What is press hardening steel?

Press hardening steel “as delivered” has a ferritic-pearlitic microstructure. When heated to 900°C by the parts manufacturer, PHS converts to an austenitic microstructure. Subsequent quenching (cooling) determines how much of PHS is converted to a “full hard” (FH) martensitic microstructure.

Why use press hardening steel?

Press hardening steel has UTS of up to 2000 MPa, no springback, and can be formed into very complex shapes: all useful for lightweighting of parts. Tailored tempering enables multi-strength crash performance – e.g., energy transfer and absorption in one part.

What are the processes for hot stamping steel?

Direct hot stamping: the steel blank is heated to 900°C, formed while hot, then rapidly quenched in the die to achieve its final strength. Indirect hot stamping: the blank is formed, trimmed, and punched while cold, then heated and quenched.

Where is hot formed steel used?

Hot formed steel grades are appropriate for high-strength components too complex in shape to be cold formed. EV battery enclosures Cross members, including roof and dashboard panels Front and rear bumper beams A- and B-pillars

Press hardening steels (PHS) for complex shapes

Press hardening steels have four major advantages: they can be formed into very complex shapes, their ultimate tensile strength ranges up to 2000 MPa (290 ksi), there is little or no springback, and, with tailored tempering, you can combine “full hard zones” and “soft zones” for multi-function crash performance within a single part.

Press hardening steel basics

Press hardening steel has several names that refer to how it is used, including hot stamped, hot press forming (HPF), and hot formed (HF). PHS also has names based on its chemical composition, including hot-stamped boron, carbon-manganese-boron, and 22MnB5 boron.

The ultimate mechanical properties for PHS steels are set by the stamper, not the steel mill. Hot-stamped steels, “as delivered” by the steel mills, have a ferritic-pearlitic microstructure and when heated to 900°C by the fabricator, the steel converts to an austenitic microstructure. During the subsequent quenching process, the rate of cooling determines how much of the formed part is converted to the “full hard” (FH) martensitic microstructure.

PHS steels’ very high strengths allow for thin wall designs (“downgauging”) and therefore significant lightweighting of automotive crash components. Press hardening also enables UHSS steel to be formed into complex shapes.

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Press hardened steel properties

The greatest potential for vehicle lightweighting via the strongest strengths: up to 1380 MPa yield strength (R_p0.2) and 2040 MPa tensile strength (R_m).
Maximize design flexibility and parts consolidation, with complex shapes readily formed at 900°C.
A single PHS part can have multi-strength performance (e.g., energy transfer and energy absorption) via processes such as tailored tempering, tailored welded blanks (TWBs), and tailored rolled blanks (TRB).
Excellent final shape accuracy, with little or no springback.

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Automotive applications for hot formed steels

Docol PHS steel grades are for components with shapes that are too complex to be cold formed.

EV battery protection
A- and B-pillars
Sill (rocker) reinforcements
Cross members, including roof and dashboard panels
Front and rear bumper beams
Door reinforcements
Windshield pillar reinforcements

Additional application ideas

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Press hardening steel (PHS) for automotive applications

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Grades and mechanical properties for Docol PHS steels

Product name	Coating	Dimensions	Standards	Datasheet
Docol PHS FH 1500	-	-	-	-
Docol PHS CR 1500	-	-	-	-
Docol PHS HR 1500	-	-	-	-
Docol PHS HR 1500+A	-	-	-	-
Docol PHS FH 1800	-	-	-	-
Docol PHS CR 1800	-	-	-	-
Docol PHS FH 2000	-	-	-	-
Docol PHS CR 2000	-	-	-	-
Docol PHS HR 2000	-	-	-	-
Docol PHS HR 2000+A	-	-	-	-

Product Family

Product name

Docol PHS FH 1500

Product name

Docol PHS CR 1500

Product name

Docol PHS HR 1500

Product name

Docol PHS HR 1500+A

Product name

Docol PHS FH 1800

Product name

Docol PHS CR 1800

Product name

Docol PHS FH 2000

Product name

Docol PHS CR 2000

Product name

Docol PHS HR 2000

Product name

Docol PHS HR 2000+A

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Forming Docol hot-stamped steels

In direct hot stamping the steel blank is heated to 900°C, formed while hot and then rapidly quenched in the die to achieve its final strength.
For the indirect hot stamping process, the steel blank is formed, trimmed, and punched while cold, then later heated and quickly quenched to achieve its strength.
PHS steels’ very high strengths allow for thin wall designs and therefore significant lightweighting of automotive crash components. Press hardening also enables UHSS steel to be formed into complex shapes. Springback is minimal or eliminated, so final parts have excellent dimensional accuracy.
Docol^® PHS steels have good weldability and can be joined to dissimilar materials; contact Docol technical support regarding joining considerations for our hot-stamped steels.

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Additional benefits from Docol hot formed steel

Excellent fatigue properties.
Three high-strength grades: 1500 MPa, 1800 MPa and 2000 MPa.
Grades are available to meet OEM-specific standards and certifications.
Global support and availability.

Are you looking for OEM-specific PHS grades?

Docol^® PHS steel grades are be supplied to VDA or OEM standards. The new VDA hot-stamped steel standard is CR1900T-MB-DS, which corresponds to Docol^® PHS 2000. If you don’t see a specific grade listed here, please contact our technical support — we often develop innovative UHSS steels, customized for a specific automotive application.

Custom AHSS for automotive OEMs

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The benefits of Docol® PHS steel for each team member

Safety engineers: Unmatched design flexibility in both stamped part complexity and multi-strength capabilities (e.g., energy transfer and energy absorption) in a single part.

Lightweighting engineers: The strongest available automotive steels, PHS grades let you “downgage,” allowing for significant weight reductions.

Production engineers: Pick from a wide variety of PHS production processes, including direct, indirect, hybrid, pre-cooled direct, multi-step, roll form PHS, form fixture hardening, and form blow hardening/hot gas metal forming.

Buyers: Replace costly aluminum with compact, gigapascal strength PHS.

Sustainability officers: Improve your life cycle assessment with our low-embedded-CO₂ UHSS steels — equivalent to recycled steel today, and becoming fossil-free in 2026.

Future-proof your life cycle assessment

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Lower your embedded CO2

Docol PHS steel is “future proofed.”

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TRIAL MATERIAL STOCK

Get PHS samples — fast

An industry exclusive: SSAB ships coils, sheets and custom lengths of any size, typically in 1 to 2 weeks. Get AHSS/UHSS samples for both our commercially available grades, as well as our newest steels still in development.

Request trial material

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FAQ

Other steel categories

Ferritic-Bainitic steel: stretch edge flangeability for cold-forming

Ferritic-Bainitic are multi-phased steels with high hole expansion ratios and good edge stretch capabilities. FB steels are suited for cold-formed and punched flanges when lightweighting automotive components such as wheels, cross members, and other structural parts.

High strength, low alloy (HSLA) steels for cost-effective automotive lightweighting

High strength, low alloy steels are a cost-effective choice for increasing strength-to-weight ratios when compared to conventional mild carbon steels. HSLA steels also have excellent bendability and weldability and can increase the strength and/or decrease the weight for a variety of body-in-white and chassis automotive components, including suspensions, beams, and subframes.

Complex phase (CP) steels for the highest hole expansion ratios

Complex phase steels have the highest — up to 100% — hole expansion ratios available from advanced high strength steels. Their high HER values provide excellent cold-forming properties for punched and stretched edges/flanges, as well as deep-drawn shapes. CP steels’ superior yield strengths are used for high crash-energy absorption, while their elevated UTS levels enable thinner walls for significant automobile weight reductions.

High edge (HE) ductility HSLA steel

High edge ductility HSLA steel with greatly improved local formability and high hole expansion ratios – ideal for challenging auto components with complex designs on sheared stretched edges.

Martensitic steel: excellent formability-to-strength ratio

Martensitic steel combines tensile strengths up to 1700 MPa with good ductility, making it highly efficient for both vehicle lightweighting and improved crash protection — especially in anti-intrusion zones.

Dual phase with high formability/ductility for crack-free cold deep drawing

Dual phase with high formability/ductility (DH) steels are TRIP-assisted, 3rd Generation automotive steels with high global and local formability and good resistance to edge cracking. DH steel have excellent energy-absorbing properties, included reserved ductility during crash impact. DH grades are ideal for complex geometries, including cold deep drawing. DH steel's FLDs and HERs are superior to DP steels, enabling scrap reduction and more streamlined stamping.

Dual phase (DP) steel: excellent ductility and energy absorption

Dual phase automotive steels have an excellent balance of ductility, high tensile strengths, easy cold formability, and very good crash energy-absorption. Its high early-stage strain hardening (n-value) makes DP steel resistant to local necking due to strain redistribution — providing highly uniform elongation. Dual phase steel’s low yield-to-tensile-strength ratio creates high global formability for deep-drawing and high-stretching capacities — all with good weldability.