Quality control process to assess the aluminized coating characteristics of hot stamped parts

A method of inspecting and determining a total thickness of an aluminized coating and a thickness of an inter-diffusion layer (IDL) of a hot stamped boron steel part comprising:

• preparing a sample from the hot stamped part for Glow Discharge Optical Emission Spectrometry (GDOES);
• analyzing the sample using GDOES and plotting constituent element weight percentages versus depth on a graph;
• and
• determining points on the graph where constituent elements intersect,
• wherein an intersection between Aluminum and Carbon indicates the total thickness of the aluminized coating, and a difference between an intersection of Aluminum and Carbon and a second maximum Silicon wt. % indicates the thickness of the IDL.

A method of controlling a manufacturing operation for hot stamped parts comprising:

• removing a sample from a hot stamped part for Glow Discharge Optical Emission Spectrometry (GDOES);
• analyzing the sample using GDOES and plotting constituent element weight percentages versus depth on a graph;
• determining points on the graph where constituent elements intersect,
• wherein the points indicate the characteristics of the aluminized coating;
• and
• providing the characteristics to a controller of the manufacturing operation, wherein the controller parameters of the manufacturing operation are based on at least one characteristic.