Prevention of Oxidation in Hot Stamping of Ultra High Strength Steel Sheets

Oxidation in hot stamping of ultra high strength steel sheets was prevented by coating the sheets with an oxidation preventive oil. For four types of oxidation preventive oil, the degree of oxidation under natural cooling of the heated sheets without forming was first evaluated. The oil that forms a liquefied film at elevated temperatures exhibited high oxidation prevention, and this oil was chosen for a hot bending experiment. Hot hat-shaped bending of the coated sheets using resistance heating was carried out to examine the properties of the products. The bending load was markedly decreased, the shape accuracy of bent products was very high, the surface roughness was similar to that of the sheet, and the hardness was about 1.5 times larger than that of the sheet before the bending due the die quenching. In addition, the layer remaining on the surface of the formed product could be removed using phosphoric acid. It was found that the hot stamping operation using the oxidation preventive oil is effective in the precision forming of ultra high strength steel sheets.