Premature failure of dies is a critical problem of manufacturers in hot-working processes, e.g. metal die casting, hot extrusion and/or thixoextrusion of aluminium/magnesium or steel. Typically, die material has to be resistant to heat cycling or corrosion environment, to plastic deformation and wear, especially when exposed to high temperature during continuous working cycle. The resistance of dies could be increased by the modification of their surfaces, i.e. by the application of an adequate coating. An improvement of the resistance of H11 steel substrate will be presented and discussed. Here, the coatings will be realized through both by High Velocity Oxy-Fuel coating spray method and by plasma spray method. Firstly, the measurement of the residual stress will be carried out on the un-coated and coated substrate. Secondly, morphological analysis by optical and scanning electron microscopy will be performed on the powders used for the coating and on the coated materials. Such investigations aim finding the most favourable conditions, as concern the materials to be employed for the deposition and the more appropriate deposition techniques, in order to achieve improved properties for the dies which can be used in innovative casting techniques, i.e. squeeze casting and/or some related modified processes.
Keywords:Al-based alloys, deposition methods, morphological analysis, residual stress measurment
IntroductionDegradation of hot working components is directly correlated to the design, materials employed for the manufacturing as well as the operation history. High reactivity of steel with Al and its alloys as a consequence of the high solubility of Al in α-Fe and of Fe in liquid Al has a strong effect on the dies lifetime. As a result of the repeated contact of the die surface and the casting alloy dies are continuously exposed to erosion and corrosion. Due to different degradation mechanisms attributed to wear, as well as to corrosion-or thermo mechanical fatigue during service, a gradual failure of the die surfaces occurs, reducing the castings quality and the dies duration. The tool materials used for hot-working dies should be resistant to wear, heat cycling and thermal fatigue, plastic deformation and corrosion. In addition, they have to present high hardness, yield strength, creep resistance and toughness at high temperatures. In order to minimize or to avoid the die surface from any negative effects, the dies have to be produced employing an appropriate alloy or by modifying their surfaces through some suitable treatments. Many technological solutions are available today: some of them are related to nitriding