CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 64 (2015) 281–284

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CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology

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Improvements in productivity and formability by water and die quenching

in hot stamping of ultra-high strength steel parts
Tomoyoshi Maeno *, Ken-Ichiro Mori (1), Masaki Fujimoto
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Toyohashi University of Technology, Toyohashi, Aichi 441-8580, Japan

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: To improve the productivity in hot stamping of ultra-high strength steel parts, the parts are quenched not
Hot stamping
only with dies but also in water during holding at the bottom dead centre. Since the cooling speed for water
Sheet metal
quenching is higher than that for die quenching, the hold time for hardening is reduced. In hot stamping,
Productivity
water is kept in a lower die to increase the cooling rate during die quenching. In addition, local thinning
around the punch corner was prevented by water and die quenching, and thus the drawablity increases.
ß 2015 CIRP.

1. Introduction
For the reduction in weight and improvement of crash safety for
automobiles, hot stamping of quenchable steel sheets is increasingly
employed for production of ultra-high strength steel parts. By heating
the steel sheets, the forming load is remarkably reduced, the
springback is prevented and the formability is improved [1,2]. In
addition, the stamped parts are hardened by quenching with dies, and
thus the ultra-high strength steel parts having a tensile strength of
approximately 1.5 GPa are obtained under a low forming load [3].
In hot stamping, dies are held at the bottom dead centre of a
press for about 10 s to harden stamped parts, and thus the
productivity of hot stamping is considerably low, 2 and 3 shots per
minute (see Fig. 1). The martensite transformation does not occur
for insufficient holding, i.e. no hardening. The cooling speed of die
quenching is lower than that of water quenching due to low heat
transfer. In addition, the stamped parts have a non-uniform
distribution of thickness, and thus are locally in contact with the
dies during holding as shown in Fig. 2. Local thinning tends to
occur due to a temperature distribution induced by local contact
with dies during stamping [4]. Since the cooling speed of die
quenching is influenced by the die pressure [5], large holding force
is required to increase the cooling speed during die quenching. It is
desirable in forming industry to reduce the holding time at the
bottom dead centre because of productivity improvement.
In the present study, the productivity and formability in hot
stamping of ultra-high strength steel parts were improved by
water and die quenching. In addition, blankholding was delayed to
improve hardening of a flange portion in hot stamping with water
and die quenching.

2. Shortening of holding time at bottom dead centre by water

and die quenching

To improve the productivity in hot stamping of ultra-high

strength steel parts, the holding time at the bottom dead centre
was shortened by not only die quenching but also water quenching
(see Fig. 3). Water is kept in the lower die in order to be in contact

Fig. 1. Rough time for 1 shot in hot stamping and variation in temperature.

Fig. 2. Gaps between stamped part and die during holding at bottom dead centre for
* Corresponding author. die quenching.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cirp.2015.04.128
0007-8506/ß 2015 CIRP.
282 T. Maeno et al. / CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 64 (2015) 281–284
Fig. 3. Cooling of blank in hot stamping using water and die quenching. (a) Start, (b)
stamping and (c) holding at bottom dead centre.
with the blank during stamping. The gaps between the blank and
die are filled with the water during holding, and thus the portions
without touching the dies are also rapidly cooled. The blank is
cooled by high heat transfer and steam of the water.
3. Hot stamping of cup having non-hardened flange using tool
detachment
3.1. Procedure of hot stamping using water and die quenching
The hot stamping process using water and die quenching is
shown in Fig. 4. The heated circular blank was drawn into a cup
having a flange with the punch and die. Because the flange of the
drawn cup is often cut as products, the flange was not hardened by
detaching the blankholder from the flange just after reaching at the
bottom dead centre. This enables cold shearing of the non-
hardened flange [6,7]. To improve the drawability, the resistance
to drawing of the flange was reduced by inserting the spacers
thicker than the blank between the die and blankholder [4]. The
temperature drop of the flange during forming becomes small,
because a gap is generated between the blank and the blankholder
by the spacers. The water was kept in the lower die just before
stamping, and the overflowed one was drained from the holes in
the side wall of the die during stamping.
Fig. 4. Hot stamping process using water and die quenching with tool detachment.
(a) Start, (b) drawing, (c) bottom dead centre and (d) holding.
The tools used for the hot stamping process using water and die
quenching are shown in Fig. 5. A non-coated quenchable steel
sheet 22MnB5 (C: 0.21, Si: 0.25, Mn: 1.2, B: 0.001 mass%) was
employed for the stamping experiment. The blank having 1.6 mm
in thickness and 170 mm in diameter was heated at 910 8C in 240 s
in an electrical furnace, and the temperature just before stamping
was about 870 8C. The blank was formed into a taper cup having
Fig. 5. Tools used for hot stamping using water and die quenching.
25 mm in height. Since the temperature of tools raises for repeated
stamping, the punch and die were heated at about 150 8C by the
heaters. A 1500 kN mechanical servo press was used, and no
lubricant was applied to the blank and tools. The average speed of
the press slide during stamping was 200 mm/s.
3.2. Results of hot stamping using water and die quenching
The cup by hot stamping using water and die quenching is
shown in Fig. 6, where t is the holding time at the bottom dead
centre. The degrees of oxidation on the surface of the cup with and
without the water were almost similar. The wrinkles in the flange
were comparatively small even with the spacers. The water hardly
splashed even for the maximum ram speed of the servo press, and
gave off steam for rapidly cooling the blank. Since the water was
poured into the lower die just before stamping, almost no steam
was generated up to stamping.
Fig. 6. Hot-stamped cup with water for t = 3 s.
The distributions of temperature in the stamped cup after 1.6 s
from the end of holding at the bottom dead centre with and without
the water are shown in Fig. 7. The temperature was measured with
an infrared thermograph by moving the die upward. The tempera-
ture distribution with the water for t = 3 s is similar to the
distribution without the water for t = 5 s. On the other hand, the
temperature drop of the flange is prevented by the tool detachment
from the flange just after reaching at the bottom dead centre.
Fig. 7. Distributions of temperature in stamped cup after 1.6 s from end of holding at
bottom dead centre with and without water.
The distributions of Vickers hardness in the stamped cup with
and without the water are shown in Fig. 8, where that with the water
without the tool detachment is added as a comparison. The hardness
distribution with the water for t = 3 s is similar to the distribution
Fig. 8. Distributions of Vickers hardness in stamped cups with and without water
and without tool detachment.
 T. Maeno et al. / CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 64 (2015) 281–284 283

without the water for t = 5 s, i.e. the holding time at the bottom dead
centre is shortened.
The effect of the height of the water surface in the lower die on
the distribution of Vickers hardness in the stamped cup for t = 3 s is
shown in Fig. 9. As the height of the water surface increases, the
hardness of the taper increases, whereas those of the bottom and
flange are independent of the height.

Fig. 12. Effect of water quenching on drawability of cup having non-hardened

flange.

4. Hot stamping of cup having hardened flange using delayed

blankholding

To improve the drawability of cups having a hardened flange,

blankholding was delayed by protruding the punch from the
blankholder as shown in Fig. 13. In the former stage of stamping,
the blank is drawn without blankholding under a small resistance
Fig. 9. Effect of height of water surface in lower die on distribution of Vickers
hardness in stamped cups for t = 3 s.
to drawing of the flange, and the blankholder force is applied in the
latter stage to eliminate wrinkles. This leads to the reduction in
temperature drop of the flange during stamping.
3.3. Improvement in formability by water and die quenching

Water and die quenching has the function of not only

shortening of holding time but also the prevention of local
thinning as shown in Fig. 10. Without water, deformation of the
blank tends to concentrate outside the border of the punch corner
due to lower flow stress for higher temperature than that at the
corner in contact with the punch. Such a deformation concentra-
tion is considerably relieved with the water.
Fig. 13. Delayed blankholding with protruded punch in hot stamping using water
and die quenching. (a) Start, (b) no blankholding, (c) blankholding and (d) holding.

Fig. 10. (a) Local thinning without water and (b) prevention of thinning by water
and die quenching in hot stamping.
The tools used for hot stamping using water and die quenching
with delayed blankholding are shown in Fig. 14. The protrusion
height L and the stroke s of the punch were changed. The depth of
the lower die was increased to supply adequate water. Since the
tools shown in Fig. 5 are not suitable to examine the drawability
because of the limitation of deformation, the hole depth of the
lower die is increased to fracture the cup.

The distributions of the thickness in the stamped cup with and

without the water for t = 3 s are shown in Fig. 11. Local thinning
outside the border of the punch corner was relieved by water and die
quenching. The deformation behaviour is influenced with the water.
The drawing limits for the cups with and without the water are
given in Fig. 12, where the diameter of the blank is changed.
Although the results for the previous experiments were obtained
for 170 mm in blank diameter, the drawing limit was decreased
without the spacers between the die and blankholder shown in
Fig. 4. The drawability was improved by water and die quenching.
Fig. 14. Tools used for hot stamping using water and die quenching with delayed
blankholding.

The deformation behaviour of the flange in hot stamping using

Fig. 11. Distributions of thickness in stamped cup with and without water for t = 3 s.
water and die quenching with delayed blankholding for
L = 12.5 mm is shown in Fig. 15. Although the wrinkles in the
flange appeared in the former stage of stamping, the wrinkles were
compressed with the blankholder and die in the latter stage, and
finally the flange became flat.
The effect of the protrusion height of the punch on the
drawability with delayed blankholding is shown in Fig. 16. The
drawability is increased with the protrusion height. The formabili-
ty is improved by delayed blankholding.
The relationship between the average height of wrinkles of the
stamped cup and the protrusion height of the punch is shown in
284 T. Maeno et al. / CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 64 (2015) 281–284
Fig. 15. Deformation behaviour of flange during hot stamping using water and die
quenching with delayed blankholding for L = 12.5 mm. (a) Start, (b) wrinkles and (c)
elimination of wrinkles.
Fig. 16. Effect of protrusion height of punch on drawability with delayed
blankholding.
Fig. 17. Relationship between average height of wrinkles of stamped cup and
protrusion height of punch.
Fig. 17. The average height of wrinkles below L = 12.5 mm is very
small.
The distributions of Vickers hardness in the stamped cup with
and without water for L = 12.5 mm and s = 18.5 mm are shown in
Fig. 18. The hardness with the water for t = 3 s is above 450 HV20.
It was found that water and die quenching is effective in improving
both productivity and formability of hot stamping.
Fig. 18. Distributions of Vickers hardness in stamped cup with water and die
quenching for L = 12.5 mm and s = 18.5 mm.
5. Conclusions
Die quenching in hot stamping is an innovation for production
of high strength steel parts. The quenching process is included in
stamping operations. However, the productivity of hot stamping is
considerably low because of local contact between the die and
blank. On the other hand, water quenching of hot-stamped parts
keeping a high temperature leads to high strength but large
springback. Water and die quenching in hot stamping is attractive
to improve the productivity and springback. Moreover, water and
die quenching has the function of increasing the formability due to
the temperature control. Although the cup having a flange was
dealt with, water and die quenching is effective for large-size pars
such as body-in-white reinforcements generally produced by hot
stamping because of increase in amount of water in a lower die.
The generation of steam during the operation is as well as hot
forging using water including graphite powder, and the similar
treatment for environmental protection is necessary in practical
application. On the other hand, holding of water in the lower die
brings about the limitation of shapes of products. An effective
approach for supplying water in gaps between the blank and die in
holding at the bottom dead centre is required, and the supply from
the outside of the dies should be taken into consideration.
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