RESUMEN
Hot forming process has been used more and more frequently in the production of body structures of modern ultralight passenger cars for several years. This, unlike the commonly used cold stamping, is a complicated process, combining heat treatment and plastic-forming methods. For this reason, permanent control at each stage is required. This includes, among others, measurement of the blank thickness, monitoring its heating process in the suitable atmosphere in the furnace, control of the forming process itself, measurement of shape-dimensional accuracy as well as mechanical parameters of the finished drawpiece. This paper discusses the method of controlling the values of production parameters during the hot stamping process of a selected drawpiece. For this purpose, digital twins of the production line and the stamping process, made in accordance with the assumptions of Industry 4.0, have been used. Individual components of the production line with sensors for monitoring process parameters have been shown. The system's response to emerging threats has also been described. The correctness of the adopted values is confirmed via tests of mechanical properties and the assessment of the shape-dimensional accuracy of a drawpiece test series.
RESUMEN
One of the important steps in the design of hot stamping tools is the analysis of their cooling system. This article presents an authorial, two-stage approach to solving this problem. The first stage consisted of a series of simulations of the hot stamping process in the Autoform package, with initial selection of shape and arrangement of cooling channels. These results allowed for the design of the tool for which the coupled thermal-flow analysis was carried out. The correctness of the adopted design assumptions has been confirmed by experimental tests. A trial series of drawpieces made in production conditions meet the requirements for hardness, mechanical properties, and appropriate microstructure. The presented procedure has become the practice of the drawpiece producers.
RESUMEN
A design study of automatic line-to-production of a new generation of car body structures compliant with the Industry 4.0 concept is described in this paper. The line is based on the hot-stamping technology of components of a car body structure from 22MnB5 steel sheets. Additional modules of the designed production line are: laser-trimming station, station to completion (kitting-up), and spot-welding station of the subassemblies. Technical requirements to be complied with by such line and scheme of exchange of information between modules of the line were defined. The conclusions were formulated.