Stamping parts with vegetable oil is becoming more a reality every day. For a metal working lubricant—whether it be soluble, semi-synthetic, or synthetic—to be USDA-classified as biobased, it must contain, at minimum, 40 percent to 57 percent of renewable resources. Just because a product is biobased, made from a varying percentage of renewable resources, it does not necessarily make it readily or ultimately biodegradable. Green lubricants offer enhanced lubricity and a high viscosity index. These oils are less toxic to the environment and are easier to dispose.

Hot stamping of automotive structural safety components developed in response to mandates levied by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) 1 to improve vehicle crash integrity while also reducing vehicle weight to help meet fuel efficiency standards. Heating a high-strength steel (HSS) component of a boron-steel alloy to the austenitic range—a super-heated solid solution state, ~ 1,700 degrees F (950 degrees C)—improved drawability, and then quickly cooling the part in a water-cooled die, or quenching, transformed the crystalline structure, increasing the formed component's strength-to-weight ratio.