Furnace assembly and method for hot-stamping vehicle components

A furnace comprising:

• a housing defining a chamber having an opening;
• a visor pivotally secured to the housing adjacent the opening and defining a first zone external to the chamber;
• and
• a slide mechanism defining a second zone internal to the chamber and arranged for a blank to extend through the first and second zones such that portions of the blank receive different temperature heat from a heat element based on the zone.

A method to hot-stamp a vehicle component comprising:

• positioning a vehicle component blank within a first heat zone defined by a visor externally mounted to a furnace such that such that a first portion of the vehicle component blank is disposed within the first heat zone and a second portion of the vehicle component blank is disposed within a second heat zone defined by the furnace;
• heating the first heat zone to a temperature selected to be below a phase transformation temperature of the vehicle component blank;
• heating the second heat zone to a temperature selected to be above a phase transformation temperature of the vehicle component blank;
• and
• stamping the vehicle component blank based on a predetermined vehicle component design.