat-shaped channel component. These process include crash forming (without blankholder), stamping with a blank holder with an applied blank holder pressure, and stamping with a clearance blank holder (i.e. with spacer blocks). This paper identifies the distinct contact pressure and temperature conditions that occur for each of these forming methods. The regions of the most severe contact conditions are notably different for each of the forming methods. The work from this paper will form the basis for the development of suitable temperature dependent wear models and low cost wear tests for industrial hot stamping applications.

Experimental investigation of tailored hot stamping parts

It is known that tailored hot stamped parts, which have locally graded properties, can improve car crashworthiness. In this experimental study, a heated tool was used to decrease the temperature difference between the hot blank and the tool which led to lower cooling rates and softer properties. First, a flat heated tool was used to investigate the effects of process parameters on metallurgical and mechanical properties. Based on the range of parameters examined, press force and quenching time did not have a significant effect on the post-formed mechanical properties. In the next step, a hatshaped channel tool with heating system was used to produce tailored hot stamping parts. The results show considerable differences between hardness values of the top and side faces in the soft section, while the hardness was almost uniform in the hard section. These experimental results generally compare well with the results of previous numerical parametric studies performed by the authors, which identified less robustness of the tailored hot stamping process compared to conventional hot stamping.

Advances in tailored hot stamping – innovations in material and local patchwork topology

Hot stamping is now commonplace in the automotive industry. The continuing need by automotive manufacturers to reduce weight while increasing crashworthiness has driven the industry to seek new hot stamping solutions. Tailored hot stamping can be thought to produce a part that has patchwork of hard and soft regions. In this context, patchwork means that there is a relational organization (topology) to the network of hard and soft regions. The next generation of tailored hot stamping will therefore combine new steel grades together into a single part, and secondly will be able to locally tailor material properties to meet detailed engineering targets. The key to meeting engineering demands will be how the patchwork material properties are organized on the part. This paper will briefly outline our latest research in tailoring parts.

Understanding temperature and contact pressure in hot stamped channels

This paper investigates the temperature and contact pressure conditions in hot stamped channels of boron steel. Hot stamping has been used for many years to produce high strength structural auto-motive components. The high tensile strengths achievable by hot stamping is beneficial where the intrusion during a vehicle crash is not desirable – e.g. for the vehicle occupant compartment. How-ever, the high blank temperatures and high temperature cycling causes a large amount of wear in the tooling. These conditions have led to high tool failures and die maintenance costs. Thus, un-derstanding the main causes of wear behaviour in the hot stamping process is of high interest to hot stampers.
To this aim, a generic 2D thermo-mechanical finite element model of a hat-shaped crash formed hot stamped component was developed (based on the authors previous hot stamp model), and a modified phase transformation model based on Scheil’s additive principle has been applied. The model was created in the finite element software ABAQUS Standard V6.13, including convection and radiation when the component was transferred from furnace to the tool as well as the air-cooling process. A USDFLD subroutine was used to model the phase transformation and a HET-VAL subroutine was used to model the latent heat. Contact heat conductance was a function of the pressure.
The authors have used techniques from their previous work on tool wear estimation for cold stamping to estimate the contact pressure on the tooling, and the amount of sliding that occurs over the tooling, and the corresponding tooling temperature. This data provides a unique data set to understand the wear on the tooling, and will eventually lead to a model for estimating tooling life.

The crash behaviour of hot stamped components – the effect of tailoring conditions

It is known that tailoring a hot stamping part, to achieve locally graded properties, can improve the crash behavior. Depending on the role of the structural part (carrying either bending or axial crash load), the best position for the local regions with lower strength and higher ductility can be different. The distribution of these local regions and their mechanical properties affects the crash behavior of the part in each loading case and therefore can be effectively designed to improve the crash performance. To investigate these effects and examine the improvement possibilities, a numerical thermalmechanical-metallurgical model of a hot stamping process and a representative side impact crash model were created and analysed. The hot stamping model was used to predict the consequent phase fractions and mechanical properties of tailored hot stamping parts produced with different tailoring scenarios. In the metallurgical model, a modified phase transformation model based on Scheil’s additive principle was incorporated. The geometry and mesh of the stamped part was exported to a crash numerical model with a 3-point bending configuration. A constitutive model was used to define the plastic behavior of the stamped part corresponding to different hardness values. Various possibilities in locally positioning the high strength or high ductility zones of material were examined. The results show that the positioning of the soft zones has a more significant effect on the crash performance than the variation in their mechanical properties of these soft zones.

Simulación de la refrigeración en la estampación en caliente para una pieza de chapa.

[ES]El objetivo principal de este proyecto se centra en conseguir las características mecánicas requeridas por los componentes del chasis de los vehículos con una reducción de peso y mejora de productividad, para ellos es necesario simular el proceso de templado que se da durante la estampación en caliente de una pieza de chapa mediante utillajes con conductos de refrigeración. Para ello se ha utilizado el programa de elementos finitos ANSYS hasta obtener un proceso de embutición simulado que represente con una desviación dentro de los límites aceptables el comportamiento real de la chapa en la etapa de refrigeración. Como objetivo secundario se encuentra el afianzamiento de las bases teóricas de ciencia de materiales y la adquisición de más conocimientos relacionados con la transmisión de calor entre cuerpos sólidos, centrándose sobre todo en la distribución de temperaturas sobre la superficie de éstos. En una primera parte se tratarán los conceptos generales de la estampación en caliente y sus posibles variantes. También se explicará la necesidad del uso de nuevos materiales para la industria automovilística, así como la razón por la cual se utilizan conductos de refrigeración. A continuación, se definirá la geometría de la chapa a analizar, tanto las consecuentes geometrías de los utillajes, que tendrán diferentes distribuciones de conductos de refrigeración. Además se establecerán los criterios para realizar el análisis térmico transitorio del conjunto troquel – chapa – matriz. Una vez seleccionado el tipo de análisis se profundizará en su estudio, aplicándolo a los diferentes utillajes ya citados. Se analizarán los resultados obtenidos y los errores y se buscarán posibles alternativas. Finalmente, se procederá a sacar las conclusiones de la simulación realizada y se procederá a comparar los resultados obtenidos con las diferentes distribuciones de conductos de refrigeración en los utillajes.

American standard safety code for forging and hot metal stamping.

Mode of access: Internet.

Air pollution levels measured at traffic hot spots : Brisbane urban corridor study

Air pollution levels were monitored continuously over a period of 4 weeks at four sampling sites along a busy urban corridor in Brisbane. The selected sites were representative of industrial and residential types of urban environment affected by vehicular traffic emissions. The concentration levels of submicrometer particle number, PM2.5, PM10, CO, and NOx were measured 5-10 meters from the road. Meteorological parameters and traffic flow rates were also monitored. The data were analysed in terms of the relationship between monitored pollutants and existing ambient air quality standards. The results indicate that the concentration levels of all pollutants exceeded the ambient air background levels, in certain cases by up to an order of magnitude. While the 24-hr average concentration levels did not exceed the standard, estimates for the annual averages were close to, or even higher than the annual standard levels.

Thermal analysis and hot stage Raman spectroscopy of the basic copper arsenate mineral : euchroite

The thermal analysis of euchroite shows two mass loss steps in the temperature range 100 to 105°C and 185 to 205°C. These mass loss steps are attributed to dehydration and dehydroxylation of the mineral. Hot stage Raman spectroscopy (HSRS) has been used to study the thermal stability of the mineral euchroite, a mineral involved in a complex set of equilibria between the copper hydroxy arsenates: euchroite Cu2(AsO4)(OH).3H2O → olivenite Cu2(AsO4)(OH) → strashimirite Cu8(AsO4)4(OH)4.5H2O → arhbarite Cu2Mg(AsO4)(OH)3. Hot stage Raman spectroscopy inolves the collection of Raman spectra as a function of the temperature. HSRS shows that the mineral euchroite decomposes between 125 and 175 °C with the loss of water. At 125 °C, Raman bands are observed at 858 cm-1 assigned to the ν1 AsO43- symmetric stretching vibration and 801, 822 and 871 cm-1 assigned to the ν3 AsO43- (A1) antisymmetric stretching vibration. A distinct band shift is observed upon heating to 275 °C. At 275 °C the four Raman bands are resolved at 762, 810, 837 and 862 cm-1. Further heating results in the diminution of the intensity in the Raman spectra and this is attributed to sublimation of the arsenate mineral. Hot stage Raman spectroscopy is most useful technique for studying the thermal stability of minerals especially when only very small amounts of mineral are available.