A feasibility study on warm forming of an as-quenched 22MnB5 boron steel

In this paper, the feasibility of a newly proposed forming method, being the warm forming of as-quenched 22MnB5 boron steels, was studied through a series of proof of concept experiments. To assess the material thermo-mechanical behaviours under the proposed forming conditions, first, the as-received 22MnB5 boron steel was austenized and quenched to below the martensite transformation finish temperature to obtain a martensitic microstructure; second, uniaxial tensile tests of the as-quenched steel were conducted under proposed warm forming conditions on a Gleeble 3800 materials simulator. To evaluate the material post-form properties, first, tempering treatments on the as-quenched steel samples were performed to simulate the heat-treating conditions in the proposed warm forming process; second, the mechanical properties (hardness, strength, and ductility) of as-tempered samples were measured and a microstructure analysis was conducted. From the experimental results, it was found that, under the proposed warm-forming process conditions (420 °C–620 °C), the material showed significant strain softening, which would increase the tendency of necking during stamping and adversely affect its drawability. In addition, it was found that the heating of martensite in a 22MnB5 boron steel to higher temperatures (>400 °C) adversely affected its post-form strength and ductility due to the tempering effect. Therefore, according to the results obtained in this study, the warm forming of as-quenched 22MnB5 boron steel may reduce the strength of formed parts by more than 50% in comparison to the possible strength the material could achieve under the investigated process. © 2020 The Authors