TWB Hotform Blanks

New solutions for the automotive industry

Lightweight construction meets crash and roof crush protection

Steel remains the number 1 material in the automotive industry for meeting lightweight and crash safety requirements. New manganese-boron steel alloys can achieve strengths of 1,500 MPa after hot stamping – far higher than with conventional forming processes. These ultra high strengths have opened up whole new possibilities for lightweight automotive construction. Parts made from thinner material can deliver equivalent or even improved crash performance. TWB Hotformed Tailored Blanks allows further optimization of and customization of your vehicle structure.

Double advantage: tailored blank and hotformed

The benefits are two fold: our hotformed tailored blanks can combine sheets of boron in different thicknesses. Boron steel can also be combined with other steel grades, e.g. with lower-cost or milder materials. In addition, the blanks offer the advantages of hotforming. Very high strengths can be realized at very low weight.

Optimized design for crash-relevant structural parts

A concrete example of this is the B pillar: the vertical struts in the lower third have to yield so as to absorb some of the impact energy. The upper area of the pillar must be stiff to protect the head and upper body of occupants in the event of a collision. Our solution is to weld the manganese-boron steel to milder steel grades and produce the complete B pillar from a hotformed tailored blank. Strength after hot forming in the lower third is approx. 500 MPa. The residual elongation value is 15%. The sheet is just 1.5 mm thick in all areas – optimum material utilization while at the same time reducing weight. In addition, hotformed parts are virtually free from residual stresses. That increases the value of your vehicle body.