Thermo-Mechanical Simulation of Hot Stamping Tools Design

Hot stamping is a process which simultaneously forms and quenches the hot blanks at the austenization temperature (900-1200 °C) to produce full martensitic Ultra High Strength (UHS) steel structure. Automobile manufacturers use hot stamping to produce many car frame components which can decrease the total weight of the car and increase the car safety. The aim of this paper is to simulate the thermo-mechanical process of the hot stamping which consists of FEA simulations by using Abaqus/Explicit. The process includes too steps: heating of the blank to 900°C, and simultaneous punching and quenching process to increase the tensile strength of the material. The objectives of the FEA simulation are to obtain thermo-mechanical properties of the material and to predict strength of the steel as the product of hot stamping. The results of this simulation will be the values of maximum Von Mises stress and nodal temperature of the blank, the punch reaction force, and also the prediction of the yield strength and tensile strength of the material which will be compared to the yield strength and tensile strength of the available steel alloy data.