Advanced Heat Treat Corp. (AHT), Waterloo, Iowa, announces that it has completed Phase I of a grant to evaluate plasma nitriding for improved life of forging dies by generating a hard case on tribological surfaces. AHT, along with Ohio State University’s Manufacturing Research Group, received a grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration SBIR Program and the Defense Technical Information Center. The grant was issued in August 2015 to research “Plasma Enhanced Nanostructures for Improved Life of Forging Dies,” and Phase I was completed on April 30th, 2016.
Forging die failure affects the entire economy of forging companies, including the cost of tooling, repair, press downtimes, and production lead times, to name a few. According to a recent survey, as the batch sizes increase, machine setup costs go down (economy of scale); however, tooling costs rise.
This technological challenge is the prime driver for this proposed research, where plasma-enhanced nanostructured surface treatments will be explored to increase die life by up to five times its current life. Plasma nitriding is widely used to generate a hard case on engineering surfaces for enhanced performance of many tribological components.
Recently, this process has found wider applications in advanced surfaces in aerospace, electronics, and power systems for corrosion protection. In addition, plasma nitrided surfaces are being investigated for the emerging areas of alternate power generation such as fuel cells, and in human implants. The potential impact of this research is not only in the current fields of application, but also in the emerging areas vital to the energy and industrial future of our country.
A summary of the Phase I findings was issued to the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) for their review. Those interested in a full copy of the summary should contact Advanced Heat Treat Corp. at 319-232-5221 or submit requests online at www.ahtweb.com using a “quick contact” form.
