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US 2012/0073708 A1Published application
Method of shaping and hardening a sheet steel blank
AssigneeGestamp Hardtech AB
InventorJan Krispinsson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The properties of products manufactured by press hardening from composite blanks, referred to as tailor-welded blanks (TWB), are improved by cooling the weld at a reduced cooling rate during the hardening of the formed product so that a narrow, soft area is formed alongside the weld.
Claims2
Method of shaping and hardening a sheet-steel blank, composed of separate sheets welded together, to give a product by heating the blank to the austenitising range and hot-stamping the blank in a cooled tool pair, then hardening the formed product while it remains in the tool pair,
- characterised in that the weld between two sheets is cooled at a reduced cooling rate in relation to the areas on either side of the weld so that a narrow, soft area is formed along the weld.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.