Hitachi Metals, Ltd.

2004 News Release

November 30  

 

Development and Sale of Revolutionary Next-Generation Cold-working Die Steel

—New metal material contributes to lower total costs and faster deliveries at users—

Tokyo, Japan, November 30, 2004-Hitachi Metals, Ltd., announced it has developed and commenced sales of SLD-MAGICT next-generation cold-working die steel based on its accumulated manufacturing know-how. In addition to extending the lifespan of molds, Hitachi Metals has made it extremely easy to fabricate molds, thereby contributing to lower total costs and faster deliveries in the automobile and molds industries.

1. Background and Overview

In the automobile industry, vast progress have been made in creating lighter weight and more durable car bodies in order to preserve the global environment and enhance collision safety. Accordingly, usage of high-tensile steel*1 has also increased. However, high-tensile steel is very rigid, and molds tend to gall*2 and cause abrasion during the press forming process.
In the metal mold industry, Japanese companies must reduce costs in mold fabrication and shorten delivery times in order to compete with companies in Asian countries, and have longed for the development of a metal mold material that is easy to cut and changes little dimensionally during heat and surface treatment.
To fulfill the needs of both the automobile and metal mold industries, Hitachi Metals combined its manufacturing know-how in high-grade specialty steels accumulated over more than 100 years and succeeded in the development of a revolutionary next-generation cold-working die steel with properties exceeding those of previous metals such as the cold-working die steel SKD11 and improved steel SKD11*3.
The next-generation cold-working die steel SLD-MAGIC™ features both high abrasion resistance and machinability thanks to an alloy design based on precise metal composition.
SLD-MAGIC™ also features improved performance over previous materials, including fewer deformations from heat treatment, surface processing, touhhness*4 and weldability.
Our revolutionary next-generation die steel, featuring improved metal mold lifespan and easier mold fabrication, enables an improvement in the lifespan of mold in the automobile industry and shortened processing times in the mold industry.
By aiming to reduce total costs and shorten delivery times, Hitachi Metals is contributing to the improvement of value added at its customers involved in mold fabrication for cold-working presses and customers that manufacture press formed products.

2. Features

(1)	Abrasion resistance: High hardness of 62HRC (refer to 3. (2))*5 improves abrasion resistance by approximately 35% (Hitachi Metals comparison*6)
	Benefits:	Considerably longer lifespan of molds.
(2)	Surface treatment: Adhesiveness of surface treatment (CVD and other methods*7) improved by approximately 30% (Hitachi Metals comparison)
	Benefits:	Prevents bending and galling of high-tensile steel during bending and drawing.
(3)	Heat treatment: Few deformations during heat treatment for a reduction of approximately 40% in dimension changes (Hitachi Metals comparison)
	Benefits:	Minimizes impact on material extraction*8 and reduces reworking man-hours after heat and surface treatment
(4)	Machinability: Machinability improved by approximately 35% (Hitachi Metals comparison, based on cutting tool abrasion)
	Benefits:	Shortened metal mold processing times due to higher processing ability; reduces direct costs such as tools due to longer cutting tool lifespan

Table: Hardness(HRC)

SLD-MAGIC™	SKD11	8% Cr steel (improved SKD11)	10% Cr steel (improved SKD11)
60-62	58-60	61-63	59-61

3. Application

(1)	High-tensile steel, stainless steel and other hard-to-form metals
(2)	Molds that require surface treatment
(3)	Molds needed in a short time
(4)	Other general tools for cold-working processing

4. Trademarks

SLD-MAGICT™
Abbreviation: S-MAGIC™

M:	Materials Magic's
A:	Advanced
G:	Gratifying
I:	Innovative
C:	Cold-working die steel

5. Sales Targets

Planned start of sales: April 2005
Sales value:	Fiscal 2005: ¥1 billion/year
	Fiscal 2006: ¥2 billion/year

6. Manufacturing and Sales

Manufacturing: High-Grade Metal Products and Materials Company, Yasugi Works
Sales: High-Grade Metal Products and Materials Company

Customer inquiries:
	Specialty Steel Company, Hitachi Metals, Ltd. Telephone: +81-3-5765-4410 Facsimile: +81-3-5765-8317
Press inquiries:
	Akio Minami Corporate Communications Office, Hitachi Metals, Ltd. Telephone: +81-3-5765-4079 Facsimile: +81-3-5765-8312

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Notes:

*1 High-tensile steel High-tensile steel is short for high-tensile strength steel sheets. Cold-rolled steel sheets used in automobiles have a strength of more than 270MPa (Mega Pascals, a measurement of force), whereas high-tensile steel is rated at a strength of more than 340MPa. Steel with strength ranging from 440–580MPa is generally used, and some vehicles have begun to use ultra-high-tensile steel sheets with strength of more than 980MPa to further enable lighter-weight car body components and better hardness. In general, stronger steels tend to increase metal mold galling and abrasion due to less processing and molding ability. *2 Galling Galling refers to sintered leftovers that the forming metals attach in small amounts to molds. When metals are press formed in molds, galling occurs due to frictional heating. Metal attached to molds is strongly adhesive, and if left alone, continued molding will add layers to the mold. In this condition, press forming will leave scratches on the surface of pressed metals, degrading the value of a product. *3 Cold-working die steel SKD11, improved steel SKD11 Cold-working die steel SKD11 and improved steel SKD11 are one kind of steel for cold-working molds. Cold-working die steel SKD11 (1.5% C-12Cr) and improved steel SKD11 are widely used for press molds that manufacture automobile components, digital electronic appliances and precision equipment components. Improved steel offers improved machinability for better processing that reduces the volume of hard carbides within steel, but is inferior to SKD11 in terms of abrasion resistance and galling. It also has the problem of significant deformations from heat and surface treatment, requiring additional cost and man-hours to fix. *4 Touhhness Touhhness is the adhesiveness of a metal. The higher the touhhness, the more difficult it is to break under pressure. *5 HRC (Rockwell hardness) HRC is a measurement of hardness that is also called Rockwell hardness, and stands for Hardness Rockwell C scale. By applying a pressure tip made of a conical-shaped diamond onto test material, HRC measures the amount of the lasting dent. Molds for press forming are heat treated to increase strength. Steel enables significant improvements to hardness before heat treatment. *6 Hitachi Metals comparison Comparison against 8% Cr steel (Hitachi Metals product name: SLD8), an improved steel SKD11 *7 CVD method CVD stands for Chemical Vapor Deposition, a surface treatment technology. The method applies a coating of hardened ceramic film to a surface heated to high temperature through the introduction of a gas that reacts chemically to heat. In general, CVD is used to process molds as a countermeasure against galling caused by the bending and deformation of automobile components as well as early-stage abrasion. *8 Material extraction Material extraction means to cut out and sell sections sized to customer specifications. The properties of steel change according to the direction the material is extracted, causing deformations to dimensions after heat treatment.

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