An experimental and numerical study of feasibility of a novel technology to manufacture hot stamping dies with pre-const
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
An experimental and numerical study of feasibility of a novel technology to manufacture hot stamping dies with pre-constructed tube network Kailun Zheng 1 & Chenpeng Tong 2 & Yong Li 3 & Jianguo Lin 2 & Zoltan Ciaba Kolozsvari 4 & Trevor A. Dean 5 Received: 15 June 2020 / Accepted: 19 October 2020 # Springer-Verlag London Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2020
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. Keywords Hot stamping . Aluminium alloy . Die . Cooling duct . Pipe . In-die quenching
1 Introduction Hot stamping is a key forming technology for the manufacture of complex-shaped lightweight panel structures for
* Yong Li [email protected] 1
School of Mechanical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK
3
School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China
4
SC Plasmaterm SA, Str. Avram Iancu 30, Mures County, Targu Mures, Romania
5
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
automobiles, especially for the struc
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