William E. Fristad

Press-hardening high-strength steel is an important component in automotive construction to provide crash-worthiness. Several coating options are available today for use on stamped, press-hardened steel parts. However, none of these options are without limitations or challenges, such as cracking, coating transfer, fumes, weldability problems, and the need for shotblasting. A new coating technique has been developed and shows promise. The coating is a very thin (2- to 3-μm-thick), paint-like, rather than metallic, coating. It consists of a siloxane resin acting as the binder with aluminum flake to act as the sacrificial filler, so it meets the requirements to be inorganic and to contain a sacrificial oxidized material.