Technical Bulletin
UltrawearPlus®
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
The UltrawearPlus® process not only improved die life and reduced cost per part; it also greatly reduced "heat checking" thus improving forged part quality. In addition, the porous iron oxide lay (Fe3 O4) produced on the dies surface reduced die lube consumption by 25%. While improving the "releasing" properties of the dies.
Pre Processing Post Processing
Automotive Applications UltrawearPlus®
Constuction Casting Applications UltrawearPlus®