Tailored Tool Surfaces for Robust and Sustainable Hot Stamping

Purpose and goal

Tooling is a significant cost in a press hardening process line. Reducing tool wear and enable robust friction can be achieved through surface engineering. This project aimed at developing thermal spray coatings for hot stamping tools. It included all steps from selection and characterisation of powders, deposition and evaluation of coatings, tribological testing, coating optimisation and semi-industrial scale tests. All steps have successfully been completed and the feasibility of thermal spray coatings in hot forming has been shown.

Expected results and effects

A stable friction behaviour and improved wear resistance has been proven for all of the coatings in the tribological tests compared to uncoated tool steel. As such, all coatings are suitable candidates for the semi-industrial scale tests. New knowledge has been created about new surface engineering for hot forming processes, which will be useful for future process development and optimisation. The semi-industrial scale tests were successfully completed and evaluated. The results showed that material transfer still occurs on to the coating but no damage to the coating was observed.

Planned approach and implementation

From the start, the project had a clear structure composed of three work packages, a detailed time plan and tasks assigned to each project partner. This created an overview of the activities and enabled interactions to be easily identified. The laboratory tests and analysis activities were completed on time. More time should have been allocated for the activities concerning the semi-industrial scale tests since many unforeseen challenges arose when going from lab-scale to industrial process.