Simulation of Tailored Tempering with a Thermo-Mechanical-Metallurgical Model in AutoForm plus

For automotive applications, the hot stamping of ultra-high-strength steels such as 22MnB5 is a well-established process providing significant reduction of fuel consumption and improving the component strength and geometrical accuracy due to reduced springback. Tailored tempering is a special type of hot stamping, in which different areas of the component experience different cooling histories leading to different final properties. The potential of manufacturing-optimised components consisting of high-strength and high-ductility regions in harmony with an enhanced crash performance makes tailored tempering very attractive compared with other conventional hot stamping processes. The optimisation of this process, where deformation and cooling take place simultaneously, requires a complete understanding in terms of material behaviour, formability, heat transfer and phase transformation kinetics. To this end, a thermo-mechanical-metallurgical model has been implemented in AutoForm plus in order to capture the material behaviour during the forming and quenching processes. Both radiation and convection are taken into account to describe heat transfer to ambient. Moreover, latent heat is considered and its effect on simulation is discussed. A guideline for parameter identification strategy has been developed and validated by separate experiments. The simulation results of tailored tempering of a B-pillar are presented together with measured tensile strength and elongation at fracture.