Method for producing hardened steel components with a conditioned zinc alloy anti-corrosive layer

A method for producing hardened steel components, comprising the steps of:

• cutting a steel sheet bar from a galvanized steel strip including a hardenable steel alloy having a zinc or zinc-based alloy coating;
• heating the steel sheet bar to a temperature that is above an Ac3 temperature of the steel alloy and produces a structural change in the steel alloy to austenite and formation of an oxide layer on the zinc or zinc-based alloy coating, to produce the austenitized steel sheet bar;
• conveying the austenitized steel sheet bar to a press hardening tool that includes an upper tool and a lower tool;
• hot forming the austenitized steel sheet bar in a single stroke or multiple strokes using the upper tool and the lower tool;
• cooling the austenitized steel sheet bar at a speed above a critical cooling rate of the steel alloy to cause a martensitic hardening of the steel sheet bar to form a finished hardened steel component without mechanically cleaning the oxide layer;
• and
• before heating the steel sheet bar to the temperature that is above an Ac3 temperature of the steel alloy and produces the structural change, applying tin to a surface of at least one of the galvanized steel strip and the steel sheet bar in an amount of about 30 to about 90 mg tin per square meter of the surface;
• wherein the oxide layer includes zinc and tin.