Moving Out of the “Stone Age” North American Die Casting Association Die Casting Congress & Tabletop - September 19-21, 2011 Columbus, OH USA Today we make our tools better Why do they not last as well as we make them? What are we missing?

Past Logic No Longer Applies North American Die Casting Association Die Casting Congress & Tabletop - September 19-21, 2011 Columbus, OH USA We keep using the same build techniques We keep getting the same results

North American Die Casting Association Die Casting Congress & Tabletop - September 19-21, 2011 Columbus, OH USA Time for a new approach Get the Flow without the stress Time for a new approach MPCMP

North American Die Casting Association Die Casting Congress & Tabletop - September 19-21, 2011 Columbus, OH USA PastTodayProgression Roughed Machined Heat Treat Finish MachineFinish Machine CAMFinish Machine CAM High Speed Polish w/ Stone Stone, 600 Paper, Diamond* Sample Apply Surface Engineering PPAP Sample Tear Down PPAP (usually check only) Correct Out of ToleranceApply Surface EngineeringProduction Assemble ToolLost Production Time SampleAssemble Tool PPAPProduction Tear Down Apply Surface Engineering Assemble Tool Production

North American Die Casting Association Die Casting Congress & Tabletop - September 19-21, 2011 Columbus, OH USA Failures at fillets and radii Stoning these areas of the die, scratch the surface of the tool which invite failures to occur “Harley Davidson has proved this” Rocker Arm Casting

North American Die Casting Association Die Casting Congress & Tabletop - September 19-21, 2011 Columbus, OH USA Failures at fillets and radii Fillets and Radii stoning are the first place where die failures occurs “Harley Davidson has proved this” NADCA Orlando T10-062

North American Die Casting Association Die Casting Congress & Tabletop - September 19-21, 2011 Columbus, OH USA Residual Stress Build Up NADCA Baseline Study At 100 cycles not visible At 15,000 cycles visible Isn’t this how your tooling fails?

North American Die Casting Association Die Casting Congress & Tabletop - September 19-21, 2011 Columbus, OH USA Stoning + Diamond + MPCMP XL Inner Rocker Arm – Sigma 6 Project High Cosmetics – Rejects at approx 12,000 shots Procedure: Prior to any use or production Stoned, Diamond, MPCMP processing 29,000+ shots with acceptable parts 100%+ improvement XL Inner Rocker

North American Die Casting Association Die Casting Congress & Tabletop - September 19-21, 2011 Columbus, OH USA Stone Age Logic v/s The Facts Fillets and Radii are where first signs of fatigue occur Failure areas quickly spread to other areas Resultant cracking and cavitation breakout Stoning is done to improve casting flow characteristics Stoning creates the stress risers in Fillets and Radii areas that weakens the steel’s fatigue characteristics Advancements in technology allow accurate finish machining that does not require sampling Cutter marks and stoning removed from surface with proper diamond polishing to fillets and radii Surface Engineering MPCMP after this

North American Die Casting Association Die Casting Congress & Tabletop - September 19-21, 2011 Columbus, OH USA Stoning v/s Diamond Polishing Stoned surface with stress risers Proper diamond polish no stress risers Not all diamond polishing is created equal Proper procedure is a skilled art Only fillets and radii need be done

North American Die Casting Association Die Casting Congress & Tabletop - September 19-21, 2011 Columbus, OH USA Gains to be expected Eliminate the “No Time” “No Money” Excuses Save on tool building cost Increase the life of tooling Improve Flow of molten metal Eliminate porosity problems Reduce fatigue cracking especially in the critical fillets and radii areas Buffer Cavitation Breakout of die steel

North American Die Casting Association Die Casting Congress & Tabletop - September 19-21, 2011 Columbus, OH USA Why do die steels breakout? Erosion, pitting, and washout from cavitation* occur in the opposite locations where they would be expected. On the low pressure side of gate, and low pressure side of flow. *Recommended reading – NADCAPaper-T Cavitation Effect

North American Die Casting Association Die Casting Congress & Tabletop - September 19-21, 2011 Columbus, OH USA Cavitation Buffering Benefit Impossible to receive from other surface engineering treatments Normally any vacuum cavitation voids (bubbles) collapse on the surface with each shot. This leads to fatigue of the impact area. With introduction of a buffered surface, these same bubbles collapse on retained lubricant or molten cooling metal and dissipate their energy into this renewable media instead of on the die’s surface. Try that with a coating or diffusion process

North American Die Casting Association Die Casting Congress & Tabletop - September 19-21, 2011 Columbus, OH USA We have always done it this way Today it is time to “Move out of the Stone Age” That my friends is the problem