Determination of Heat Treatment Condition for Hot Press Formed Automotive Flex Plate

자동차용 플렉스 플레이트 제조를 위한 핫프레스 포밍 열처리 조건 최적화

The flex plate, an automotive part which mounts to the automotive engine to transfer torque to transmission, should have considerable hardness and shape accuracy. As a way to produce the flex plate, the hot press forming technology which takes advantages of high formability at elevated temperature, enhanced strength and shape stability was introduced. Therefore, as one of major process parameters the heat treatment condition should be determined to obtain appropriate hardness in the range of manufacturer's specifications. In this study, two heat treatments, austempering and quenching and tempering (QT), were compared as feasible conditions fur the hot press forming of high-carbon tool steel and the hardness and toughness after heat treatments were evaluated. The study showed that both heat treatments resulted in improved hardness but only quenching and tempering showed practicable range of toughness.