Abstract:
High strength steel (HSS) is widely used in automotive industry for manufacturing reinforcement
parts. Due to the high strength and hardness of HSS, the formability is very low and adhesion to the
tooling can be a problem. The goal of this thesis is to reduce HSS adhesion on stampling dies by a
systematically studying the effect of various surface coating on the tooling material. The surface
coating were comprised of VC (TD), TiC (CVD), TiCN (CVD), TiCN (PVD), TiAlN (PVD),
CrAlN (PVD), VC (TD) + DLC (PVD), TiN (PVD) and Nitriding + CrN (PVD). U-channel bending
tests of HSS were used to evaluate the anti-adhesion performance of the various coatong. Scratch
testing and nano-indentation were performed to determind the bond strength between the coating
and the tool substrate, as well as the hardness and elastic modulus. Ball-on-disk testing was
conducted to measure the friction coefficient and specific were rate between coated balls and two
grades of steel sheet, SPFH 590 (JIS) and SAPH 440 (JIS). it was found that all the coatings reduce
die adhesion during U-channel bending of HSS when compared with uncoated dies. TiC (CVD),
TiCN (PVD), TiCN (CVD), and Nitriding + CrN (PVD) were found to be the most effective at
preventing adhesion to the die surface. In addition it was found that the bond strength of the
coating on the tool substrate plays an important role in the anti-adhesion performance. An attempt
was made to increase the bond strength of PVD coating by introducing radical nitriding on the tool
surface prior to coating with a CrN (PVD). The effectiveness of the Nitriding + CrN (PVD) was
examined by deep drawing of an advanced grade of HSS, SPFC 980Y. It was found that
Nitriding + CrN (PVD) coated dies provide deep-drawn parts with neraly constant surface
roughness after 1000 forming stokes. The roughness of uncoated dies was found to abruptly
increase after only 30 forming stokes.