During the last decade, the reduction of fuel consumption and the increase
of safety performances have pushed car manufacturers to use
very high strength steels for lightweight automotive structures [1,2].
Hot stamping – or hot-press forming – with die quenching of boron
steels, also known as press-hardening, has been developed to satisfy
these requirements [3]. Hot stamping steels are used to produce complex
structural components free of springback with reduced thickness
compared to conventional high strength steels for cold forming [4]. An
aluminized boron steel (based on 22MnB5) [5] is produced by
ArcelorMittal and by TKS and Nippon Steel under ArcelorMittal license
under the trade name of Usibor® 1500P (further named Usibor®
AlSi). World production of these materials has increased from 5000 t
in 2006 to about 480,000 t in 2011.