Significant service life increases with laser impregnation on mold steels
Olofsfors, which manufactures tracks for forest machines, previously had problems with the service life of the mold steel in their most demanding tools.
“The great stresses to which our mold steel is subjected to during the pressing of details previously meant that the steel had to be replaced at frequent intervals. Still, we could not be completely sure that the right tolerances were maintained between the exchanges,” says Caisa Johansson, production technician at Olofsfors AB. “To achieve the desired service life and reduced spare part costs, we turned to Duroc Laser Coating to test laser impregnation on our molded parts.”
“In collaboration with Duroc Laser Coating and a molded parts manufacturer, a concept was developed by which the molded parts are hardened during manufacture and then surface-reinforced with laser impregnation.”
“The result was that we could use our molded parts twice as long without replacing them with new steels, which of course saves both time and money. This means that we avoid costly replacements of molded parts unnecessarily and that we can plan replacements in a much safer way when it suits our production. We have been given the opportunity to work proactively instead of reactively, which is very beneficial for us,” Johansson concludes.