Search Results (13)

This study investigates the fracture toughness of adhesive joints between carbon fiber-reinforced polymer composites (CFRP) and boron-alloyed high-strength steel under Mode I and II loading, based on linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM). Two adhesive types were examined: the excess resin from the prepreg composite, forming a thin layer, and a toughened structural epoxy (Sika Power-533), designed for the automotive industry, forming a thick layer. Modified double cantilever beam (DCB) and end-notched flexure (ENF) specimens were used for testing. The results show that using Sika Power-533 increases the critical energy release rate by up to 30 times compared to the prepreg resin, highlighting the impact of adhesive layer thickness. Joints with the thick Sika adhesive performed similarly regardless of whether uncoated or Al–Si-coated steel was used, indicating the composite/Sika interface as the failure point. In contrast, the thin resin adhesive layer exhibited poor bonding with uncoated steel, which detached during sample preparation. This suggests that, for thin layers, the resin/steel interface is the weakest link. These findings underline the importance of adhesive selection and layer thickness for optimizing joint performance in composite–metal hybrid structures. Full article

This study investigates the effects of hot stamping on boron steel surface properties, comparing uncoated steel to Al–Si-coated steel, with a focus on developing atmosphere-controlled hot stamping technology. Experiments using a hat-shaped specimen revealed that uncoated steel formed a thick oxide layer due to exposure to atmospheric oxygen at high temperatures, negatively impacting surface quality and weldability. In contrast, the Al–Si-coated steel showed no oxide formation. Although uncoated steel exhibited higher average Vickers hardness, the detrimental effects of the oxide layer on weld quality necessitate advancements in process technology. A lab-scale hot stamping simulator was developed to control atmospheric oxygen levels, utilizing a donut-shaped induction heating coil to heat the material above 1000 °C, followed by rapid cooling in a forming die. Results demonstrated that maintaining oxygen concentrations below 6% significantly reduced oxide layer thickness, with near-vacuum conditions eliminating oxide formation altogether. These findings emphasize the critical role of oxygen control in enhancing the surface quality and weldability of uncoated boron steel for ultra-high-strength automotive applications, potentially reducing manufacturing costs while ensuring part performance. Full article

Press hardened components have become widespread in the automotive industry in structural and crash-resistant applications, thanks to the combination of the complex shapes and high mechanical properties obtained. However, the press hardening of coated boron steel results in severe adhesive-based wear, with tool maintenance being required in as few as 3000 cycles. The current industrial implementation of press hardening is defined to work around this phenomenon. While this aspect has been studied by different authors, most of the literature deals with laboratory-scale tribosimulators, leaving an open question into how this knowledge transfers to macroscopic effects on the industrial process. In this work, wear in press hardening is studied by comparing the results obtained in laboratory conditions with a pilot-scale line, and finally, with wear mechanisms observed on industrial tools. The aim of this study is to consolidate the current knowledge about the micro-mechanisms involved, and to understand to what extent the existing tests reproduce the actual mechanisms observed in the press floor. The results show how material transfer mainly happens as an accumulation of dust compacted into initial defects on the tool surface. Moreover, this mechanism is effectively reproduced in laboratory tribosimulators and pilot environments, showing a similar morphology to wear on industrial tools. The work sheds light on the underlying causes of wear, and its potential mitigation strategies. Full article

Al-Si-coated boron-alloyed steels are the most widely used press-hardened steels (PHSs), which offers good oxidation resistance during hot forming due to the presence of the near eutectic Al-Si coating. In this study, a recently developed novel un-coated oxidation resistant PHS, called coating-free PHS (CF-PHS), is introduced as an alternative to the commercial Al-Si coated PHSs. With tailored additions of Cr, Mn, and Si, the new steel demonstrates superior oxidation resistance with a sub-micron oxide layer after the conventional hot stamping process. Hence, it does not require shot blasting before the subsequent welding and E-coating process. Two CF-PHS grades have been developed with ultimate tensile strengths of approximately 1.2 and 1.7 GPa, respectively. Both grades have a total elongation of 8–9%, exceeding the corresponding Al-Si-coated PHS grades (1.0 GPa/6–7%, 1.5 GPa/6–7%). Furthermore, the bendability of CF-PHS was similar to the corresponding Al-Si PHS grades. On the other hand, performance evaluations relevant to automotive applications, such as weldability, the E-coat adhesion, and tailor-welded hot stamp door ring, were also conducted on the CF-PHS steel to satisfy the requirements of manufacturing. Full article

The coatings of boron steels play an important role in affecting the quality of hot stamping parts, so it is important to evaluate the hot stamping performance of coatings before designing processes. Taking the U-type hot stamping part of boron steel as research objects, the surface quality, microstructure and temperature variation of samples with GA (galvannealed), GI (galvanized) and Al–Si coatings were observed and analyzed to evaluate the anti-oxidation, forming and quenching performances of different coatings. The results show that all the GA, GI and Al–Si coatings could provide good oxidation protection and also act as the lubricants for avoiding the friction damage of sample substrates and die-surface. But the different compositions of GA, GI and Al–Si coatings will contribute the different colors. Under the same deformation degree, the Al–Si coating can provide the best substrate protection and the GI coating will induce cracks in the substrate because of the liquid metal-induced embrittlement phenomenon. There is no significant difference between the quenching performances of GA, GI and Al–Si coatings, and the thermal conductivity of the GI coating is slightly better than Al–Si and GA coatings. Full article

In this study, the influence of the multi-step heating methods, such as two-step heating methods and three-step heating methods, on the properties of Al–Si coating boron steel sheet were evaluated by using the Gleeble-3500 thermal simulator. The evolution of microstructure and 3D surface topography of the Al–Si coating were also investigated. The results showed that the heating rates of 50 °C/s, named rapid heating, at the stage of 20–500 °C did not significantly influence the microstructure and 3D surface topography of the Al–Si coating in the two-step heating methods. The results also indicated that the volume fractions of Fe₃Al₂Si₃ intermetallic compound, FeAl intermetallic compound and a-Fe phase in the Al–Si coating reduced by rapid heating at the stage of 700–930 °C in the three-step heating methods. The roughness of 3D surface topography of the Al–Si coating increased by rapid heating at the stage of 700–930 °C. Rapid heating at the stage of 700–930 °C had little influence on the porosity of the Al–Si coating. The results provided a theoretical basis for the popularization and application of rapid heating in the Al–Si coating boron steel sheet. Full article

In recent years, increasing automotive safety by improving crashworthiness has been a focal point in the automotive industry, employing high-strength steel such as press hardenable steel (PHS). In addition to the improved strength of individual parts in the body of the vehicle, the strength of the resistance-spot-welded joints of these parts is highly important to obtain a safe structure. In general, dimensions of weld nuggets are regarded as one of the criteria for the quality of spot-welded joints. In the presented research, a three-dimensional axisymmetric finite element model is developed to predict the nugget formation in resistance spot welding (RSW) of two types of PHS: the uncoated and AlSi-coated 1.8 mm boron steel after hot stamping. A fully coupled electro-thermo-mechanical analysis was conducted using the commercial software package Abaqus. The FE predicted weld nugget development is compared with experimental results. The computed weld nugget sizes show good agreement with experimental values. Full article

Hot stamping by partition heating of Al–Si coated boron steel sheets is currently utilized to produce parts of the car body-in-white with tailored microstructural and mechanical characteristics. This paper investigates the evolution of the Al–Si coating and its tribological and wear performances in the case of direct heating at the process temperatures of 700 °C, 800 °C, and 900 °C, skipping the preliminary austenitization as it may happen in the case of tailored tempered parts production. A specifically designed pin-on-disk configuration was used to reproduce at a laboratory scale the process thermo-mechanical cycle. The results show the morphological and chemical variation of the Al–Si coating with heating temperature, as well as that the friction coefficient, decreases with increased temperature. Furthermore, the results proved that the adhesive wear is the main mechanism at the lower temperature, while abrasive wear plays the major role at the higher temperature. Full article

Most structural components undertake cyclic loads in engineering and failures always cause catastrophic economic losses and casualties. In the present work, the phase evolution of Al-Si coating of high-strength boron steel during hot stamping was investigated. Two types of 1500 MPa grade boron steel sheets, one with Al-Si coating and the other without, were studied to reveal the effect on the high-cycle fatigue behavior. The as-received continuously hot-dip Al-Si coating was composed of α(Al), eutectic Al-Si and τ₅. After hot stamping at 1193 K, three phases formed in this coating: β₂, Fe(Al,Si)₂ and α(Fe). The experimental results showed that the endurance limit of the coated steel sheet was 370 MPa under 10⁷ fully reversed tension-compression loading cycles as opposed to 305 MPa in the uncoated sheet. Both the coated and the uncoated specimens showed surface-induced transgranular fatigue fractures. In the uncoated sheet, the fatigue cracks were generated from the decarburization surface, but the Al-Si coating effectively prevented the occurrence of near-surface decarburization during high-temperature hot stamping, and the only cracks in the coated steel sheet were initiated at wire-cutting surfaces. Full article

The constituents, distribution, and characteristics of the phases formed on the coating layer of boron steel hot-dipped in Al-7wt%Ni-6wt%Si were evaluated in detail. In particular, the microstructure and phase constitution of the reaction layer were characterized. Moreover, the microstructural evolution mechanism of the phase was presented with reference to the (Al-7wt%Ni-6wt%Si)-xFe from the pseudo-binary phase diagram. The solidification layer consisted mainly of Al, Al₃Ni, and Si phases. Reaction layers were formed in the order of Al₉FeNi(Τ), Fe₄Al₁₃(θ), and Fe₂Al₅(η) from the solidification layer side. In addition, the κ (Fe₃AlC) layer was formed at the Fe₂Al₅(η)/steel interface. From pseudo-binary phase diagram analysis, it was found that Fe₄Al₁₃(θ) can form when the Fe concentration is over 2.63 wt% in the 690 °C Al-7wt%Ni-6wt%Si molten metal. When the concentration of Fe increased to 10.0–29.0 wt%, isothermal solidification occurred in the Fe₄Al₁₃(θ) and Al₉FeNi(Τ) phases simultaneously. Moreover, given that the T phase does not dissolve Si, it was discharged, and the Si phase was formed around the Al₉FeNi(T) phase. The Fe₂Al₅(η) phase was formed by a diffusion reaction between Fe₄Al₁₃(θ) and steel, not a dissolution reaction. Moreover, Al₂Fe₃Si₃(τ₁) was formed at the Fe₄Al₁₃(θ)-Fe₂Al₅(η) interface by discharging Si from Fe₄Al₁₃(θ) without Si solubility. Furthermore, the Fe₃AlC(κ) layer was formed by carbon accumulation that discharged in the Fe₂Al₅(η) region transformed from steel to Fe₂Al₅(η). The twin regions in the Fe₄Al₁₃(θ) and Fe₂Al₅(η) grain were due to the strains caused by the lattice transformation in the constrained state, wherein the phases are present between the Al₉FeNi(Τ) layer and steel. Full article

Microstructural evolution and formation mechanism of reaction layer for 22MnB5 steel hot-dipped in Al–10Si (in wt %) alloy was investigated. The microstructural identification of the reaction layer was characterized via transmission electron microscopy and electron backscatter diffraction. In addition, the formation mechanisms of the phases were discussed with vertical section (isopleth) of the (Al–Si–Fe) ternary system. The solidified Al–Si coating layer consisted of three phases of Al, Si, and τ₅ (Al₈Fe₂Si). The reaction layer on the Al–Si coating layer side is a fine τ₅ phase (Al₈Fe₂Si) of 5 μm thickness. The layer on the steel side consisted of an η phase (Fe₂Al₅) of thickness of 500 nm or less. τ₁ (Al₂Fe₃Si₃, triclinic) phase of 200-nm-thickness was formed in the η phase, and κ phase (Fe₃AlC) of 40–50 nm thickness was formed between η phase and steel. The τ₅ phase was formed by isothermal solidification at 690 °C in the liquid Al–10 wt % Si when 3.73–29.0 wt % of Fe was dissolved from the boron steel into the Al–Si liquid bath. It was considered that the η phase was formed by the diffusion reaction of Al, Si, and Fe between τ₅ and ferrite steel. κ (Fe₃AlC) phase was formed by the reaction of the carbon, which is barely employed in η and τ phases, and diffused Al. Full article

In laser welding and hot stamping Al-Si-coated boron steel, there is a problem that the strength of the joint is lowered due to ferrite formation in the fusion zone. The purpose of this study is to develop an Al-7 wt.% Mn hot-dip coating in which Mn, an austenite stabilizing element, replaces the ferrite stabilizing element Si. The nucleation and formation mechanism of the reaction layer was studied in detail by varying the dipping time between 0 and 120 s at 773 °C. The microstructure and phase constitution of the reaction layer were investigated by various observational methods. Phase formation is discussed using a phase diagram calculated by Thermo-Calc^TM. Under a 30 s hot-dipping process, no reaction occurred due to the formation of a Fe₃O₄ layer on the steel surface. The Fe₃O₄ layer decomposed by a reduction reaction with Al-Mn molten alloy, constituent elements of steel dissolved into a liquid, and the reaction-layer nucleus was formed toward the liquid phase. A coated layer consists of a solidified layer of Al and Al₆Mn and a reactive layer formed beneath it. The reaction layer is formed mainly by inter-diffusion of Al and Fe in the solid state, which is arranged on the steel in the order of Al₁₁Mn₄ → FeAl₃ (θ) → Fe₂Al₅ (η) phases, and the Fe₃AlC (κ) in several nm bands formed at the interface between the η-phase and steel. Full article

In order to reduce the intermetallic compounds formed during the application of an Al–7Ni wt % hot-dip multifunctional coating on boron steel, developed for Tailor Welded Blanks (TWB) and hot stamping, 2–6 wt % Si was added to the coating to change the reaction layer. The coating was run at 690 °C for 120 s. Al₉FeNi phases were formed on the steel interface, Fe₂Al₅ was formed on the steel, FeAl₃ was generated between the existing layers, and flake-type Al₂Fe₃Si₃ was formed in the Fe₂Al₅ phase, depending on the Si content. In addition, as Si was added to the coating, the thickness of the Fe₂Al₅ phase decreased and the thickness of the Al₉FeNi phase and Al₂Fe₃Si₃ increased. The decrease in the thickness of the Fe₂Al₅ phase was mainly due to the effect of the Si solid solution and the Al₂Fe₃Si₃ formation in the Fe₂Al₅ phase. The reason for the growth of Al₉FeNi is that the higher the Si content in the coating, the more the erosion of the interface of the steel material due to the coating solution. Therefore, the outflow of Fe into the coating liquid increased. Full article