The invention relates to a method for partial hardening of a steel sheet by cold deformation, where the partial hardening of a steel is done by a cold deformation with a multi-step rolling and annealing process and in order to have a steel sheet with a homogeneous thickness steel sheet is used with at least two areas having different values in mechanical and/or physical properties in longitudinal direction of the material.

The present invention relates to a method, and system for performing such method, for producing a press hardened part (2) of heat treatable material having zones of different structure by partially heating a blank (2) before the blank is processed. The method (100) comprises the steps of arranging (104) the blank in a furnace (10) for heating the blank to a temperature equal to or above the austenitization temperature of the material of the blank to get the blank into an austenitic phase, in a IR heating station (10) partially heating (106), by means of IR radiation (24), at least one first zone (2a) of the blank thereby keeping the at least one first zone of the blank in the austenitic phase, and arranging (108) the blank in a processing unit (30) for forming and quenching the blank to a press hardened part.

Methods for processing workpieces. A first temperature of a first section of a workpiece having a non-uniform thickness may be maintained. A cooling rate of a second section of the workpiece may be controlled while maintaining the first temperature of the first section. The workpiece may be quenched after cooling the second section of the workpiece to form a quenched workpiece, in which the cooling rate may be controlled such that the second section of the workpiece has desired properties.

A method for processing a press hardenable steel includes first heating a slab of the press hardenable steel. The slab is heated to a re-heat furnace temperature of approximately 2300 F. The slab is subjected to rolling into a steel sheet having a predetermined thickness. The temperature of the slab during rolling corresponds to a rolling temperature that is greater than or equal to 1600 F. The steel sheet is coiled. The temperature of the steel sheet during coiling corresponds to a coiling temperature of approximately 1050 F.

Provided is a method for strengthening a steel plate member employing a heating and quenching treatment. The method includes a first heating step, a partial cooling step, a second heating step and an entire cooling step, each step conducted in the written order.

In a ferritic stainless steel sheet, the arithmetic average roughness Ra is 0.2 m or more and 1.2 m or less. In addition, the dull pattern transfer rate on the steel sheet surface is 15% or more and 70% or less. Furthermore, micropits with a depth of 0.5 m or more and an open area of 10 m.sup.2 or more which are formed on the steel sheet surface have an existing density of 10.0 or less per 0.01 mm.sup.2 and an open area ratio of 1.0% or less. In addition, a film formed on the steel sheet surface is constituted from an oxide containing SiO.sub.2 as a main constituent, which oxide contains at least Si, N, Al, Mn, Cr, Fe, Nb, Ti and O as film-forming elements other than C, wherein the Si content is 10 at % or more, and the N content is 10 at % or less.

A die apparatus including a first die element, a plurality of second die elements, a plurality of actuators, and a controller is provided. Each of the plurality of actuators is mounted to one of the plurality of second die elements. The controller is programmed to activate the actuators to contact and compress portions of a blank disposed between the die elements at separate pressures to influence microstructure forming for one of a geometry transition region, a deformation region, and a joining region. One of the separate pressures applied to one of the portions of the blank may be approximately 5 N/mm.sup.2 or less to form a soft strength zone. The pressure of approximately 5 N/mm.sup.2 or less may be applied to the one of the portions of the blank for approximately one to two seconds.

The invention relates to a method for producing a shaped and at least regionally hardened sheet metal component, particularly a sheet steel component (15), with at least one perforation (16) produced in it, in which method a preform (13) is heated to forming temperature, subsequently shaped and then at least regionally hardened by corresponding cooling, wherein the at least one perforation (16) in the preform (13) is produced during the course of a punching process before the preform (13) is hardened. According to the invention, the metal piece (14) separated from the preform (13) by punching is fed back to its original position or a corresponding position in the perforation (16), remains there for the duration of the quenching process and is only pressed out during or after removal of the sheet steel component (13) from the die (1), in which it is held during quenching. The invention also describes a quench press die (1) for producing a shaped and at least regionally hardened sheet metal component, particularly a sheet steel component (15), with at least two die parts (2, 3) adjustable against one another for opening and closing the die (1) and with a punching device (7) comprising a punching die (8) for producing a perforation (16) in a preform (13) located between the die parts (2, 3). The die part (2), against which the punching die (8) for producing the perforation (16) works, has a return punch (11), the actuation side of which points towards the punching die (8) and the axis of motion of which corresponds to the axis of motion of the punching die (8), such that a metal piece (14) separated from a preform (13) by means of said punching die (8) can be returned to the correct position, or approximately to the correct position in the perforation (16) produced in the preform (13) by the punching process to fill said perforation.

The invention relates to a method for bending a workpiece (1) of sheet metal, whereby a deformation region (6), in particular a strip-shaped region, on the workpiece (1) containing the bent edge to be produced (5) is heated before and/or during the bending process to a deforming temperature below the fusion temperature of the metal to increase deformability locally. In order to reduce undesirable deformation due to shrinkage stress, the workpiece (1) is heated before and/or during and/or after the bending operation in at least one heating zone (11) that is different from the deformation region (6) by means of the application of energy from outside the workpiece (1) starting from an initial temperature to a processing temperature below the fusion temperature of the metal.

Embodiments of the present invention are generally directed to materials processing methods using femtosecond duration laser pulses, and to the altered materials obtained by such methods. The resulting nanostructured (with or without macro- and micro-structuring) materials have a variety of applications, including, for example, aesthetic applications for jewelry or ornamentation; biomedical applications related to biocompatibility; catalysis applications; and modification of, for example, the optical and hydrophilic properties of materials including selective coloring.