A press hardening method including the following steps: A. the provision of a steel sheet for heat treatment being optionally coated with a zinc- or aluminum-based pre-coating, B. the flexible rolling of the steel sheet in the rolling direction so as to obtain a steel sheet having a variable thickness, C. the cutting of the rolled steel sheet to obtain a tailored rolled blank, D. the deposition of a hydrogen barrier pre-coating over a thickness from 10 to 550 nm, E. the heat treatment of the tailored rolled blank to obtain a fully austenitic microstructure in the steel, F. the transfer of the tailored rolled blank into a press tool, G. the hot-forming of the tailored rolled blank to obtain a part having a variable thickness,H. the cooling of the part having a variable thickness obtained at step G).

A spot welded joint of at least two steel sheets is provided. At least one of the steel sheets presents yield strength above or equal to 600 MPa, an ultimate tensile strength above or equal to 1000 MPa, uniform elongation above or equal to 15%. The base metal chemical composition includes 0.05≤C≤0.21%, 4.0≤Mn≤7.0%, 0.5≤Al≤3.5%, Si≤2.0%, Ti≤0.2%, V≤0.2%, Nb≤0.2%, P≤0.025%, B≤0.0035%, and the spot welded joint contains a molten zone microstructure containing more than 0.5% of Al and containing a surface fraction of segregated areas lower than 1%, said segregated areas being zones larger than 20 μm.sup.2 and containing more than the steel nominal phosphorus content.

A steel part includes a steel sheet substrate and a coating on at least one surface of the steel sheet substrate. The coating includes between 0.2 and 0.7% by weight of Al, with a remainder of the metal coating being Zn and inevitable impurities. The steel sheet substrate and the coating have at least one deformation. An outer surface of the coating has a waviness Wa.sub.0.8 of less than or equal to 0.43 μm.

A steel part includes a steel sheet substrate and a coating on at least one surface of the steel sheet substrate. The coating includes between 0.2 and 0.7% by weight of Al, with a remainder of the metal coating being Zn and inevitable impurities. The steel sheet substrate and the coating have at least one deformation. An outer surface of the coating has a waviness Wa.sub.0.8 of less than or equal to 0.43 μm.

A heat treated and cold rolled steel sheet having a composition including of the following elements 0.09%≤Carbon≤0.15%, 1.8%≤Manganese≤2.5%, 0.2%≤Silicon≤0.7%, 0.01%≤Aluminum≤0.1%, 0%≤Phosphorus≤0.09%, 0%≤Sulfur≤0.09%, 0%≤Nitrogen≤0.09%, 0%≤Niobium≤0.1%, 0%≤Titanium≤0.1%, 0%≤Chromium≤1%, 0%≤Molybdenum≤1%, 0%≤Vanadium≤0.1%, 0%≤Calcium≤0.005%, 0%≤Boron≤0.01%, 0%≤Cerium≤0.1%, 0%≤Magnesium≤0.05%, 0%≤Zirconium≤0.05% the remainder composition being composed of iron and unavoidable impurities caused by processing, the microstructure of said steel sheet comprising in area fraction, 65 to 85% Tempered Martensite, 0% to 5% Residual Austenite and a cumulative presence of Ferrite and Bainite between 15 and 35%.

A shield covers a predetermined region of a plate workpiece during tempering of the plate workpiece in a furnace in which the shield and the workpiece are subjected to an austenitization temperature while the predetermined region of the plate is shielded by the shield against heat. The shield has at least one first shield part shaped to cover at least some of the predetermined region of the workpiece, at least one second shield part, and a fastener or the like securing the second part movably relative to or removable from the first part such that the first and second parts together achieve an optimum shape fully covering and shielding the predetermined region of the plate workpiece.

Provided is a method of manufacturing a high strength steel sheet having excellent workability, including: reheating a steel slab; hot-rolling the reheated steel slab at an Ar3 transformation point or higher; coiling in a temperature range of 400 to 700° C.; primary cooling at a cooling rate of 0.1° C./s or less to room temperature; producing a cold rolled steel sheet at a cold reduction ratio of 40 to 70%; continuously annealing the cold rolled steel sheet in a temperature range of Ac1+30° C. to Ac3−20° C.; secondary cooling at a cooling rate of 10° C./s or less to 630 to 670° C.; third cooling to 400 to 500° C. at a cooling rate of 5° C./s or more in a hydrogen; maintaining for 70 seconds or more; hot-dip galvanizing; and performing a final cooling to Ms or less at a cooling rate of 1° C./s or more.

The present disclosure relates to an austenitic stainless alloy comprising in weight % (wt %): C less than 0.03; Si less than 1.0; Mn less than or equal to 1.2; Cr 26.0 to 30.0; Ni 29.0 to 37.0; Mo 6.1 to 7.1 or (Mo+W/2) 6.1 to 7.1; N 0.25 to 0.36; P less than or equal to 0.04; S less than or equal to 0.03; Cu less than or equal to 0.4; balance Fe and unavoidable impurities and to the use thereof and to products made thereof. Thus, the austenitic stainless alloy comprises a low content of manganese in combination with a high content of nitrogen. The present disclosure also relates to the use of said austenitic stainless alloy, especially in highly corrosive environments and to products made of thereof.

Provided is a metal gasket including, expressed in mass %, C: 0.10% or less, Si: 1.0% or less, Mn: 2.0% or less, P: 0.04% or less (including 0%), S: 0.01% or less (including 0%), Ni: 25.0-60.0%, Cr: 10.0-20.0%, either Mo or W alone, or both Mo+W/2:0.05-5.0%, Al: more than 0.8% to 3.0% or less, Ti: 1.5-4.0%, Nb: 0.05-2.5%, V: 1.0% or less (including 0%), B: 0.001-0.015%, Mg: 0.0005-0.01%, S/Mg: 1.0 or less, N: 0.01% or less (including 0%), and O: 0.005%) or less (including 0%), with the remainder being Fe and unavoidable impurities. The metal gasket has a metal structure in which a precipitate γ′ phase having an average equivalent circle diameter of 25 nm or larger is not present within the austenite base.

The present invention relates to a flat steel product which has good deep-drawing ability, low edge-crack sensitivity and good bending behaviour. To this end, the flat steel product contains a steel which consists of (in wt %) 0.1-0.5% C, 1.0-3.0% Mn, 0.9-1.5% Si, up to 1.5% Al, up to 0.008% N, up to 0.020% P, up to 0.005% S, 0.01-1% Cr and optionally one or more of the following elements: up to 0.2% Mo, up to 0.01% B, up to 0.5% Cu, up to 0.5% Ni and optionally a total of 0.005-0.2% microalloying elements, the remainder being iron and unavoidable impurities, wherein 75<(Mn2+55*Cr)/Cr<3000 where Mn is the Mn content of the steel in wt % and Cr is the Cr content of the steel in wt %. The steel has a structure which consists of at least 80 area % martensite, of which at least 75 area % is tempered martensite and at most 25 area % is non-tempered martensite, at least 5 volume % residual austenite, 0.5 to 10 area % ferrite and at most 5 area % bainite, wherein in the region of the phase boundary between tempered martensite and residual austenite there is a low-Mn ferrite seam which has a width of at least 4 nm and at most 12 nm and the Mn content of which is at most 50% of the average Mn content of the flat steel product. The flat steel product contains carbides with a length of less than or equal to 250 nm. The invention also relates to a method for producing a flat steel product according to the invention, in which method the structural characteristics of the flat steel product according to the invention are set by suitable heat treatment.