BENEFITS
- Increasing the number of forgings produced per sink.
- Decreasing or stabilizing number of die blocks in inventory.
- Decreasing machining costs on re-sinks.
- Increasing the ability to meet production demand with existing die steels.
- Converting obsolete die impressions into new impressions.
- Decreasing die steel costs by compositely fabricating press dies utilizing an alloy equivalent to hammer die steel, (i.e. Din1.2714, FX-II, SKT-4) with premium welding alloys in the impression areas.
- Repairing any one or more of the buster, blocker or finisher impressions only without disturbing the other impressions.
DIE BLOCK INVENTORY
The Flood Welding process can be utilized to weld existing die steels many times over. When dies must be reworked because of worn or cracked impressions, they can be scarfed-out and welded back to original height. This will save the department from buying new steel and re-machining a brand new block. The entire welding and heat-treating process for a set or sets of dies can be accomplished within time, allowing quick turn-around.
Many steel suppliers cannot provide their steel within a short period of time.
*Flood Welding – Filling die impressions in their entirety
COMPOSITE DIE MANUFACTURING
Today’s forging industry demands several combinations of mechanical properties to be present in each die steel, i.e.; resistance to impact, strength, resistance to cracking, resistance to thermal fatigue, resistance to softening at elevated temperatures, resistance to abrasion, resistance to wear, etc. Unlike specialty steel manufacturers, we are capable of supplying various welding alloys that perform a service for the various parts of Forging Tooling; such as, tough weld deposits for shank, dowel pocket and component (ram, so w blocks, die holders, etc.) repairs; high temperature and wear resistant weld deposits for flash land, raised ribs and knobs of press and hammer dies and weld deposits that will be machined conventionally or thru E.D.M. Chemical content and heat treatment are two factors that will determine which mechanical properties will be most prominent.
Thru welding, and the selection of appropriate base steel, we can attempt to achieve equilibrium conditions. For example, a press die may be manufactured out of a hot working alloy, such as A.I.S.I. Type H-13 or SKD-11. Because of its high hardness and lower impact values, serious cracking may result, possibly yielding a broken die. This steel is displaying brittle characteristics. We would then choose a lower hardness base material with higher toughness and better crack resistivity to eliminate the die breakage, but, weld the impression area with a high wearing, appropriate hardness, premium grade welding alloy to produce the required number of forgings, perhaps exceeding that figure by 50% or better. The lower alloy base is also easier to weld helping to reduce the possibility of cracking from alternate heating and cooling encountered in the welding process.
Another example would be a hammer die: The shank area is generally required to be somewhat softer and tougher than the impression area. This may present a problem for the end user in terms of cost and availability. Because of the flexibility in manufacturing welding alloys to meet specific demands, we can use a base steel of moderate hardness throughout to service the shank area and apply a harder and longer wearing alloy to service the impression area.
Re-sinks OF SAME IMPRESSIONS
Re-sinks can become very costly when corner locks, rollers, benders; edger, buster and blocker impressions are present in the same die. When re-facing occurs, all these areas must also be machined. Thru welding we can maintain proper die height and repair damaged impressions without the need to re-machine the entire die face. This is very helpful if only the finished die impression is damaged and buster and blocker still produce satisfactory preformed forgings.
Since the height of dies can be maintained thru welding, subsequent shimming of dies will not be required. This is also beneficial because the die blocks are not weakened from the reduction in thickness, allowing the mass of the die to accept more shock without breakage or cracking. As the thickness of the die is reduced, the hardness of the block simultaneously is lowered resulting in lower production per re- sink. This phenomenon is created because of the die steels inability to be hardened throughout at the same hardness value.
CONVERSION OF OBSOLETE IMPRESSIONS
Hammer and press components such as (rams, sow blocks, die holders, bolster plates, etc.) can be maintained thru the Flood Welding Process” as well.
The Flood Welding process can be utilized to maintain dimensional specifications of component die pockets, shanks, wing heights, bolster plate thicknesses, up-setter holders, and tightening of loose dowels and ram vees.
The capability to repair cracks thru welding is extremely beneficial so that propagation of a crack does not occur resulting in complete fracture.
The above capabilities reduce the amount of component steel purchases and further reduce the need for machining a large ram undersize to facilitate a smaller hammer. Certainly through welding, we can salvage the large ram and quickly supply a welded and machined ram as opposed to waiting for the steel mill to deliver and then machine a brand new one.
We offers welding alloys to meet the mechanical property requirements of the components; those that offer greater crack resistivity than the parent steel and those that display an increased resistance to wear as compared to the parent steel of ram vees, die pockets, and shanks, etc.