Implementation of Metal Casting Best Practices - EERE - U.S. ...

improve die life and reduce die maintenance. Plant personnel were not aware of the Metal
Casting R&D work on the performance of this next generation of die materials.
Die Coatings/Die Materials
Currently, this plant uses Premium H13 die steel as the material for its dies. The plant was
unaware of the ongoing research involving double-melted superior grade steels, which have
shown significant improvement in die life and impact strength. The assessment team and
NADCA agreed that the plant could benefit greatly from this research. The assessment team also
advised the plant to become involved with some of the alternative coating processes. Currently,
the plant uses the manually applied proprietary coating process, and they were unaware of
NADCA work at the Colorado School of Mines on multiple material coatings. These coatings,
along with the use of alternative steels, will enable this plant to improve its production rate,
decrease downtime, and increase its profits.
3. Conclusion
Modeling plays a key role in the approach Die Casting Plant-2 uses to ensure maximum quality
and productivity. However, plant personnel lacked a general awareness of the DOE BestPractices
software/programs and the Metal Casting R&D research work on die materials and die coatings.
Thus, there is a significant opportunity at the plant to implement the relevant technologies and
reduce costs without making significant capital investments.
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