Solution Technologies of Die Steels when

Blanking & Forming AHSS Steels

By Tom Bell
HITACHI METALS
Arlington Hts, IL
 Outline of Presentation

• Hitachi Introduction: Tool Steel: “How we make it”

• Issues facing tooling in AHSS applications &
variables effecting Die Performance
• Suggestions to optimize tooling performance
• Tool Steel Options
• SLDi Tool Steel
•Tests
•Windsor Punch & Slide
•Exova Impact
• Conclusions
Introduction of Hitachi Metals

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Hitachi Manufacturing Process

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Hitachi Metals
Headquarters Tokyo , Japan
Production Yasugi Japan Works

Products Strip Steel, Valve Steel, Aerospace, PM/HSS, Tool Steels

Global Locations Asia, Europe & Americas

USA Founded in 1965: New York, Detroit, Chicago

Warehouse Cincinnati, Ohio & Troy, Michigan

Cincinnati

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AHSS Effects on
Tool Steels
 Sheet Metal (Part Material) Trends
70 ~1995
60 1995~2000
Elongation (%)

50 2000~2015

40 IF
2015~

30

20

10

0
200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600
Tensile Strength MPa

Cast Iron S7 / A2 / D2 Advanced Tool Steels

Or Steel Castings Castings to Wrought
Advanced grade die materials are needed for forming AHSS.
Most “Die Standards” have not kept up with trend
Failure Mode
◆Chipping: Toughness is required for trims, flanges, pierce & punches

Mechanism
②Increase
①Burr occurs ⑤Chipping
Direction
Forming
Friction
Work

Die ④Cracking
③Tensile Stress
Shear

Lateral
Shear
Mechanism
◆Galling: Galling resistance
Friction
Forming Die

Work

①Heated up
②Alloying
by friction
(Adhesion) ③Fall Away
Galling tends to occur at
heavy loaded area Die
Failure Mode
◆Wear:

Hard Particle Friction

(Oxide, hardened steel,
etc.)

Lateral

Punch
Die
Edge

• Surface Coating advancements have greatly

improved steel performances
 Questions about the Stamping Die Application

• Part material
• Aluminum or Steel: What type & thickness?
• Press Size & Strokes per minute cycle
• Current Die Construction
• Castings? Inserts?
• Tooling steels used Solution & Engineering Center
• What coating? Matsue, Japan
• Die Clearance
• Heat Treating Recipe
• Welding (In House? Outsource? Consumable used?)
• Failure observations
• What's been tried so far?
 Tool Steel Alloy Design
Other Factors
S7 1) Commercial Availability
2) Cost
3) Weldability
4) Coat-Ability
3 to 4 % V PM

A2 MATRIX
8%Cr steel MATRIX

SLD-i™
10 % V PM

D2
 What is SLDi Tool Steel ?

•SLDi is a Non ESR conventionally melted Cold

Work Tool Steel exclusively made by HITACHI in
Japan using Yasugi’s proprietary methods of
manufacturing.
• Translation: “We melt , forge & roll this grade
totally unique to any other tool steel grade we
make”
 Microstructure
SLD-i™ D2 8%Cr Steel

200μm 200μm 200μm

Small, circular, dense & Coarse & directional carbide Small & sparse carbide
homogeneous carbide distribution distribution
distribution will contribute to • Large & anisotropic heat • Large heat treatment
• Small & isotropic heat treatment deformation deformation
treatment deformation • Medium galling & wear • Worse galling & wear
• Good galling & wear resistance resistance
resistance • Toughness is affected by • Good toughness /
• Moderate Toughness grain direction resistance to chipping &
/Resistance to chipping machinability
 Wear Resistance
<Conditions> <Results>
Item Condition
D2, SLD-i, Poor
Test Grade SLD-Magic
piece and 8Cr
Hardness 60HRC Increase carbide
Disc Alumina amount
Surface pressure 7.8 MPa →Decrease
Wear amount
Friction Speed 0.42 m/sec
Friction length 377 m

ASTM G99-05
Good

TP Disc
SLD-i™ 8%Cr Steel

SLD-i improved Wear Resistance

 Galling Resistance
<Conditions> <Results>
Item Condition
Length of Stroke 60mm
Increase galling resistance
Pressing Velocity 60spm
Rust prevention oil
Lubricant
*delivery condition

Work 980MPa HSS

1.4mm (No Zn plating）
Work Thickness
Clearance:5%

Die surface Polished by #8000 paper

condition (2-4μm)

Initiation point and

direction of galling
Bead

Punch
Die
SLD-i™ 8%Cr Steel
Work piece
Load

SLD-i improved Galling Resistance

Schematic diagram of test condition
 Charpy Value

SLD-i™ 8%Cr Steel

SLD-i has better Charpy value than D2

 Case Study
Shear Tool for 1500 MPa Martensite Steel
Material information

Application Cross Member

Floor Panel Part
Thickness 1.5 mm
Hardness 52 HRC
Strength 1500 MPa
Failure mode of dies Wear/Galling

Application Grade Hardness Coating Die life before re-

sharpening
Shear Tool SLD-i 60~62 HRC Bare surface 75,000 ~ 100,000 cuts
D2 60~62 HRC Bare surface 10,000 ~ 15,000 cuts
 Part Grade: SUS430
Case Study Thickness: 0.6mm
Punch dies for burring hub bearings
Spec 73.86±0.01 mm
SLD-i™ Sample 1 73.863 mm
Sample 2 73.856 mm
Sample 3 73.859 mm
Sample 4 73.867 mm
Sample 5 73.859 mm
OD: 75mm Pass rate 100% (5/5)
Pass rate of D2 10%

Application Grade Coating Die life

Punch dies SLD-i™ TD coated More than 500,000 hits
for burring WITHOUT repairing
D2 TD coated 10,000 – 100,000 hits with
repairing
 TESTS CONDUCTED
Windsor Punch & Slide (2)
EXOVA
• Testing load condition
• Inclined-sliding load: 140N-300N
• Test cycles:
• 1) Coated 5,000 cycles
• 2) Uncoated 250 - 1,000 cycles
• Counterface Materials: SAE 52100 steel balls
• Steel ball size: 10mm in Diameter
• Length of wear track: 3-6mm

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 TEST No 1 August 2015

• Test No 1 August 2015

• Substrate: SLDi HITACHI
• Coating LNP- Nitrided/Duplex (CrN + Nitrided)
• Results after 5,000 cycles
• SLDi with duplex treatment has passed standard test.
•The “standard” of pass/fail may change in future
Windsor Test
SLDi vs. D2
April 2016
Edited by: Dan Allen
April 22th, 2016
Original Testing/Report by Technie Company
Chemistry
Grade C Si Mn Cr Mo V
ASTM A681 D2 1.40-1.60 0.10-0.60 0.10-0.60 11.00-13.00 0.70-1.20 0.50-1.10
SLDi 1.49 0.49 0.40 11.92 0.76 0.72
D2 1.52 0.40 0.54 11.31 0.90 0.77

Heat Treatment
Cycle Temperature (°F) Time (hrs) Cooling Media
Vacuum Austenitize 1886 2.5 Nitrogen
Temper 940 2 Fan air cooled
Temper 940 2 Fan air cooled

Hardness
60-61 HRC

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 The middle-tail section of wear tracks: D2 case is wider
and longer than SLDi case
1000 Testing Cycles (Inclined test loads 140N/300N)
SLDi/D2 Line Ratios Tail Middle Head
Case L 3.42/3.75
Case W 1.58/1.67 W
Tail L 3.35/2.67
Tail W 0.86/0.75

L
SLDi
Note: all images on
each slide have the
same magnification

D2

24
Observations:
250 Test Cycles
• Head & Tail sections of wear tracks on both SLDi and D2 samples appear similar
• Middle-tail boundary zone on wear tracks are different; D2 Head is wider than SLDi
500 Test Cycles
• The heads of wear tracks are similar
• SLDi has a longer tail than D2
• D2 still has a wider middle-tail boundary zone.
1000 Test Cycles
• D2 has a wider, longer middle-tail boundary zone
• The wear damage at head and tail sections are similar

Therefore, based on the result of the tested samples at the testing conditions above, the
SLDi sample seems to perform better than the given D2 sample.
Follow-up Activities
• Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to validate observations
• Re-testing with a finer surface finish (ground instead of milled)
• Also notable that the depth of the head section cannot be accurately measured so a
conclusion of head depth is incomplete
WELDING CAPABILITY of SLDi
Welding Test
■Conditions
Items Edge Flat surface
Method TIG
Filler rod diameter 2.4mm
Current 105A 140A
Building up Three layer Two layer
Preheat With electric furnace
Post weld heating None (Insulated with glass wool)
Surface condition of As grinded
specimen
Specimen size 100Lx100Wx25T (mm)

■Filler materials mass%

Type C Si Mn P S Cr Mo V Fe
D2-based 1.46 0.29 0.37 0.027 0.006 11.29 0.82 0.22 Balance
H13-based 0.37 0.95 0.43 0.026 0.002 5.3 1.22 0.82 Balance
Welding Conditions
■Temperature
Welding: Specimens temperature were kept over 250ºC during welding

Post weld heating: None

Preheat: 250ºC

Cooling: Insulation with glass wool

■Schematic Diagram of Welding

Flat surface
Edge
Welding Test Results
■Appearance of specimen (Filler:D2-based)
SLD-i D2
Flat surface

Edge
Welding Test Results
■Appearance of specimen (Filler:H13-based)
SLD-i D2
Flat surface

Edge
Welding Test Results (Japan)

Summary
■

-There is no difference between D2 and

SLD-i based on the penetrant test
(microstructural analysis is ongoing).
-In the case of applying D2-based filler, post
weld heating must be needed for stress
relief.
Exova Impact Toughness Overview

Dan Allen
April 19th, 2016
Factors Contributing to Brittle Toughness (D2 types)
• High Yield Strengths (hardness)
• Affected by alloy content and heat treat
• Large grain sizes
• Affected by alloy content, melting/casting practice,
hot work practice, heat treat
• Coarse carbides or other inclusions
• Affected by alloy content, melting/casting practice,
hot work practice, heat treat (secondary hardening)
• Un-notched Charpy Impact Test
• “The amount of energy absorbed when a notched bar of fully hardened tool steel
(except for certain grades) is broken.

http://www.e2pro.us/home/mechtest.html
 D2 Impact Tests
• Exova Results:
Heat Treatment Temperature (°F) Time (hh:mm) Cooling Media

Austenitize 1886 0:30 Fan Air Cool

Double Temper 950 2:00 Air Cool

Grade Orientation Temperature Energy Absorbed (ft-lbs) Average (ft-lbs)

Longitudinal R/T 14, 14, 13 13.7

D2 (60-62 HRC)
Short Transverse R/T 3, 3, 3 3.0

Transverse R/T 4, 4, 4 4.0

• Conclusion; Orientation IS a factor for toughness values.

• Unknowns: Toughness capability variation from bar to bar
& locations taken from rolled or forged hot work
dimensions
EXAMPLES of GRAIN

Rolling or Forging Direction

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Orientation Diagram
Arrows indicate the direction of the impact force

13.7 ft-lbs

D2

Transverse

Short transverse
4.0 ft-lbs
3.0 ft-lbs

(into the page)

Conclusions
• Review Die Standards & allow for AHSS areas requiring
better tooling steels in trouble-spots
• Compare results with other steels in side by side like-
environments
• Follow developments by AS/P
• Insist on controlled HT path & Welding steps
• Ask for grain orientation on larger cross sections
• “If you can’t use a better tool steel, use your tool
steel better”
Xueyuan Nie, Ph.D.
Professor
THANK YOU
Mechanical, Automotive & Materials Engineering
University of Windsor
401 Sunset Ave
Windsor, Ontario, Canada

TECNIE Corporation
By Tom Bell
HITACHI METALS
Arlington Hts, IL