Journal of Materials Processing Technology 211 (2011) 1117–1125

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Journal of Materials Processing Technology

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Analysis of microstructure and mechanical properties of different high strength

carbon steels after hot stamping
M. Naderi a,∗ , M. Ketabchi a , M. Abbasi a , W. Bleck b
a
Department of Mining and Metallurgy, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
b
Department of Ferrous Metallurgy, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Usage of high strength steels may reduce the weight of automobiles and improve the crash safety and low
Received 12 April 2010 down the gas emissions. Besides cold forming, hot stamping has gained much interest for the production
Received in revised form 11 January 2011 of car body components. Boron alloyed steels have been the point of focus for the materials choice in
Accepted 16 January 2011
hot stamping. In this paper, four high strength non-boron alloyed steels were hot stamped using water
Available online 21 January 2011
and nitrogen cooling media. Microstructural analyses, lateral and surface hardness profiling as well as
tensile tests of hot stamped samples were performed. These steels provided yield strength (Y.S.) values of
Keywords:
600–1100 MPa and ultimate tensile strength (U.T.S.) values of 900–1400 MPa. Increasing cooling rates, i.e.
Hot stamping
Non-boron alloyed steels
by using nitrogen cooled punch (NCP) during hot stamping resulted in mostly martensitic microstructure
Mechanical properties and maximum strength, while hot stamping using water cooled punch (WCP) resulted in maximum
Surface hardness map formability index due to presence of some ferrite phase.
© 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction measurements (Åkerström, 2006). Additionally as the part remains

Along with the development of automobile industry for light
weight car bodies, more and more advanced high strength and
ultra-high strength steels have been used to produce automo-
tive parts. Making use of the mentioned steels not only reduces
the weight of automobiles, but also improves crash safety and
decreases gas emissions. Difficulties such as large forming forces,
low formability and occurrence of springback during cold stamping
of these steels, have made manufacturers to look for new solu-
tions. The possibility to perform stamping operations at elevated
temperatures represents a solution to these problems, allowing
lower loads on tools and higher accuracy of formed components.
According to Naderi et al. (2008) hot stamping is a non-isothermal
high-temperature forming process, in which complex ultra-high
strength parts are produced, with the goal of no springback. In hot
stamping process, the blanks are austenitized and subsequently
formed and quenched in the die. During quenching, the austenitic
microstructure transforms into a martensitic one because of rapid
cooling. The martensite evolution during quenching causes an
increased tensile strength of up to 1500 MPa, which is verified in
different works using tensile tests (Naderi, 2007) and hardness
∗ Corresponding author at: Department of Mining and Metallurgy, AmirKabir Uni-
versity of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), PO Box 15875-4413, 424 Hafez Ave.,
Tehran, Iran. Tel.: +98 21 64542978; fax: +98 21 66405846.
E-mail addresses: mnaderi@aut.ac.ir, mmzz52@gmail.com (M. Naderi).
in the die during the cooling stage, springback is totally waned.
Fig. 1 illustrates an overview of the hot stamping process sequence.
Improving the efficiency of hot stamping process and simulating
it have recently been the interested fields of different researchers.
Steinbeiss et al. (2007) represented an efficient methodology which
made it possible to optimize the geometrical design of the cooling
ducts for a given set of boundary conditions and parameters. The
objective was to quench the hot part effectively and at a constant
rate and to provide a cooling rate of at least 27 K/s while marten-
site was formed. The method was successfully applied for a test
tool. Kolleck et al. (2009) developed a two-step inductive heating
system as an effective concept to decrease energy consumption of
conventional heating methods. Tremendous reduction of heating
time and consequently lower investment costs as well as reduced
floor space for the heating device were some results of using the
new presented technology.
Bariani et al. (2008) presented an innovative experimental pro-
cedure based on Nakazima test for evaluating the formability limits
of high strength steels during hot stamping. The procedure gen-
erated formability data suitable for an FE modeling of the hot
stamping process. They provided the formability data in the form
of combinations of strains that caused the onset of necking and
fracture for given temperatures and average strain rates in the
metastable austenitic phase. Xing et al. (2009) set up a material
model under hot stamping condition of quenchable steel, based
on the experimental data of mechanical and physical properties.
They also simulated the whole hot stamping process by ABAQUS

0924-0136/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2011.01.015
1118 M. Naderi et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 211 (2011) 1117–1125

The main objective of the present research is focused on inves-

tigation into microstructure and mechanical properties of different
non-boron alloyed steel grades after being hot stamped. This objec-
tive was followed by selection of four different high-strength
uncoated carbon steel sheets. Microstructural evaluation, lateral
and surface hardness measurements and tensile tests after hot
stamping were performed and considered.

2. Materials and methods

2.1. Chemical composition

The investigated materials were different non-boron alloyed

Fig. 1. An overview of the hot stamping process sequence (Altan, 2007).
software. Their results showed that the springback of hot stamp-
ing parts increased when the blank-holder force (BHF) decreased.
They also observed that springback enhanced when the die radius
or the clearance between punch and die increased. Their simulation
results were basically in agreement with experimental results.
Most investigations about hot stamping process have been done
on B-bearing (boron alloyed) steels. By analyses of microstruc-
tural and mechanical properties of different B-bearing steels after
being hot stamped, Naderi et al. (2010) pointed out that B-bearing
steels due to presence of boron in their composition have high
hardenability. High hardenability guaranteed obtaining nearly fully
martensitic microstructure in the studied steels. The resulted
microstructures provided the yield strengths of 650–1370 MPa and
the tensile strengths of 850–2000 MPa. Schießl et al. (2004) studied
the microstructure, corrosion behavior and mechanical properties
of 22MnB5 steel and two non-boron alloyed steels, MS-W 1200
and CP-W 800, after being hot stamped and semi-hot stamped.
The material 22MnB5 reached component strength levels over
1500 MPa at elongations of 5–8% while with MS-W 1200 strength
value of at most 1200 MPa were obtained.
steel grades with carbon contents between 0.15 and 0.20 wt%.
The chemical analyses as well as carbon equivalent values of the
investigated steels are given in Table 1. Carbon equivalent (Ceq ) of
investigated steels was calculated according to the equation pre-
sented by Patchett (2003) for carbon steels. Steels-A, B, C and D
show an increasing trend in their carbon equivalent value in order.
As seen in Table 1, carbon equivalent ranges from 0.24 in steel-A to
0.34 in steel-D. Accordingly, all the investigated steels are listed in
the low carbon steel grades.
2.2. CCT diagrams
The cooling-composition-temperature (CCT) diagrams of the
investigated steels were obtained from a reference book-
let collected by Dilatometry Laboratory of Ferrous Metallurgy
Department-RWTH Aachen University (2007). All the contained
diagrams were taken by means of dilatometry experiments,
metallographic investigations and hardness measurements. The
CCT diagrams of steel grades-B and D are represented in
Fig. 2.
The important parameters derived from CCT diagrams are
martensite start temperature, Ms, critical time period and critical
cooling rate to have fully martensitic microstructure. In Table 2,

Table 1
Chemical analyses (mass %) of the investigated steels.

Steel C Si Mn Cr Ni Al Ti N Ceq

A 0.15 0.57 1.45 0.01 0.03 0.04 0.003 0.003 0.243

B 0.14 0.12 1.71 0.55 0.06 0.02 0.002 – 0.258
C 0.19 0.55 1.61 0.02 0.05 0.04 0.003 0.006 0.291
D 0.20 1.81 1.48 0.04 0.03 0.04 0.006 – 0.337

Fig. 2. The predicted CCT diagrams of steel grades (a) B and (b) D.
 M. Naderi et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 211 (2011) 1117–1125
Table 2
Critical parameters taken from CCT diagrams of investigated steels.
Steel Ms (◦ C) Critical cooling rate (◦ C/s)
A 410 75
B 400 30
C 420 65
D 390 62
critical parameters derived from CCT diagrams of investigated
steels are presented.
2.3. Experimental apparatus
2.3.1. Temperature evaluation
Different austenization temperatures (between 870 and 970 ◦ C)
and soaking times (between 10 and 20 min) were examined. Based
on the resulted microstructures and hardness profiles, the optimum
austenization temperature and soaking time for each grade was
selected. The mould assembly included water or nitrogen-cooled
punch and a non-cooled die. The cooling system was settled just
inside the punch so that quenching was started as soon as forming
began (Fig. 3).
Descriptions of hot stamping facilities and methods used in
experiments such as press, furnace and recording temperature
evaluation in the blank during hot stamping process are explained
in the Ph.D. thesis of Naderi (2007). Naderi (2007) studied the
effect of hot stamping process on microstructural and mechanical
properties of B-bearing and non-boron alloyed steels and pre-
sented an innovative method to carry out metallographic analysis
by application of lateral and surface hardness maps. Tempera-
ture evolution of blank, die and punch during press hardening
was recorded digitally using a HOFFINGER BALDWIN MESSTECH-
NIK instrument. For each steel three Pt/Pt–Rh10% thermocouples
were used. One thermocouple was soldered to the die, 10 mm
beneath the contact surface and the other was soldered to the
punch, 10 mm above the contact surface. The third thermocou-
Fig. 3. The mould assembly included a water or nitrogen cooled punch and a non-
cooled die.
1119
Critical time
period (s)
6
15
12
4
Fig. 4. Schematic representation of arrangement of three Pt/Pt–Rh10% thermo-
couples soldered to tools in order to monitor temperature evaluation of the
tools.
ple was soldered to the blank 20 mm far from the edge of
the blank. Every 0.2 second, the temperature was recorded. In
Fig. 4, schematic arrangement of the thermocouples is repre-
sented. It should be pointed that different regions of blanks do
not experience the same cooling regime because of their location.
Something that results in in-homogeneity of microstructure and
correspondingly hardness profiles (more can be found in Section
3.3).
Fig. 5 illustrates temperature evolution of the blank of steel-C,
die and punch during hot stamping process using water as coolant.
Temperatures of punch and die were 25 ◦ C at the beginning of defor-
mation and those rose to about 52 ◦ C and 60 ◦ C during stamping,
respectively. By using nitrogen as coolant, the temperature of the
punch kept at −50 ◦ C at the beginning of deformation and the tem-
perature of the die and the punch during stamping increased to
about 50 ◦ C and 5 ◦ C, respectively.
2.3.2. Hardness evaluation
The effect of heating and cooling processes on hardness of
formed blanks was investigated by using Vickers hardness test
(HV0.8 ) method. Hardness tests were performed on polished
samples by using a programmable hardness test machine with
uncertainty of about ±10 HV0.8 . This machine can scan the sur-
face of the sample and measure hardness in each point. The
interval between each test point was 0.3 mm. Fig. 6 shows the
Fig. 5. Temperature evaluation of tools and blank during hot stamping of steel-C,
using water cooled punch.
1120 M. Naderi et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 211 (2011) 1117–1125

Fig. 6. Schematic representation of hot stamped blank as well as samples used to obtain lateral and surface hardness maps (the arrow in the figure indicates the origin and
the direction of axis which lateral hardness profiles were developed along it).

Fig. 7. Schematic of tensile test samples were cut from the base of each formed blank.

schematic illustration of the hot stamped steel blanks as well as 3. Results and discussion
hardness test samples cut from edge and base of each formed
blank. 3.1. As-received properties
The square samples taken from the base were used for investi-
gation of surface hardness maps and the linear samples taken from As-received properties of selected steels are presented in
the edge were used for lateral hardness profiles. Table 3. Steel grades-A, C and D are defined as dual phase (DP),
dual phase and TRIP steels, respectively due to their as-received
microstructures. Presence of a hard phase such as martensite
2.3.3. Mechanical properties evaluation
and/or bainite in addition to a soft matrix phase such as ferrite
Determination of the mechanical characteristics was carried out
in the microstructure of DP and TRIP steels causes not only their
using tensile test for thin sheet metals as represented in DIN 50114
standard at room temperature. All tolerances were referred to DIN
ISO 2768. The measuring gauge length was 25 mm which it was Table 3
adjusted by an accurate imaging system. Total elongation, A25 , was As-received microstructures and mechanical properties of selected steels;
also determined. According to Merklein and Lechler (2008), at a microstructure designation: F – ferrite, P – pearlite, M – martensite, A – austenite.
temperature about 800–850 ◦ C, the sheet metal exhibits an almost Steel Thickness Microstructure- Y.S. U.T.S. Elongation
isotropic plastic behavior because of austenization. In this regard (mm) (MPa) (MPa) (A25 ) (%)
the influence of the anisotropy during hot stamping was neglected phases (vol%)
in this research. Velocity of the punch for all the experiments was A 1.5 30F–70M 790 1050 7
fixed at 40 mm/s. The deformation was performed at about one B 1.5 90F–10P 400 560 14.7
second. In Fig. 7, the location from which the tensile specimens C 1 10F–90M 1200 1400 3.5
were obtained, are shown. D 1 66F–34A 550 980 22
 M. Naderi et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 211 (2011) 1117–1125 1121

Fig. 8. Light optical microscopy images of steel grade-A after hot stamping using, (a) water cooled punch (b) nitrogen cooled punch.

Fig. 9. Light optical microscopy images of steel grade B after hot stamping using, (a) water cooled punch and (b) nitrogen cooled punch.

strength but also their formability to increase. Based on the state- water and nitrogen cooled punch, while microstructure of steels-A,
ment presented by Long and Khanna (2007) in which steels with B and C did not.
yield strength above 300–350 MPa are defined as high-strength, Steel-A consisted of about 30% ferrite in the condition of using
all steels represented in Table 3, are categorized as high-strength water as coolant. In Figs. 8 and 9 the microstructure of steel grades-
steels. Dual phase and TRIP steels are widely used in industry A and B in both condition of using water and nitrogen as coolant
because of their high strength and ductility. Steel-B is a common during hot stamping are shown. Microstructural quantitative eval-
ferritic–perlitic high-strength steel (Table 3). uations of the studied steels were conducted by using “ImageJ”
program which is an image processor and analyzer being developed
3.2. Microstructure after hot stamping at National Institutes of Health (ImageJ, 2010). Inaccuracy of about
±5% in measuring quantitative area fractions of different phases is
Microstructure of the studied steels after hot stamping using reported in the software manual.
nitrogen or water coolant is presented in Table 4. Microstructure of The resulted microstructures can be justified using CCT dia-
steel-D consisted mostly of martensite in both condition of using grams. It should be noted that processing of samples during manual
hot stamping process consists of two steps in practice. In the first
step, the blanks are transferred in air from furnace to mould assem-
Table 4 bly during which cooling rate is low, and at the end of this step
Microstructure of studied steels after hot stamping process using nitrogen and water
coolants.
temperature of the blanks according to Fig. 5 is about 700–800 ◦ C.
In the second step, blanks are hot stamped during which cooling
Steel Treatment Martensite Bainite Ferrite rate is high. Based on these circumstances a new parameter was
◦ defined, tcit , which represented the maximum time an austenized
A 950 C-20 min-WCP 40 30 30
A 950 ◦ C-15 min-NCP 64 26 10 steel can be kept at the temperature of about 750 ◦ C before any
B 950 ◦ C-10 min-WCP 42 55 3
transformation could be initiated. In Table 5, tcit values of differ-
B 950 ◦ C-10 min-NCP 60.5 36.5 3
C 950 ◦ C-15 min-WCP 55 30 15 ent austenized studied steels obtained from their CCT diagrams are
C 950 ◦ C-15 min-NCP 67 25 8 presented.
D 950 ◦ C-15 min-WCP 70 17.5 12.5 Transferring time of the studied blanks from furnace to die
D 950 ◦ C-15min-NCP 78 15 7 assembly during hot stamping process (Fig. 5) took about 6–7 s.
WCP, water cooled punch; NCP, nitrogen cooled punch. As tcit of steels-A, C and D are lower than transferring time, consti-
1122 M. Naderi et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 211 (2011) 1117–1125
Table 5
tcit values of studied steels.
Steel tcit (s)
A 4–5
B >100
C 5–6
D 4–5
tcit = critical time for initial transformation.
tution of some ferrite phase after hot stamping using water cooled
punch can be justified. Low tcit values of steels-A, C and D can be
related to Silicon (Si) alloying, which according to Krauss (1990) sta-
bilizes ferrite and extends ferrite phase area. Low volume of ferrite
phase of steel-D respect to steels-A and C in spite of its high content
of Si might be related to its Ceq content. Increment in the content
of Ceq for about 0.1, reduces austenite to ferrite temperature for
about 20 ◦ C according to the formula presented by Atkins (1977).
Atkins’s book (1977) consists of continuous cooling diagrams of a
wide range of engineering steels as well as statistical assessment
of trends in transformation behaviors, gathered by British Steel
Corporation to assist researches involved in the practical aspects
of heat treatment and hot processing. By increasing cooling rate
during hot stamping, using nitrogen as coolant, volume fraction
of martensite phase increased in all steel grades (Table 4). Porter
and Easterling (1992) indicated that as cooling rate increases dif-
fusion transformations, constitution of ferrite, cease and athermal
transformations, constitution of bainite and martensite, intensify.
As a result, increasing cooling rate during hot stamping of non-
boron alloyed steels causes volume fraction of martensite phase to
increase.
3.3. Lateral and surface hardness profiles
Based on the fact that each phase has its specific hardness level,
measuring and plotting lateral and surface hardness profiles aids
to study in-homogeneity of microstructure as well as distribution
of each phase. Lateral and surface hardness profiles obtained using
an indenter which scans pre-defined lines or surfaces and exerts a
0.8 g force on the sample and records the hardness of the points in
Vickers hardness scale.
Schematic representation of the samples used to obtain lateral
and surface hardness profiles are given in Fig. 6. Lateral hardness
profiles of steel grades A and B in both conditions of being hot
Fig. 10. Lateral hardness profiles of steel grades A and B after being hot stamped using water and nitrogen cooled punch.
stamped using water and nitrogen cooled punch are shown in
Fig. 10.
As it is seen in Fig. 10a, hardness values in steel-A have changed
from 280 HV0.8 to about 800 HV0.8 , while in the condition of using
steel-B, hardness values have varied in the range 305–610 HV0.8
(Fig. 10b). As hardness values more than 400–450 and 300–350
HV0.8 can be related to martensite and bainite phases, respectively
and hardness values less than 300 HV0.8 can be attributed to ferrite
phase, it is expected that some ferrite zone have been formed in the
microstructure of steel-A which is in agreement with the results
presented in Table 4. This can be related to the role of Si element.
Presence of Si element as a ferrite stabilizer in the composition of
steels-A, C and D shifts TTT/CCT diagrams of these steels to the
left and enhances ferrite formation (Krauss, 1990). Based on points
presented by Krauss (1990), Chromium (Cr) as an element which
separates ferrite and bainite zones of a CCT, enhances constitution
of bainite phase and therefore increases volume fraction of bainite
phase. Significant volume fraction of microstructure of steel-B, after
being hot stamped using water coolant punch, was bainite. Bainite
volume fraction of steel-B was lowered after being hot stamped
using nitrogen cooled punch.
One important point in Fig. 10, is fluctuations in lateral hard-
ness profiles of the studied steels. Due to geometry, cooling rate
of different regions of blanks during hot stamping are not the
same and dissimilar microstructures constitute in distinct zones.
Presence of different phases and consequently different hard-
ness values is the main reason of these fluctuations. In Fig. 11
the microstructure of different regions of a blank utilized to
obtain lateral hardness profile of steel-B is illustrated. As seen, the
microstructure of bottom region of the sample is mostly martensitic
while the microstructures of the wall and flange regions include
martensite and bainite phases, although presence of some ferrite
phase is also detectable. Therefore, as mentioned, in-homogeneity
of microstructure is the main reason of scattering in hardness
values.
Another reason of hardness violations might be weak or non-
successful austenization treatment. Non-successful austenization
treatment yields a non-uniform distribution of carbon in primary
austenite and as a result in the obtained martensite. An increase
in carbon content of a local region of primary austenite increases
distortion of body center tetragonal (bct) lattice during marten-
site formation and decreases movement of dislocations in that
region and as a result hardness value increases (Krauss, 1990). Due
to different initial microstructures of investigated steels, impor-
 M. Naderi et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 211 (2011) 1117–1125
Fig. 11. Microstructural in-homogeneity along the hot stamped steel-B sample. The blank was austenitized at 950 ◦ C for 10 min and then hot stamped by application of a
nitrogen cooled punch.
tance of proper austenization treatment prior to stamping process
increases.
For better explanation of microstructure homogeneity in hot
stamped samples, some surface hardness measurements were per-
formed. This technique gives the best physical understanding of
phase heterogeneity using hardness criterion. Hardness maps of
steel grade-B, corresponding to the samples deformed by hot
stamping using water cooled and nitrogen cooled punch, are plot-
ted in Fig. 12. Different hardness zones can be well distinguished
in the maps (Fig. 12). It was seen by using nitrogen as coolant, the
maximum level of hardness was increased by about 50 HV0.8 . By
using this technique, hardness distribution and similarly phase dis-
tribution can be well studied. The advantages of this technique over
lateral hardness profiles, metallographical investigations as well as
more details about quantitative and qualitative measurement of
different phases are presented in Ph.D. thesis of Naderi (2007).
3.4. Mechanical properties
Mechanical properties of investigated steels after hot stamp-
ing using water and nitrogen cooling circuits are presented in
Fig. 13. Due to nearly the same thickness of the studied steels,
mechanical properties of studied steels originate from their chem-
ical composition especially carbon equivalent and microstructure.
It is seen in Fig. 13a, Y.S. and U.T.S. values of steels A, B, C and D
have not increased in accordance with their Ceq values. This can
be related to formation of different microstructures with different
contents in case of using water as coolant during hot stamping.
Presence of low content of Si element in composition of steel-
1123
B resulted in formation of a martensitic-bainitic microstructure
while in microstructure of steels-A, C, D some ferrite phase was
also detected. So, it can be concluded that the real distribution
of microstructural phases is the most important factor in deter-
mining the mechanical properties. Y.S. and U.T.S. values of steel-B
are the highest due to its low volume fraction of ferrite phase
(Fig. 13a).
In case of using nitrogen as coolant during hot stamping
(Fig. 13b), due to severity of cooling, all of the studied steels are
mostly martensitic and nearly all of them have the same Y.S. and
U.T.S. values; however Y.S. and U.T.S. values of steel-D are the high-
est due to its high Ceq . It comes from Fig. 13b that, the effects
of carbon equivalent and microstructure on changing the Y.S. and
U.T.S. values in condition of using nitrogen as coolant are nearly the
same. In Fig. 13, ductility (A25 ) values variation of the investigated
steels is in contrary to strength values variation as it is expected.
A decrease in strength value, because of martensite volume frac-
tion reduction, enhanced ductility. Martensite phase due to its high
hardness is brittle and has a low ductility.
In Fig. 14, formability index values of all grades have been
shown. Vandeputte et al. (2001), analyzed the characteristics of
some advanced steel grades used in automotive industry and men-
tioned that the ability of a material to have both a good ductility or
formability and a high strength is best quantified with the UTS × A25
value that is known as formability index value. However it should
be pointed that the use of tensile test to compare the formability of
different materials can be acceptable when uniaxial tensile stress
state is dominant. The mutual effect of strength and ductility on the
formability index curve can be seen in Fig. 14.
1124 M. Naderi et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 211 (2011) 1117–1125

Fig. 12. The surface hardness maps of hot stamped steel grade-B using, (a) water cooled punch and (b) nitrogen cooled punch.

Fig. 13. Mechanical properties of hot stamped steels using, (a) water cooled punch (b) nitrogen cooled punch.

As it is observed in Fig. 14, formability index values of hot
stamped steel grades using water cooled punch are more than those
related to using nitrogen cooled punch. This implies that although
using nitrogen as coolant during hot stamping increases U.T.S. and
decreases A25 values (as it was seen in Fig. 10b), but the effect of
the latter in decreasing formability index value is more than the
former. This fact is pronounced in case of steels-A and D.
It is observed in Fig. 14, that increasing cooling rate (using nitro-
gen) has not changed formability index value of steel-C. It is due to
neutralizing effects of increased U.T.S. and decreased A25 as nitro-
gen was used as coolant during hot stamping. Generally, it can be
concluded that the effect of cooling rate on formability index in
steels having carbon equivalents ranged from 0.27 to 0.3 is neg-
ligible. Due to optimum values of strength and ductility as well
as negligible effect of cooling media on mechanical characteristics,
these steels will be good candidates as primary materials to be used
in hot stamping processes.

4. Conclusions

1 The presence of some ferrite phase in the martensitic matrix

phase after hot stamping of carbon steels improved ductility and
correspondingly the formability index. Beyond an optimum value
of ferrite content, the U.T.S. and consequently the formability
index decreases.
2 Usage of water as coolant during hot stamping of studied non-
boron alloyed steels resulted in higher formability index but poor
homogeneity of properties. The latter is improved when nitrogen
is used as the coolant.
3 In contrast to hot stamped blanks using water coolant in which,
the effect of microstructure on their Y.S. and U.T.S. values was
predominant and the effect of Ceq was negligible, in hot stamped
Fig. 14. Formability index values of studied steels for two conditions of using water blanks using nitrogen coolant the effect of Ceq on Y.S. and U.T.S.
and nitrogen as coolant. values was noticeable. In the latter, steels-A, B, C and D, with an
 M. Naderi et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 211 (2011) 1117–1125
increasing trend in their Ceq value, showed a nearly increasing
trend in Y.S. and U.T.S. values.
4 Although proper austenization treatment prior to hot stamp-
ing process prevents analyzing the initial microstructure effect
on the mechanical properties of the hot stamped steels, it is
predicted that the initial microstructure will have a remarkable
effect on the final properties.
5 Due to the requested application in body in-white parts of cars
and optimum hot stamping conditions, non-boron alloyed steels
having 0.27 < Ceq < 0.3 are recommended.
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to acknowledge Hoesch Hoehenlimburg
GmbH, especially Dipl. Ing. Peter Hoefel and Dr. Wilfried Haensch,
for providing the materials.
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