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2009
Journal Article
Titel
Combined laser alloying/dispersing and plasma nitriding, an efficient treatment for improving the service lifetime of the forging tools
Abstract
During the application, the active surface of the forging dies is subjected to intense mechanical and thermal stresses combined with chemical oxidation. The fatigue resistance is an important characteristic which limits the service lifetime of the forging tools. This characteristic was significantly improved by a combined treatment between laser alloying/dispersing and plasma nitriding. This treatment was developed for W1.2365 and W1.2344 steels using TiC and WC + Co powders as additive materials. The surface layers have been examined by optical microscopy, glow discharge optical spectrometry (GDOS), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), X-ray microtomography and other techniques. The combined treatment was successfully applied to a number of 13 forging tools from 4 European Companies, leading to an increase of their lifetime by factors ranging between 180 and 270%.