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Department of Mechanical Engineering

Analysis of the Application Potential of Roll-Clad MnB-Cr Steel Composites for Press Hardening

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in
  • Profil- und Blechumformung
  • Umformtechnische Grundlagenforschung
  • Materialcharakterisierung
a) Hardness of the composite, b) Validation of the analytics © IUL
a) Hardness of the composite, b) Validation of the analytics
Funding

German Research Foundation (DFG)

Project

444548865

Contact Markus Stennei M. Sc.

Press hardening is used to manufacture high-strength components. Due to the high process temperatures, the steel to be processed must be coated to protect it from scaling. As an alternative oxidation prevention, the manufacturability and formability of Cr-Mn steel composites is being investigated in this joint project together with the IBF of RWTH Aachen University. Stainless steel provides oxidation protection and enables more cost-effective and faster heating. In the project a martensitic stainless steel (1.4021) and an austenitic stainless steel (1.4301) are investigated as top layers. The measured hardness profile of the composites produced is shown in Figure a. Analytical models were presented and validated by experiments (see  Figure b) in order to predict the resulting effective flow stress of the composite. In the future, these models will be used to design steel composites with different layer thickness ratios. Here, the focus is on the suitability of the new steel composites for use as semi-finished products for subsequent forming processes.