Hot Form Quench (HFQ®) - an aluminium hot forming lightweighting technology - is an industrial stamping process for the production of deep drawn, precise and complex geometry ultra-high strength aluminium sheet components.[1][2][3] It is the aluminium hot stamping (sometimes also called 'aluminium hot forming') process for age-hardening grades of sheet and has similarities to the press hardening of ultra-high strength steels. HFQ, the original aluminium hot stamping process, exploits viscoplasticity of aluminium at high temperatures to facilitate the production of lightweight structures, often replacing steel, composites, castings, extrusions or multiple cold formed pressings.[4][5]
Hot Form Quench (HFQ) is an aluminum hot stamping process for high strength sheet (typically) 2xxx, 6xxx and 7xxx series alloys,[6] that was initially developed in the early 2000s by Professors Jianguo Lin and Trevor Dean at the University of Birmingham and then at Imperial College London, both in the UK.
Impression Technologies Limited (ITL), a materials technology company based in Coventry, UK, has exclusive commercialisation rights for HFQ aluminium hot forming, and has since developed its own additional know-how and rights in this domain. At the same time as the first HFQ applications were adopted in automotive applications (the Aston Martin DB11[7]) in 2016, other organisations in the lightweighting ecosystem joined Impression Technologies on a Horizon 2020 programme called LoCoMaTech [8] with an aim to take the HFQ Technology towards mass volume applications. ITL, having installed the world's first HFQ line at the old Jaguar site at Lyons Park Coventry,[9] has started licensing the HFQ Technology around the world to manufacturers, such as fischer group in Germany, EMI Aerospace in US, and Jet Wagon in China,[10][11][12] supplying the automotive and aerospace sectors.
World's first HFQ production line at Impression Technologies, Coventry, UK
^Mohamed, Mohamed (December 2010). "An investigation of hot forming quench process for AA6082 aluminium alloys". Imperial College London. doi:10.25560/6147. hdl:10044/1/6147.
^Scharifi, Emad; Yardley, Victoria A.; Weidig, Ursula; Szegda, Damian; Lin, Jianguo; Steinhoff, Kurt (August 2023). "Hot Sheet Metal Forming Strategies for High-Strength Aluminum Alloys: A Review—Fundamentals and Applications". Advanced Engineering Materials. 25 (16). doi:10.1002/adem.202300141. hdl:10044/1/106720. ISSN 1438-1656.
^lotusproactive (2013-11-11). "Shaping the Future of Aluminium". proActive Magazine. Retrieved 2024-03-12.
^Mohamed, Foster, Lin, Balint, Dean (February 2012). "Investigation of deformation and failure features in hot stamping of AA6082: Experimentation and modelling". International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture. 53: 27–38. doi:10.1016/j.ijmachtools.2011.07.005. hdl:10044/1/13874.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Sellors, John (11 November 2013). "Shaping the Future of Aluminium". proActive Magazine.
^"[Withdrawn] New Aston Martin DB11 features UK firm's low-carbon innovation". 31 January 2022.
^"Home - EU project: "LoCoMaTech"".
^"Pioneering Aluminium Company Doubles Revenue Following Assistance From The CWLEP Growth Hub". Coventry & Warwickshire Growth Hub. 2020-02-19. Retrieved 2024-02-28.
^"fischer group cooperates with Impression Technologies Ltd. to manufacture hot formed aluminium components". Fischer Group - Deutschland (in German). Retrieved 2024-02-28.
^Impression (2023-11-13). "Impression Technologies supports Jet Wagon's quest for high-volume manufacturing in China". Impression Technologies. Retrieved 2024-02-28.
^Craig (2023-05-11). "EMI Aerospace and Impression Technologies sign agreement for Hot Form Quench (HFQ®) Technology - Read More". QMC-EMI. Retrieved 2024-02-28.
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cracking during water quenching. There are six groups of tool steels: water-hardening, cold-work, shock-resistant, high-speed, hot-work, and special purpose...
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other microscopic imperfections. It is common for quench cracks to form when steel is water quenched, although they may not always be visible. There are...
procedure, hence the term marquenching. It is a form of isothermal heat treatment applied after an initial quench, typically in a molten salt bath, at a temperature...
solidified, but while still hot. It is then finished in a single cavity die. The flash is trimmed, then the part is quench hardened. Another variation...
body of water. However, depending on the metal type, it may require an oil quench or a salt brine instead; many metals require more than plain water hardening...
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cambering gauges. Quenching : Hot bent leaves kept in tray and quenched in oil bath to get martensite structure. Martensite is the hardest form of steel crystalline...
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