Choosing the Right Material for Your Forging Dies

1. Basic requirements of various forging dies on material properties

Table 1 Basic requirements of various forging dies on material properties

2. Hardness and performance comparison of commonly used steels for forging dies (see Table 9-2)

Table 2 Performance comparison of commonly used steels for forging dies

Note: The performance sequence is Good > Better > Medium > Poor > Bad.

3. Selection of mold materials

(1) Selection of hot forging mold materials

There are many factors that affect the life of hot forging dies, such as: the stress conditions of the die, working temperature, cooling method, properties of the material being processed, amount of deformation, deformation speed, and lubrication conditions, etc. Therefore, these factors must be fully considered when selecting materials.

Hot work dies can generally be divided into: hammer forging dies, hot die forging press dies, screw press forging dies, extrusion dies, etc. The type of die and specific working conditions should be considered to reasonably select the die materials. The selection of materials for hot forging dies is shown in Table 9-3.

Table 3 Selection of Materials for Hot Forging Dies

(2) Selection of Cold Forging Die Materials

There are many types of cold forging dies, mainly used for completing metal or non-metal material upsetting, extrusion, and other powder pressing, imprinting processes. Due to different loading methods and the nature and specifications of the materials processed, the working conditions of various molds differ greatly. Therefore, material selection should be differentiated and based on specific circumstances. The selection of cold forging die materials is shown in Table 9-4.

Table 4 Selection of Cold Forging Die Materials