METHODS FOR DIE TRIMMING HOT STAMPED PARTS AND PARTS FORMED THEREFROM

• Main Authors: Minevich, Mikhail, Chiriac, Constantin, Huang, Liang, Sohmshetty, Raj
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 26.12.2019
• Subjects: CHEMISTRY; GENERAL DEVICES FOR HEAT TREATMENT OF FERROUS OR NON-FERROUSMETALS OR ALLOYS; MAKING METAL MALLEABLE BY DECARBURISATION, TEMPERING OR OTHERTREATMENTS; MECHANICAL METAL-WORKING WITHOUT ESSENTIALLY REMOVINGMATERIAL; METALLURGY; METALLURGY OF IRON; MODIFYING THE PHYSICAL STRUCTURE OF FERROUS METALS; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PUNCHING METAL; TRANSPORTING; WORKING OR PROCESSING OF SHEET METAL OR METAL TUBES, RODS ORPROFILES WITHOUT ESSENTIALLY REMOVING MATERIAL

A method of forming a hot stamped, die quenched, and die trimmed part is provided. The method includes hot stamping and die quenching a blank with a quench die and forming a die quenched panel. The quench die includes at least one slow-cooling channel. The die quenched panel is die trimmed along the at least one localized soft zone that is adjacent a hard zone. The blank may be formed from a press hardenable steel (PHS), and the at least one soft zone may have a ferritic microstructure and the at least one hard zone may have a martensitic microstructure. The at least one localized soft zone may have a microhardness between about 200 HV and about 250 HV and the hard zone may have a microhardness between about 400 HV and about 500 HV.