Furnace for partially heating metal components
AssigneeBenteler Automobiltechnik GmbH
InventorsViktor GLASER, Markus WESLING-SCHAEFERS, Rainer LAPSIEN
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Abstract
A continuous furnace for the heat treatment of steel sheets, such as hot forming and press hardening, wherein two zones with mutually different temperatures are formed in the furnace, and a separating wall is present between the two zones. A gap is present in the closed state between the steel sheet and the separating wall and a surface cooling nozzle is in the form of a tube, wherein the surface cooling nozzle has outlet openings pointing downwards in the vertical direction and the surface cooling nozzle is arranged in the direction towards a relatively cooler zone.
Claims21
1-14. (canceled)
A continuous furnace for the heat treatment of a sheet metal blank, the furnace comprising:
- a first zone and second zone, wherein the first zone has a higher temperature than the second zone,
- a separating wall between the first and second zones, wherein a gap is formed between the sheet metal blank and the separating wall in a closed state,
- a tubular cooling nozzle arranged in a direction towards the second zone, wherein the tubular cooling nozzle has a first group of outlet openings pointing downwards in a vertical direction relative to the separating wall, and
- a surface cooling nozzle arranged in the second zone.
A process of hot-forming and press-hardening a sheet metal blank, the process comprising:
- heating a sheet metal blank of a hardenable steel alloy to austenitize the steel alloy, and
- hot-forming and press-hardening the heated sheet metal blank in at least one cooled forming tool,
- wherein at a start of the hot-forming, the sheet metal blank has, as a result of the heating,
- a first surface portion having a first temperature above 800° C.,
- a second surface portion having a second temperature above 550° C. but lower than the first temperature, and
- a transition region between the first and second surface portions, wherein the transition region is less than 100 mm.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.