May 2021 Volume 3

EQUIPMENT & TECHNOLOGY

Ring Rolling Axial Cone A ring roller on the East coast utilizes both a high-performing iron-based alloy and an Inconel welded set of cones. On a typical set of unwelded cones, the customer would see about 700 hours of operation yielding approximately 4.5 million pounds of product before the cone was deemed out of tolerance. A cone welded with an iron-based alloy jumped to 1,500 hours and 5.7 million pounds before being pulled from service. A cone welded with Inconel ran just short of 3,000 hours and netted 10.1 million pounds. Just by welding the cones with a high-performing iron-based alloy the customer saw a 114% increase in tooling life. Changing the weld alloy to Inconel increased the tooling life by another 98%. From base metal to Inconel the customer saw a 325% increase in tooling life. That was three less tooling changes, welding and machinings, and downtime.

the die can then be machined down .125” which gives full clean up on the used impressions and the die can be ran again and still get extended die life. When the die is rewelded it can be brought back to print height and the process can be repeated. Not all the dies in a set need to be welded with the more expensive superalloys, we usually look to weld the first step operation or the step that does the most work, anywhere that excessive wear would affect the next step in the forging process. A buster die that wears out quickly would then be sending oversized parts to the blocker impression and causing it to wear much quicker which ultimately would hurt your finisher die life. Our approach is to use the superalloys in combination with iron-based alloys to achieve maximum die life at the best cost. We have compiled some data points from previous weld repairs utilizing superalloys and the resulting life increase. Press Dies A forger making military parts trialed a cobalt-based alloy on their buster die while welding their blocker and finish dies with an alloy combination of high-performing iron-based alloys. Typical tool life prior to welding was 3,500 to 4,000 parts for a set of dies made of 4340. After welding the forger was able to run the set of dies making over 13,000 parts. This is a 225% increase in die life. This resulted in two fewer machining cycles, die change outs and press downtime. In addition to the die life increase, the blocks had enough alloy deposited that by machining them down .125” they were able to get another full run of 13,000 parts. A single weld took the forger from 4,000 parts to 26,000 parts – a 550% increase. Calculations from the customer indicated that the cost of preparing the die, welding, and re-machining back to a working surface created a breakeven point of 9,000 parts. The customer was able to reach that breakeven point plus an additional 17,000 parts. Nearly a 200% ROI once offsetting the weld cost.

Set of rotary forge dies robotically welded withWaspaloy/Hastelloy combination Open Dies An open die forger in the Midwest was running H13 dies with a life of 40 hours before the center section of the die was washed out 2” deep. They were able to machine the die flat three to four times before the dies would have to be scrapped. We worked with the customer to develop a weld profile of Hastelloy and Waspaloy that resulted in the H13 dies reaching a life of 5,000 hours. Just by welding with superalloys the customer went from running their dies a little more than a week to several years - a 12,400% increase in die life. Not only was their die life longer, but better parts were also coming off the forge.

Press dies robotically welded with cobalt-based alloys

FIA MAGAZINE | MAY 2021 9