Shaped boron tubular structure support
AssigneeL & W Engineering
InventorsDean Richardson, Jason Bigelow
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of producing a shaped structure support, e.g., for a vehicle, is disclosed. The method includes: heating a hollow workpiece of a steel material to a material transformation temperature range; deforming the hollow workpiece in a press into the shaped structure support having a predefined complex geometry while the hollow workpiece is in the material transformation temperature range; and quenching the hollow workpiece through contact with a press tool of the press to provide the shaped structure support with a martensitic microstructure.
Claims19
A method of producing a boron steel material shaped structure support, comprising:
- heating a hollow workpiece to a material transformation temperature range to provide the hollow workpiece with an austenitic microstructure;
- deforming the hollow workpiece in a press into the shaped structure support having a predefined complex geometry while the hollow workpiece is in the material transformation temperature range;
- quenching the hollow workpiece through contact with a press tool of the press to provide the shaped structure support with a martensitic microstructure;
- and
- tempering the shaped structure support.
A method of producing a shaped structure support for a vehicle, comprising:
- providing a hollow workpiece of a boron steel material with a circular cylindrical shape;
- heating the hollow workpiece to a material transformation range to provide the boron steel material with an austenitic microstructure;
- forming the hollow workpiece into the shaped structure support having a predefined complex geometry by deforming the hollow workpiece in a press while the hollow workpiece is still in the material transformation temperature range;
- quenching the hollow workpiece in the press to provide the shaped structure support with a martensitic microstructure;
- wherein forming the hollow workpiece and quenching the hollow workpiece are performed in the same step where the hollow workpiece is pressed and held in a closed die set between a first die and a second die of the press.
A method of producing a boron steel material shaped structure support, comprising:
- heating a hollow workpiece to a material transformation temperature range to provide the hollow workpiece with an austenitic microstructure;
- deforming the hollow workpiece in a press into the shaped structure support having a predefined complex geometry while the hollow workpiece is in the material transformation temperature range;
- quenching the hollow workpiece through contact with a press tool of the press to provide the shaped structure support with a martensitic microstructure;
- and
- wherein the hollow workpiece is quenched at a cooling rate of 27° C./second or greater.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.