Conversation | Pressler: Body hopes less-Hot stamping technology

        As the most cost-effective lightweight material on the market, ultra-high-strength steel has more advantages in manufacturing costs and manufacturing processes than carbon fiber materials and aluminum alloy materials. Because ultra-high-strength steel is prone to cracking and resilience in the traditional cold stamping manufacturing process, advanced hot stamping technology has become its optimal choice.

        Hot stamping technology is an integration of comprehensive technologies such as materials science, mechanics, mold technology, machine development technology, and IT. It can transform steel plates into high-strength martensite after stamping and hardening in a high-temperature austenite region. The produced high-strength steel can guarantee to reduce its weight at the same strength. At present, the core technology of this production line is monopolized by developed countries such as Europe, America, Japan and South Korea. Recently, a reporter from Gasgoo Motors learned that a domestic company in Suzhou has completed the patent application for a hot stamping production line with world advanced level and has already entered the production stage. To this end, the reporter interviewed Mr. An, Chairman of Suzhou Pressler Advanced Forming Technology Co., Ltd. on the current market status of hot stamping production lines and the application of hot stamping technology in body weight reduction.

        Gasgoo: What is the difference between a hot stamping production line and a cold stamping production line? What is the current pattern of domestic hot stamping production lines?

        Mr. An: The most obvious difference between a hot stamping production line and a cold stamping production line is that the steel sheet blank is first heated and then press-formed in this production line to achieve pressure-hardening and cooling in the mold, so that the parts produced have a strength of more than 1500 MPa Therefore, it is called ultra high strength steel.

        Talking about the pattern of hot stamping production lines, there are currently more than 200 hot stamping production lines in the world. Except for the 1200T hot stamping production line that we have developed successfully, there are already more than 50 hot stamping production lines in China. However, these production lines have the same characteristics: high procurement costs, high operating costs, large energy consumption, and large footprint. These shortcomings and deficiencies have been restricting the development of the hot stamping market in China and worldwide.

        Gasgoo: What is the current application of hot stamped steel parts on the market?


        Mr. An: The biggest advantage for hot stamped steel parts is that in addition to providing unparalleled high strength to ensure collision safety, it can also reduce itself while ensuring the same strength performance, which can well balance safety and lightweight. First of all, from the perspective of the imported car market, Volvo models known for their safety use 40 hot stamped parts. From the perspective of the domestic market, from 2016, more than 20 hot stamped parts have been used in models produced by SAIC Volkswagen and FAW-Volkswagen. The most interesting is the economical joint venture brand models that are currently on sale. The B-pillar reinforcement plate has also adopted the hot stamping steel process, and its strength is above 1500Mpa. Therefore, the demand for hot stamped steel parts in the market has been increasing rapidly in recent years.


        Gasgoo: It is reported that Pressler's hot stamping production line has applied for a patent and is in production. What are your advantages over traditional hot stamping production lines for hot stamping?


        Mr. An: The length of the traditional hot stamping production line is long. Only the heating furnace and the loading and unloading mechanism are generally about 30 to 40 meters. While the other heating mode of a single-sided single-out box furnace with a smaller footprint, it has lower production efficiency and higher use cost. It is easy to produce scale during production, which makes it unsuitable for hot stamping of bare boards.

        And our company-Suzhou Presler Advanced Forming Technology Co., Ltd., through the exploration in recent years, has developed a world-class advanced hot stamping production line 1200T and has been put into production. This production is based on the technological innovation of the heating furnace. Its core patents are automatic feeding system, heating stabilization system and automatic discharging system. Compared with the traditional hot stamping production line, it has the following three advantages:

        First of all, the total length of this production line is only over 20 meters. The floor space is very small, and its performance is no different from other traditional hot stamping production lines. Production is fully automated and integrated, with destackers, heating furnaces, and presses readily available.

        Secondly, our heating furnace adopts the double-sided double-layer box heating mode, which can ensure the efficient and orderly process of material filling and feeding and stamping, and greatly reduce the protective atmosphere and heat loss in the heating furnace, and reduce the oxide scale in the production process. Dust is plagued by energy savings.

        Finally, the price of our entire production line is very low. Most foreign hot stamping production lines sell for about 30-40 million yuan, and our price is much lower than foreign production lines, and the price is very high.

        Gasgoo: What is the future application of hot stamping technology in automotive lightweight?

        Mr. An: The fuel consumption limit of passenger cars in China in 2020 will be 5.0L per 100 kilometers, but from the current development of fuel engine technology, it is very difficult to achieve this standard with the current weight of the vehicle body. Therefore, light weight will be the focus of the layout of future car manufacturers. At the same time, in the automotive industry in recent years, the standard of light weight coefficient has also been recognized. For traditional cars, this coefficient is between 4 and 5, but true light weight requires that the coefficient be close to 2.5. The ultra-high-strength steel produced by hot stamping technology can reduce weight while ensuring high strength, while the cost is much lower than other lightweight materials such as aluminum alloys and carbon fibers. Speaking of cost I would also like to add that with the continuous application of our low cost and high performance hot stamping line equipment, the price of ultra high strength hot stamped steel parts can quickly fall. It is getting closer to the price of traditional high-strength steel cold stamping parts. At the same time, our company's 7000 series super strong aluminum alloy hot stamping parts mass production technology has been fully developed. This indicates that the door of the application of 7000 series super strong aluminum alloy stamping parts that have been stuck with difficult forming on all-aluminum body structural parts has been completely opened. A large number of 7000 series super aluminum alloy stamping parts provide the possibility for further weight reduction of the all-aluminum body.

        Therefore, in the future, hot-stamped parts will be used for body structure parts, which not only can obtain higher safety performance, but also can greatly reduce the weight of the body. I personally think that as the price of hot stamping parts continues to fall, the body of each car may use 40-50 hot stamping parts or even more. Hot stamping technology has huge room for development in the direction of energy saving and emission reduction of automobile lightweight.

Gasket Summary:

        With the further development of advanced hot forming stamping processes, ultra-high-strength steels and super-aluminum alloys are the optimal lightweight materials at this stage. Their high-strength, low-weight, and high-value properties will be increasingly used in Car body parts. In the future, with the continuous improvement of domestic hot stamping production technologies such as Pressler 1200T, its production costs will be further reduced, and Gasco will continue to get you updated on it.

（文章来源：盖世汽车）