Laser Cladding Technology Solves the Problem of Mold Wear and Deformation

Cold working dies are made of cold working die steel and are prone to deformation after cold treatment. Once the die deforms, its force balance is broken, friction and impact forces increase sharply, not only greatly shortening its service life but also directly leading to a significant decline in product quality. Taking refractory material dies as an example, this problem has long troubled relevant enterprises. Engineers at Huayan Technology keenly captured this industry pain point, and with their deep technical accumulation and precise problem insight, they discovered that laser cladding technology can solve the problem of die wear and deformation from the root.

The working principle of laser cladding technology is clear and easy to understand: using a laser as an energy source, special powder materials are evenly applied to the surface of the part. When the laser beam irradiates, the powder instantly melts and adheres tightly to the surface layer of the part, forming a high-strength protective film after cooling. This protective film perfectly fuses with the part body, significantly improving the wear resistance and corrosion resistance of the part, while also possessing good high-temperature resistance, effectively enhancing the overall performance of the part.

Material selection is a key step in creating high-quality protective coatings. Engineers have extremely high requirements for cladding materials, using Cr12MoV steel with excellent cost-effectiveness and comprehensive performance for experiments, and also using nickel-based alloy powder as the cladding material. This powder has excellent compatibility with Cr12MoV steel, achieving deep fusion and synergistic enhancement. During the cladding process, a CO2 laser with a specific wavelength is used, and high-precision control ensures that every step of the process is accurate and error-free.

The process of applying a protective coating to a die requires extremely high operational precision, and every step must be strictly controlled. First, the surface of the die needs to be ground to a moderate roughness to create favorable conditions for powder adhesion; then, advanced equipment is used to precisely control the laser's operating speed and energy intensity, and the die is preheated with a laser in advance to ensure a stable and controllable cladding process, resulting in a coating with uniform thickness. After the coating is formed, engineers use a microscope for detailed inspection, and the results show that the internal structure of the steel treated by laser cladding has been significantly optimized, with the original possible micro-gaps and pores completely disappearing, and the coating is tightly bonded with the steel body, forming a whole.

In practical applications, Huayan Technology's laser cladding technology demonstrates excellent performance. In the wear test of Cr12MoV steel dies, when the die bears a certain load, the surface wear mark depth is only in the micron level; even if the load is further increased, the wear mark depth is still far lower than that of untreated dies. This comparison fully proves that this technology can greatly extend the service life of dies and successfully solve the core production problems for enterprises.