The increasing market demands in terms of cost and performance is continuously transforming the range of materials demanded by the industry, leading to the development of different solutions for each sector. These solutions can be often translated to improvement opportunities that can be shared from one sector to others. We will go through three representative examples that have been developed in the automotive, aerospace and heavy duty machinery applications that can be as well exported to other industries.
Press hardening, also known as hot stamping is used mainly to manufacture safety-related parts in the automotive industry. This advanced technology is based on hardening a new generation material, such as boron steel sheet. This innovative process allows forming advanced ultra high strength steel into complex shapes beyond the capabilities of traditional cold stamping. The crash tests have shown that safety characteristics can be significantly improved, reducing weight at the same time. In this context, press hardening is a hot sheet metal forming process that allows obtaining lightweight components with high complexity shape and high mechanical properties. It is defined as a “non-isothermal forming process for sheet metals, where forming and quenching take place in the same forming step" [1].
Press hardening, also known as hot stamping is used mainly to manufacture safety-related parts in the automotive industry. This advanced technology is based on hardening a new generation material, such as boron steel sheet. This innovative process allows forming advanced ultra high strength steel into complex shapes beyond the capabilities of traditional cold stamping. The crash tests have shown that safety characteristics can be significantly improved, reducing weight at the same time. In this context, press hardening is a hot sheet metal forming process that allows obtaining lightweight components with high complexity shape and high mechanical properties. It is defined as a “non-isothermal forming process for sheet metals, where forming and quenching take place in the same forming step" [1].