Metal Forming Success Story
Stamper Gets Maximum Production,
Minimum
Downtime With Phygen’s FortiPhy™ Coating
Pentaflex, Incorporated, Springfield, OH,
is a medium to heavy gauge stamper. Their pressroom capacity
ranges from 2,300 tons down to 75 tons and includes both hydraulic
and mechanical presses. Pentaflex produces heavy duty components
for the tractor and trailer industry including close tolerance
brake systems. Materials they work with usually are high-strength,
low-alloy steels ranging in thickness from 0.100” to 0.500”.
“About 40 percent of our work is drawing applications,” observes
Michael Stull, Tooling Manager at
Pentaflex. “The balance consists of blanking and forming operations.
Galling Was a Major Problem
 “We’re
drawing brake drums out of 1010 - 1018 high-strength, low-alloy
steel that’s roughly .312” thick. “Initially we were experiencing
a lot of galling because we actually have to iron the part
during the drawing operation,” Stull explains. “The ID tolerance
on this 12” diameter, 5.500” deep drawn part is +/-0.005”.
In addition a CPK of 1.67 is required throughout the 5.500”
depth. “During normal drawing operations the flow of material
causes thinning and thickening in some areas and, therefore,
leads to the development of tooling geometry changes in order
to hold our tolerances,” Stull continues. “Measurements are
taken at five different points inside the drum.”
“Before we had Phygen Coatings, Inc., (Minneapolis, MN) apply their
FortiPhy™ Physical
Vapor Deposition (PVD) coating to key tooling
surfaces, we were getting severe limitations on productivity
because we could not allow any surface imperfections on the
ID or the OD of this part,” Stull says. FortiPhy™ Chromium
Nitride Coating, Phygen’s patented system and process for
PVD coating, allows the deposition of extremely tough and
hard coatings with higher abrasive wear resistance than conventional
PVD processes. The technology, based on principles of Plasma
Acceleration, provides a unique combination of coating properties
by creating a thin and dense, non-columnar coating structure
that can be adhered to a variety of substrate materials.
 “One
of the problems with prior tool coatings was galling. We tried
a thermal diffusion coating as well as titanium nitriding
and several other types of coatings. But we never were able
to get more than 900 parts without having to pull the tooling
and perform a complete re-polish.” According to Stull, this
required at least four hours of downtime.
“In addition,” Stull continues, “with the former coatings,
these tools were designed with an internal forming sleeve.
The cost of development of that sleeve itself was roughly
$2,800. The coating was about another $1,300, so we ended
up with a cost of about $4,000 per sleeve. After a period
of running and polishing we would get damage to the sleeves
and had to scrap them out.”
FortiPhy™ Delivered Many Improvements
After using the FortiPhy™ coating from Phygen, Pentaflex
discovered they were able to run continuously. “If we do get
any type of pickup, it usually polishes right out with 3 micron
paper,” Stull says. “We’ve really had no problems and no damage
to the tooling. As far as costs go, they are pretty much even
across the board for both the sleeves and the coatings. But,
as far as production is concerned, the reduction of downtime,
and the expense to repair tooling, on average, our cost savings
is at least $14,000 to $20,000 per year. At the present time,
we have produced 37,300 parts from our dies with the Phygen
coating without a major polishing downtime incident.
Other Applications, Benefits
 “Concerning
other uses for FortiPhy™ coating,” Stull says, “we have some
thicker parts that are now produced on a 1,500-ton press with
a transfer system at 23 strokes SPM and before were running
them at four strokes per minute in a hydraulic press. Some
of the issues we discovered by virtue of increasing forming
speed was getting premature buildup on the form tools. As
a result, we switched over to the Phygen coating and have
completely eliminated our problem.”
The Pentaflex tooling department consists of 14 employees
engaged in all facets of tool building including the design,
building and repair. The FortiPhy™ coating has eliminated
a significant amount of tooling repair and labor costs.
Final Thoughts on Phygen/FortiPhy™
 “At
this time, we are heading toward using FortiPhy™
for all our coating needs,” Stull observes. “We have seen
improvement across the board. There are a lot of cases where
we have been using chrome plating on some of the lower run
jobs because we didn’t feel that FortiPhy™ was required. But
we’re finding out now that by using the FortiPhy™ coating
for these jobs, we’re eliminating the chipping and flaking
that we get over a period of time with the chrome and eliminate
small costs that can add up to big increases in available
toolmaker time.”
“I feel very confident that the people at Phygen really
know their business,” Mike says. “Any time we discuss difficult
applications, they always seem to know exactly what part of
the tooling to concentrate on. Afterward, they call me back
asking how these details are working out. If our success is
not quite up to what we were looking for, they make recommendations
on tool steels, heat treatment, finishes, and other things
to help us get through our problems.”
More On the Company…
“The Surface Enhancement Performance Leader,” Phygen Coatings, Inc.
specializes in hard facing and surface treating of tooling
and equipment for metal forming applications (as well as a
broad range of other markets – die casting, plastics, etc.).
Phygen’s FortiPhy™ UltraEndurance™
Coating provides protection from wear and corrosion. Other
coatings available from Phygen include:
- VeriPhy™ Coating –
a gold colored titanium nitride TiN based coating developed
specifically as a cost effective work-horse coating.
- CertiPhy™ Coating
– a dark violet surface enhancement targeted on high value
tooling. This coating provides a top notch graded architecture
of nanolaminated layers of titanium and titanium aluminum
nitrides (TiAlN).
For more information, contact Phygen Coatings, Inc., 1400 Marshall
St., NE, Minneapolis, MN 55413-1040, Phone: 888-749-4361,
Fax: 612-331-4230.
|
