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HPDCSTEEL

Development of a new STEEL grade to increase High Pressure Die Casting dies life

The need: European automotive industry, focused on the lightweight and reliability, requires sound and complex components of aluminum and magnesium produced by HPDC (High Pressure Die Casting). Steel dies are used to shape components in liquid state, but extremely high pressures (up to 1.200 bars), chemical attack of molten metal and high thermal-mechanical stresses produce premature die defects and failures.

The vision: new steel grades will allow increasing die life and will reduce the total manufacturing cost and the energy and raw materials consumption.

The objective: to develop a new steel grade with a new composition that will improve the mechanical, thermal and chemical properties of the dies, enhancing the competitiveness of European steel, die making and automotive industry.

The approach: the HPDCSTEEL project’s concept is based on the use of matter alloys containing reinforcing carbides, so that obtaining a good distribution of ceramic particles into the metallic matrix will increase the expected life of the developed dies. This will enable HPDC manufacturers to decrease the impact of die cost over the final part price.

The HPDCSTEEL consortium will research and demonstrate this concept on one use case (Aluminium High Pressure Die Casting (HPDC) process) and analyse the transferability to other sectors: composite, forge, stamping and extrusion dies.

The Beneficiaries (Steel industries, die makers, HPDC foundries and transport industry) and benefits: the use of the solution of the project will allow HPDC foundries to approach optimal production and result in reduced energy and resource consumption, and increased die life and greenhouse gas emissions.