Example of
Wear Resistant Process
(UltrawearPlus®)
on Hot Forging Dies
A large
forging company with plants located in Michigan that primarily supplies the
automotive industry with precision near net forgings desired to improve the
die life of their H-13 heat treated forge dies 46-48 HRC (see photos below).
The object was to increase the amount of forgings produced between die
changes. Thus, the amount of forge press down time and forge die repair
would be reduced while in effect increasing existing press capacity.
The company
contacted
Woodworth Industries Inc.
and spoke with the director of engineering who recommended the
patented UltrawearPlus®
process to improve wear resistance on the forging dies.
Three
different forging die sets were chosen that had traditionally shown poor die
life. A D.O.E was designed in which results would be based on the average of
four press runs for untreated and
UltrawearPlus®
processed dies. The results were nothing short of impressive (see table
below).
No. of forgings produced
Part
No. Part Name Untreated
UltrawearPlus®
155 PL
Knuckle 653 7,421
138 Tie
Rod 377 15,548
148
Suspension Knuckle 674 6,592
