The Future is Forming

As reported on SteelGuru, POSCO (Korea) has developed exposed-quality galvannealed steels having a minimum tensile strength of 590MPa (85ksi). This follows the 2006 commercialization of their 490MPa (70ksi) minimum tensile strength exposed-quality galvannealed steel.

These higher strength steels allow for the use of thinner gauges for automotive skin panels while maintaining or improving in-process and on-car dent resistance. The thinner panels help reduce the overall vehicle weight, improving vehicle fuel efficiency and reducing its carbon footprint.

Posted by Engineering Quality Solutions at 1:40 PM | Permalink |
0 comments (toggle show/hide) | links to this post

The Tool and Die Authority June 2009 Newsletter contained these articles:

Understand the Significance of the Tooling Industry, or Else: Joe Brown
Solving Deep-Drawing Problems, Part 1: Peter Ulintz
Yesterday’s Standards = Today’s Waste: Bob Quinn
Value-Added In-Die Operations, Part 2: Drew Stevens


and from Danny Schaeffler of Engineering Quality Solutions (EQS)...
Sampling Sheet Surfaces for Successful Stampings

The sheetmetal supplier says that nothing has changed with the coils of material. The stamper says nothing’s changed with the process. But something must have changed, since now the part is splitting! In reality, something is different—it’s just not being measured. Here, the influence of surface characteristics will be highlighted using a real-life example.
Consider a relatively complex part being stamped from galvanized high-strength steel. For a little more than a year, the stamper experienced a consistent 1-percent scrap rate (40 split parts out of 4000 stamped per month). Over a three-month period, problems increased dramatically, and the new scrap rate reached 375 split parts out of 4000, or nearly 10 percent. The stamper and steel supplier went back and forth blaming each other for the additional scrap, and of course disagreed on the chargeback amount. ...

Visit the Precision Metalforming Association website to learn how to subscribe!

Posted by Engineering Quality Solutions at 1:20 PM | Permalink |
0 comments (toggle show/hide) | links to this post

As reported on SteelGuru, Angang (China) has commercialized production of TRIP780, a Transformation Induced Plasticity advanced high strength steel having a minimum tensile strength of 780MPa (110ksi).

What are TRIP steels, and how are they different from Dual Phase Steels? Visit us at www.EQSgroup.com.

Posted by Engineering Quality Solutions at 12:39 PM | Permalink |
0 comments (toggle show/hide) | links to this post

The Tool and Die Authority May 2009 Newsletter contained these articles:

An Exclusive Interview with the Mastermind Behind the Tooling Proposal: Joe Brown
Surface Coatings for Draw Steels—More Reasons Why You May Not Need Them: Peter Ulintz
America Can Compete, With a Little Innovation: Bob Quinn
Value-Added In-Die Operations, Part 1: Drew Stevens


and from Danny Schaeffler of Engineering Quality Solutions (EQS)...
Troubleshooting Sheetmetal Problems—Part 2

Let’s take a trip back in time. When you first started production, your part was perfect, or at least acceptable in terms of no splits or necking, fitting the fixture, dimensionally in tolerance, and meeting the required characteristics of strength/stiffness/weldability/paintability/etc. To achieve this, you used the right steel, optimized press settings, the right type and amount of lubricant, and a perfect die surface.
Fast forward to today. You’ve got splits or wrinkles, maybe both. What happened? ...

Visit the Precision Metalforming Association website to learn how to subscribe!

Posted by Engineering Quality Solutions at 8:35 AM | Permalink |
0 comments (toggle show/hide) | links to this post

Both POSCO's Mexico CGL plant (400,000 ton annual production capacity) and WISCO's Wuhan, China plant (coil width up to 2070mm [just under 81.5 inches]) started shipping prime product this month.

Posted by Engineering Quality Solutions at 10:05 AM | Permalink |
0 comments (toggle show/hide) | links to this post

Thanks to Joe Brown's Tool and Dieing blog for the heads up!

Video of GM Chevy Volt Stamping Prototype

Posted by Engineering Quality Solutions at 7:57 AM | Permalink |
0 comments (toggle show/hide) | links to this post

The Tool and Die Authority April 2009 Newsletter contained these articles:

Here’s How We Got Here. Spread the Message! Part 1: Joe Brown
Surface Coatings for Draw Steels—You May Not Need Them: Peter Ulintz
Job Tracking and Quoting Systems— A Deeper Look: Bob Quinn
Part Measurement On the Fly, Part 3: Drew Stevens


and from Danny Schaeffler of Engineering Quality Solutions (EQS)...
Troubleshooting Sheetmetal Problems

Most stamping problems can be traced back to some characteristic of the process or material that is out of whack compared to what was used in the past. The list of usual suspects includes the sheetmetal, die, lubricant and press. Of course, there are dozens of other possibilities, but let’s start by going after the low-hanging fruit.
It’s easy to check the sheetmetal—along with the material delivery should come a report detailing the composition of the alloy and its mechanical properties such as yield and tensile strength, elongation and n-value. Or, metalformers can send material samples to a local laboratory for testing, for just a few hundred bucks. Too much to spend? Maybe not, considering the cost of scrap, the other profitable jobs your press could be used for, and all of the better ways your press operators, technicians and engineers could be spending their time. ...

Visit the Precision Metalforming Association website to learn how to subscribe!

Posted by Engineering Quality Solutions at 7:35 AM | Permalink |
0 comments (toggle show/hide) | links to this post

The Tool and Die Authority March 2009 Newsletter contained these articles:

Lien on Me: Joe Brown
New Business Producing Existing Parts: Peter Ulintz
Closing the Loop—To Measure or Not to Measure?: Bob Quinn
Part Measurement On the Fly, Part 2: Drew Stevens


and from Danny Schaeffler of Engineering Quality Solutions (EQS)...
What is Steel? Part 3: Steel Microstructures and Phases

Remember that pure iron is extremely soft, and that the iron atoms can be thought of as a 3D lattice of stacked billiard balls. Steel simply is an alloy of iron and carbon, and its properties depend on the amount of carbon in the alloy and where the carbon winds up within the structure. When a very small fraction of the gaps (interstices) between the iron lattice are occupied by carbon atoms, this interstitial-free (IF) steel is said to have a microstructure of ferrite. Ferrite has a body-centered cubic (BCC) crystal structure (Fig. 1a), and is a microstructural phase that is soft, ductile and similar to pure iron.
There is a limit to the amount of carbon that can fit in the gaps in the ferrite structure (0.02 percent C at 723 C, which drops to 0.006 percent C at room temperature). The gaps are a little larger in a phase known as austenite, which has a face-centered cubic (FCC) crystal structure (Fig. 1b). At around 1150 C, up to 2 percent C can fit into the austenite microstructure. As the steel slowly cools and carbon is forced out of solution, the austenite transforms into a combination of ferrite and another phase called cementite or iron carbide (Fe3C) and an orthorhombic crystal structure. ...

Visit the Precision Metalforming Association website to learn how to subscribe!

Posted by Engineering Quality Solutions at 8:15 AM | Permalink |
0 comments (toggle show/hide) | links to this post