Third party funded individual grant
Start date : 01.01.2018
End date : 31.03.2019
Hot stamping has been developed as a suitable manufacturing process to produce high-strength body components which reduce the overall weight and ensure the passenger safety. In the first process step, the blanks are austenitized at temperatures above 900 °C.After this heat treatment, the components are formed and quenched in a water-cooled tool simultaneously. A tensile strength of 1500 MPa can be achieved with this method. The blanks are coated with AlSi to protect their surfaces against scaling and decarburization. As a side effect, this protective layer tends to adhesive wear on the tool surface, which reduces the tool life.
The main purpose of this research project is to develop an innovative coating system for press hardening tools, which increases the wear resistance. By adding and varying the element concentration, the protective layer will be adapted to the thermal and tribological conditions of the hot stamping process.The PVD-method is used to coat the tool surfaces with different materials.The characterization of the wear behavior of the modified surfaces is carried out with a tribotester. This test rig allows has an open tribological systemwhich allows a continuous flow of new sheet material into the contact zone. For the analysis the contact areas of the tools are measured before and after the experiments with a laser-scanning microscope and the surface roughness are determined.