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An experimental and numerical study of feasibility of a novel technology to manufacture hot stamping dies with pre-constructed tube network

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Abstract

The cooling system is a critical element in tooling for hot stamping high-strength aluminium alloys, for which very high quenching rates are required to ensure a supersaturated solid solution state in formed parts. To enhance cooling, ducts within the tools should be close and conformal to the surface die profile. Currently, ducts with curved profiles are made by drilling short straight lengths in die segments which are clamped together to form a complete die, which is expensive and hard to achieve the shape of duct with best cooling performance. To address these disadvantages, a novel method which enables efficient manufacture of conformal cooling systems by embedding a network of tubular cooling ducts within a cast matrix is presented in this paper. The feasibility of the proposed method of making ducts in the hot stamping die is demonstrated. Both experimental and computer-based die quenching tests using heated aluminium test pieces were undertaken to determine the cooling performance of a laboratory-scale tool set with cooling ducts. Simulations using the validated FE model were performed to investigate the effects of cross-sectional geometry, material and duct layout, on the quenching performance of the tools. It was found that ducts made of mild steel perform sufficiently well to make the use of high conductivity copper unnecessary. For a flat die surface, square section ducts provided highest cooling rates in comparison with circular and diagonal ones. The uniformity of die temperature increases with the decreased distance between neighbouring ducts, which indicates that a minimal gap is recommended without deteriorating tool strength. The developed tooling technology has the potential to provide a low-cost, highly efficient method of making conformal cooling ducts because the hot stamping die of high-strength aluminium alloy panels requires larger dimension, greater complexity and higher quenching rates.

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Funding

The research in this paper was funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant No. 723517) as part of the project ‘Low Cost Materials Processing Technologies for Mass Production of Lightweight Vehicles (LoCoMaTech)’. The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)(No. 51805024).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, China

    Kailun Zheng

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK

    Chenpeng Tong & Jianguo Lin

  3. School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, China

    Yong Li

  4. SC Plasmaterm SA, Str. Avram Iancu 30, Mures County, Targu Mures, Romania

    Zoltan Ciaba Kolozsvari

  5. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK

    Trevor A. Dean

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  1. Kailun Zheng
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  2. Chenpeng Tong
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  3. Yong Li
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  4. Jianguo Lin
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  5. Zoltan Ciaba Kolozsvari
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  6. Trevor A. Dean
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Correspondence to Yong Li.

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Zheng, K., Tong, C., Li, Y. et al. An experimental and numerical study of feasibility of a novel technology to manufacture hot stamping dies with pre-constructed tube network. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 111, 2919–2937 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-020-06280-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-020-06280-z

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