A study on the cooling performance of newly developed slice die in the hot press forming process

Abstract

The cooling performance of a slice die is studied numerically and experimentally. The slice die is designed to improve the cooling performance compared to that of a conventional die that is generally used in the Hot Press Forming (HPF) process by modifying the cooling channel layout and arrangement. In order to understand the physical phenomenon of the slice die cooling performance, the cooling performance of the conventional die is also simulated and their results are compared with the slice die results. From the results of the maximum temperature of the blank and die and the temperature distribution of the blank, the slice die has considerably improved cooling performance. To validate the simulation results, the slice die is prototyped and a blank is produced by the HPF process. Blank temperatures are measured by a thermal imaging camera at several holding times. The simulation and experimental results of the blank temperatures are compared and agree with the error rate of 3%. In order to verify the quality of the produced blank, ultimate tensile stress, yield stress, and elongation tests are conducted for specimens that are extracted from the blank and are compared with existing literature results.