metals Review New Developments and Future Trends in Low-Temperature Hot Stamping Technologies: A Review Chenpeng Tong 1, Qi Rong 1, Victoria A. Yardley 1, Xuetao Li 2, Jiaming Luo 2, Guosen Zhu 2 and Zhusheng Shi 1,* 1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK;
[email protected] (C.T.);
[email protected] (Q.R.);
[email protected] (V.A.Y.) 2 Shougang Research Institute of Technology, Shougang Group, Beijing 100041, China;
[email protected] (X.L.);
[email protected] (J.L.);
[email protected] (G.Z.) * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +44-20-7594-9546 Received: 13 November 2020; Accepted: 2 December 2020; Published: 8 December 2020 Abstract: Improvement of the hot stamping process is important for reducing processing costs and improving the productivity and tensile properties of final components. One major approach to this has been to conduct all or part of the process at lower temperatures. The present paper reviews the state of the art of hot stamping techniques and their applications, considering the following aspects: (1) conventional hot stamping and its advanced developments; (2) warm stamping approaches in which complete austenitisation is not attained during heating; (3) hot stamping with a lower forming temperature, i.e., low-temperature hot stamping (LTHS); (4) advanced medium-Mn steels with lower austenitisation temperatures and their applicability in LTHS. Prospects for the further development of LTHS technology and the work required to achieve this are discussed. Keywords: low-temperature hot stamping; hot stamping; warm stamping; low heating temperature; low forming temperature; medium-Mn steel; cost-saving; productivity; mechanical property 1.