Hard and Soft Zones in Hot Formed Parts

How to Obtain and Simulate Soft and Hard

Zones in Hot Forming

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Hard and Soft Zones in Hot Formed Parts

PROCESS GOALS

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 Tailored Properties / Soft Zones / Tailored
Tempering / Partial Hardening / Multi-
Strength Part

 Y  1150 MPa
Passenger
Zone El  6%

Deformation
Zone  Y  400 MPa
El  15%

 Y  1150 MPa
(a) Front view (b) Side view El  6%
before crash after crash

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 Material Goal to Achieve the
Performance Goal

100% martensite in hard zones

90% or more bainite in soft zones

In other words no martensite

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 Methods to Obtain Tailored
Properties without Welded Blanks

Ref: Karbasian 2010

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 Tailored Welded Blanks
AlSi coating AlSi coating removed
on the edges

Boron Steel Micro alloyed steel

Laser welding
Laser welded joint

e.g. 22MnB5 e.g. H340LAD

Hotforming

Martensite Ferrite, Perlite & Bainite

Hardness HV10

500 22MnB5
Laser welded joint
H340LAD
100

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 Production Considerations

The part must get out of the press in latest 15 seconds

Because thin, cooling on air is fast compared to thick

materials (gears, can take hours)

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 Hardness

310-330 HV

485-515 HV

100T Press Force,

10 seconds die quenching,
80 seconds air quenching,
Dies are 20°C in hard zones,
450°C in soft zones.
Compare to Literature:
[George 2011] , 400°C dies = ~234-300 HV
[Feuser 2011], 500°C dies = ~250-270 HV

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 Hardness

UTS = 920-1020 MPa

UTS = 1500-1590 MPa

100T Press Force,

10 seconds die quenching,
80 seconds air quenching,
Dies are 20°C in hard zones,
450°C in soft zones.
Compare to Literature:
[George 2011] , 400°C dies = 790-840 MPa
[Feuser 2011], 450°C dies = ~850 MPa

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Temperature, Phase Transformations and Mechanical Properties

PHYSICS OF MATERIAL

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 Grain Size does not Change too
Much in Hot Forming

Source: Dr. Thesis

Alberto Turetta

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 CCT Diagram of 22MnB5

Critical
cooling rate
to produce
martensite

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Martensite (Hard Zones) and Diffusion Based
Transformations (Bainite, Soft Zones)

P(t)

time log

P(T)

420
temperature

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 Hardness as a Function of the
Cooling Rate for 22MnB5

Goal Reached
Above 30K/s
Rockwell-C

Source: PhD.
Thesis Alberto
Turetta

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 Dilatation Depending on Phase
Proportions
strain

l
na austenitisation
0.015 x ter es
+E rbid
ca e
h as
-P

martensitic
0.01 transformation
+Initial,
undistorted grid

se
ha
0.005 - P
se
ha
-P

0 +Interstitial dissolved carbon

+ carbon, tetragonal distorted

grid

200 400 600 800 1000 1200 temperature

-0.005

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 Thin and Thick Plates of the Same Material Show
Different Temperature Behavior when Quenching

hL h: Heat transfer coefficient

Bi  L: Half thickness of the wall

k k: Thermal conductivity

Thin Thick Source:

Material Material Introduction
to Heat
Transfer,
Incropera,
DeWitt

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 Transformation Plasticity

The transformation plasticity is believed to be a

deformation mechanism that causes permanent
deformation during the phase transformation of
allotropic polycrystalline materials, even under an
extremely small applied stress
Practically residual stresses above a limit lower then
the yield strength and characteristic for the material
cause plastic straining during phase transformation
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 Transformation Plasticity

In Fig. 7 the evolution of axial and diametral strains following an austenitization

treatment at 880 ◦C for 5min is shown. When the transformation proceeded without
any superimposed stresses no deviation between the axial and diametral strain
evolutions with temperature was detectable. Thus, no significant temperature gradient
was prevalent during cooling from the austenitization temperature down to RT.
However, when stresses below the elastic limit were applied during the
transformation, a strong deviation between the axial and the diametral strains was
prevalent, resulting in pronounced TP at RT.

Pre-deformation–transformation plasticity relationship

during martensitic
transformation
H.-G. Lambersa,∗, S. Tschumaka, H.J. Maiera, D.
Canadincb
a Lehrstuhl für Werkstoffkunde (Materials Science),
Pohlweg 47-49, 33098 Paderborn, Germany
b Koc University, Advanced Materials Group,
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sariyer,
34450 Istanbul, Turkey

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Hot Forming of Thin Material
PHYSICS OF MATERIAL PARTICULAR
IMPORTANT FOR HOT FORMING PROCESS
SIMULATIONS

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 Hot Forming is Applied for Thin Material

Parts are thin, there is no temperature gradient

through thickness

Thin
Material

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 Thin Material (around 1mm) Shows only Minor
Thermal Gradients Through Thickness when
Quenched

Validation of
basic effects
with Sysweld –
2002

Temperature
field after 4s
quenching time
in the blue area
only

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 Hot Forming Happens – in a CCT Diagram - in a
very Narrow Bandwidth of Cooling Rates

Typical cooling
rate for a hard
zone with 100%
martensite

Typical cooling
rate for a soft
zone, mostly
bainite

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 This is How it Looks Like in a
Dilatometer Curve
strain

0.015
austenitisation
e
h as
-P

martensitic
0.01 transformation

se
Pha
0.005 -
e
h as
-P

310-330
HV
0

485-
515HV
200 400 600 800 1000 1200 temperature
-0.005

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 Interpretation: This is How it Looks
Like in a Dilatometer Curve
strain Orange: There is only
one dilatation curve
for the martensite
0.015
austenitisation transformation
e Depends on
as
h temperature, not on
-P
cooling rate
martensitic
transformation Blue: When
0.01
measured, there will
be only a very narrow
Mostly Bainite variety of dilatation
se curves for bainite
Pha
0.005 -
e because it is thin
as
100% Martensite -P
h 310-330 material
HV Phase proportions for
100% Austenite
each curve are
0 measurable (actually it
485- is the measurement to
measure the dilatation
515HV 100% Austenite
200 400 600 800 1000 1200 temperature
-0.005

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 Comparison of Thin and Thick
Material

For thick material, many different dilatation curves from

austenite to bainite need to be modeled between alpha
and gamma
Interpolation is applied between measured curves
Measured curves differ in minutes to hours
CCT display is logarithmic to illustrate it well

For thin material, in the case of hot forming, with a

narrow bandwidth of cooling rates in a CCT diagram,
two materials occur 485-515HV
One with a dilatation curve for martensite 310-330 HV
One with a dilatation curve for mostly bainite

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Strain Rates do not Need to be Considered for
Quenching (Part is Shaped), only for Forming
(Austenite)

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 Strain Rates at
500 ºC – A Wrong Process Design Changes Properties
Significantly

Must be available for higher temperatures

/Altan/ 2012

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 Measurement of Mechanical Material
Properties

With a Gleeble, it is
possible to measure
mechanical properties as
a function of temperature,
strain and strain rate
It is very expensive and
for low carbon hardenable
steel nearly impossible to
measure mechanical
properties of austenite for
low temperatures

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 Friction is a Function of the
Temperature
Must be available for higher temperatures

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 More Thoughts on Thin Material in
Combination with Hot Forming

Grain size does not change too much

One particular CCT diagram can be used

There is one dilatation curve for the hard zone, with

known austenite and martensite phase proportions as a
function of temperature
There is one dilatation curve for the soft zone, with
known austenite and bainite phase proportions as a
function of temperature
Remember: Because of thin material and process conditions, there
is only a narrow band width of cooling rates that looks in a CCT
diagram as one cooling rate because of measurement precision,
so one can assume a simplified dependency on temperature

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Finding the Best Compromise Between Engineering Effort and
Result Quality

HOW TO MODEL

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 Two Ways to Simulate

Method 1: Thick material

An “infinite” number of materials with separated mechanical properties for phases,
capturing any possible cooling rate and phase proportion mixture between 1s and 100
hours
Implemented in SYSWELD
Difficult to obtain properties, nearly impossible for austenite with low carbon content
below 500 degrees C
Is usually and engineering extrapolation for thick material, or properties of an Austenite steel
are taken
Final material used in the simulation is a mixture of phases depending on temperature
and cooling rates
Dilatation is a function of various cooling rates that occur in thick material

Method 2: Two materials, applied to process conditions of hot forming and

thin material
Only two dilatation curves are needed
Properties are a function of temperature for the diffusion controlled bainite
transformation, assumption valid because of the narrow bandwidth of cooling rates
Properties when cooling from austenite temperature are measurable on a Gleeble

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 How to Deal with Transformation
Plasticity

Transformation plasticity reduces residual stresses during phase

transformations above a limit below yield strength
Is a material constant

Level 1
Without implementation of transformation plasticity
For two materials, hot forming process conditions and thin material
An engineering solution is to reduce the yield strength as a function of temperature in the
temperature range of phase transformation
For thick material this would not be possible

Level 2
Implemented transformation plasticity
For two materials, hot forming process conditions and thin material
Known phase proportions from simulation or dilatation curves
No modification of yield strength

Level 3
Method for thick material implemented, with the need for additional and more difficult to
measure material properties

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 Summary

There are 2 methods to simulate mechanical effects in

hot formed parts with hard and soft zones
Method 1 is suitable for thick material, covers any cooling rate and
an “infinite” number of materials
Needs a high engineering effort
Theoretically best possible result quality, practically lowered because of
assumed mixture rules and difficult to obtain material properties
Method 2 is suitable for thin material in hot forming conditions
Covers temperature dependency of martensite transformation
Covers one characteristic cooling rate for soft zones
Offers a reasonable engineering effort, properties can be measured
more easily

The assumptions need to be validated

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 Summary after Discussions with a
Die Maker

The secret of no distortion is to make sure that all phase transformations happen when
the part is still in the die. Then transformation plasticity cares for that there are only little
residual stresses when the part is taken out of the die
In case the part is taken too early out of the die and there are hot spots that show
retained austenite, the phase transformation will cause local stresses that lead to
distortion – also for a part planned to be fully hardened. This is then a bad designed die
and has to be improved
It would be sufficient to modify material properties in the phase transformation range to a
low yield strength to simulate the transformation plasticity effect that has to happen in the
die. PS2G would show for hot spots that exist when the part is out of the die way too high
distortion today – residual stresses are not killed during phase transformation
Because the phase transformations have to happen in 10s, there will be only two cooling
curves in the dilatometer test for a partial hardened die. This can be modeled with two
materials, as discussed
A usual cooling rate for hardening is about 50K/s, to be on the safe side
To complete the software and to avoid the necessity to artificially modify material
properties transformation plasticity is needed – but not more. But the proposed trick
should work as well

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 How to Validate the Two Material
Approach

Validate a part with 100% martensite

Validate a part with 90% or more baininte

Validate the mixture

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Copyright © ESI Group, 2013. All rights reserved.