Studies on the Coating Materials for Forming Dies of Advanced High Strength Steel Sheets

To increase the safety and lighten the weight of car body and chassis, the application of advanced high strength steel (AHSS) is being rapidly expanded. Current forming dies with thermal diffusion (TD) of vanadium carbide or coatings (AlTiCrN+MoS₂, TiAlN) don't have enough wear resistance and durability. The coatings shall have complex material properties, e.g., wear, temperature, fatigue resistance and low friction property. The main concept of coating and layer development is to add the low friction property through carbon addition to temperature resistant elements. The toughness, fatigue resistance and bonding are realized through nitrided layer, CrN or TiN and multilayer structure. Total 18 coatings are compared and discussed in this work. As conclusion, TiAlCN and AlTiCrN+CN show the competitive solutions.