Die steel production
Two main production routes are followed for all cold-work, hot-work, and plastic mold steels.
- Basic electric arc furnace:
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- This production process also includes slag removal, ladle alloying, vacuum degassing, and ingot casting.
- ESR (Electroslag Remelting): Ingots obtained from an electric arc furnace are remelted under an electroslag bath to produce steel of higher purity.
Today, in addition to these two main production methods, powder metallurgy (PM) is used for die steels containing very high alloy content, particularly to ensure a fine and homogeneous carbide distribution. Powders obtained from very clean molten steel in a neutral atmosphere are used to produce cold-pressed ingots. These ingots are then converted into the final ingot product through high-temperature isostatic pressing (HIP).
The ingots produced using the above methods are shaped into the desired final dimensions using one of the following two processes.
- Rolling
- Tattoo
Before and after these processes, heat treatments are applied to achieve the desired microstructures and mechanical properties in the die steels.
