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Mechanical and microstructure properties of ultra-high strength boron steel using rapid resistance heating without soaking

  • Metals & corrosion
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Abstract

Resistance heating (RH) has broad prospects in hot stamping due to its rapid heating rate and high energy efficiency. In this work, the ultra-high strength boron steel was heated by high current and then water quenched (without soaking). The effects of heating temperature and current density on mechanical properties and microstructure were explored. The results indicated that resistance heating method can significantly shorten the heating time, and even the soaking stage can be ignored when overheating is adopted; thus, the whole heating period can be reduced from 5 min to 15 s. Besides, the oxide scale is inapparent on the uncoated sheet with rapid heating, which improves the surface quality evidently. Furthermore, the mechanical properties of the boron steel after resistance heating are better than those after furnace heating (FH), including both strength and elongation. The microscopic characterization confirms that the grain size of the resistance heating sample is obviously finer than that of the furnace heating, showing a mixed microstructure of coarse and fine grains, and the final structure includes a certain amount of retained austenite. These characteristics ensure that the boron steel has excellent properties after resistance heating and quenching.

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Data available on request from the authors.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2022YFE0196600), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52175349, 51775336) and the Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai (No. 21ZR1429600). The authors also thank Mr. Carlos Seijas, Mr. JinCan Wei and Mr. Houji Liu for their support.

Funding

This work was funded by National Key Research and Development Program of China, 2022YFE0196600, Xianhong Han, National Natural Science Foundation of China, 52175349, Xianhong Han, 51775336, Xianhong Han, Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai, 21ZR1429600, Xianhong Han.

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Author notes

  1. Shuang Wen and Yi Liu are co-first authors of the article.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Engineering Research Center of Die & Mold CAD and State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Shuang Wen, Yi Liu & Xianhong Han

  2. Autotech Engineering Spain S.L. (Gestamp), St. Esteve Sesrovires, 08635, Barcelona, Spain

    Zhen Chen & Manuel Lopez

  3. Gestamp China R&D Center, 56 Antuo Road, Shanghai, 201805, China

    Zhen Chen & Shaofei Qu

  4. Institute of Forming Technology & Equipment, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200030, China

    Xianhong Han

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Contributions

SW contributed to writing—original draft, writing—review & editing. YL contributed to methodology, investigation, formal analysis. ZC contributed to data curation, resources. ML contributed to data curation, resources. SQ contributed to project administration. XH contributed to resources, writing—review & editing, supervision, funding acquisition.

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Correspondence to Xianhong Han.

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Wen, S., Liu, Y., Chen, Z. et al. Mechanical and microstructure properties of ultra-high strength boron steel using rapid resistance heating without soaking. J Mater Sci 58, 7161–7181 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-023-08483-7

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