Fundamental research and numerical simulation of new hot stamping tool manufactured by surfacing technology

A novel manufacturing method of hot stamping tool is proposed in this study. The four preselected materials were welded on the specimens by using tungsten inert gas arc welding. High-temperature compressive yield strength, heat conductivity, thermal expansion coefficient, and microstructures of welding materials were experimentally investigated. CuCrZr and Fe-based alloy were selected as the intermediate layer (IL) and surface layer (SL) of new hot stamping tool respectively. Moreover, the simulation results indicated that the dwell time of new tool (NT) can be saved by 25% in comparison to traditional tool (TT); the temperature of traditional and new tool would reach dynamic thermal equilibrium after 4 and 5 stamping circles respectively; the temperature and stress of new tool were always lower than traditional tool; the maximum stress of new tool in each area was always less than the yield strength of the corresponding welding materials, which demonstrated that new tool manufactured by surfacing technology could satisfy the strength requirement and deserve further research in the future.