METAL MOLD FOR MOLDING OR COINING OR SIZING A SINTERED PART

Abstract: The present invention relates to a metal mold (A) used in molding or in coining or in sizing a sintered part of iron series or copper series. The present invention provides a metal mold (A) having a constant ceramic film thickness and an adhesion strength to an extent of powder molding and superior in abrasion resistance by coating the inside and outside walls of the metal mold (A) with ceramics by the physical vapor deposition method in place of known operations.

Description: The present invention relates to an improvement of a metal mold used for compacting or coining or sizing a sintered part for example of iron series or copper series. Known sintered alloys have iron powders or copper powders as the base and various kinds of alloy additive and lubricant and have been produced by (1) compacting and sintering, or (2) coining or (3) sizing after sintering. Of these methods, the molding method (1), the coining method (2) and the sizing method (3) have generally used a metal mold formed of materials such as (1) alloyed tool steels, high-speed steels and the like subjected to the heat treatment and (2) carbide alloys. However, powders, such as iron powders and copper powders, are compacted under high pressure, so that the inside and outside walls of the metal mold brought into contact with the product exhibit a kind of sticking and fast wear and tear, and thus, a disadvantage occurs in that the life of the metal mold is remarkably short in comparison with that of other die cast parts and molded parts formed of resins and the like. Thus, in the case where the metal mold formed of alloyed tool steels and high-speed steels is used, the inside and outside walls of said metal mold have been subjected to treatments, such as (1) the hard chromium plating treatment, (2) the hardening treatment such as tuftride and ion nitrification, (3) the coating with TiC by the CVD method, (4) the surface treatment by the sulfuration and the like and (5) other surface treatment, to improve the abrasion resistance and sticking resistance. In addition, the abrasion resistance and sticking resistance have been obtained by using carbide alloys as the material of the metal mold. However, of the above described conventional surface treatments, the methods other than the CVD method (3) have shown a maximum Micro Vickers Hardness of 1,300 mHv. Also, since the film-thickness of the film coated on the inside and outside walls of the metal mold cannot be controlled in every treatment method of the above described treatment methods (1) to (5), until now, the metal mold has been machined prior to the above described treatment in anticipation of the film-thickness of the coated film, which is previously anticipated as the preliminary treatment for the metal mold, and a machining allowance for correcting said film-thickness of the coated film and the correction machining has been carried out again after the coating to secure the desired accuracy. The present invention has been achieved in view of the above described points. It has been found from the investigation about the treatment for the inside and outside walls of the metal mold which is capable of giving a highly accurate film-thickness, superior abrasion resistance and sticking resistance and a long life to the metal mold, that the highly abrasion resistant metal mold having the constant film-thickness and the density and strength, which can stand the powder compacting, can be obtained by applying ceramics to the inside and outside walls of the metal mold by the physical deposition method (PVD method). More particularly, the prior art reference "Chemical Abstracts, Vol. 105, p. 116, abstract no. 26222k, Columbus Ohio, USA; and BERGMAN: "Arc plasma physical vapor deposition", Annu. Techn. Conf. Proc. - Soc. Vac. Coaters 1985, Vol. 28, p. 175-191" discusses vacuum arc deposition of TiN coatings on metal-cutting and - forming tools and molds for plastic injection. Prior art reference "Metals Handbook, 9th Edition, Vol. 7, p. 326, 335-338, 1982" relates to tooling members for powder metallurgy operations, in which the surface finish of the tooling members should be 0.10µm and the final finishing of tooling surfaces should consist of lapping in the direction of pressing. From another prior art reference "Metals Handbook, 9th Edition, Vol. 14, p. 474, 504-507, 1982", it is known that some diemakers put a small radius on the cutting edge of the die so as to improve the edge finish. According to the present invention, there is provided a metal mold for use in compressing or in coining or sizing a sintered part, the metal mold being formed of alloyed tool steels, high-speed steels or carbide alloys, inner and outer surfaces and end corners of said metal mold being coated with ceramics formed of metal carbide, metal nitride or metal carbo-nitride by the PVD method to improve the abrasion resistance, characterized in that in order to maintain an adherence strength of the metal mold to the ceramic film, a finishing surface roughness of the uncoated metal mold is selected at 1µm or less, and a small radius of curvature of at least 0.1mm is given to the end corners of the metal mold. The invention will now be further described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: Figs. 1 to 4 are perspective views showing metal molds coated with ceramics, according to embodiments of the present invention, in which; Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing a metal mold for use in an involute gear made of carbide alloys; Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing a blade type core made of high-speed steels; Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing a core made of high-speed steels for use in a pipe; and Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing a punch made of carbide alloys. The invention will be below described in detail. The inventor of the present invention has found that the following problems occur in coating the inside and outside walls of the metal mold with ceramics: (1) The pressure in the molding or coining of sizing of the sintered body is generally 2 t/cm² or more. Accordingly, the film adherence strength of ceramics to the metal mold must be 2 t/cm² or more, or else the coated film is separated. (2) Since ceramics are different from the basic material of the metal mold in toughness, in the case where the compression and tensile stress in the basic material corresponding to the press and ejection repeated for example during the molding or coining or sizing are remarkably large, slip-separation occurs. (3) The treatment of the PVD method is carried out at temperatures of 250 to 550°C, so that the hardness is lowered and the size is changed for some kinds of basic material, and the like. As a result of knowing the following points as the measure for solving the problems, as above described, the metal mold, of which inside and outside walls formed of mother metals, such as alloyed tool steels, high-speed steels or carbide alloys, are coated with ceramics, such as metal carbides, metal nitrides or metal carbonitrides, by the PVD method in a lower temperature range of 250 to 550°C, has been found to be best. (1) The pressure in the compressing or coining or sizing is selected to be 0.5 to 6 t/cm². (2) In particular a thickness of an outside cylinder of a die is increased (an outside size of the products is preferable to be smaller than a thickness of an outside cylinder) so that the maximum stress at pressing when compressed or coined or sized may be minimized. In addition, the punch is designed so as to stand buckling stress. (3) As to the alloyed tool steels, a material corresponding to SKD-11 is tempered at high temperatures. The high-speed steels are best. (4) In order to maintain the adherence strength between the film and the mother metal, such as alloyed tool steels, high-speed steels or carbide alloys, the finishing surface roughness of the mother metal must be 1 µm or less. In addition, a small radius of 0.1 to 0.3 mm must be given to end corners, and the like. Thus, if merely the film-thickness previously set is incorporated into the preliminary treatment, the correction of size after the coating treatment becomes unnecessary and also the surface roughness is hardly changed even after the preliminary treatment, so that the luster finishing, such as lapping, is not required, whereby additional effects, such as (1) the reduction of processing cost, (2) the reduction of lead time and (3) the maintenance of the constant film-thickness all over the metal mold due to the absence of processings after the coating treatment, also can be exhibited in addition to the effect of increasing the life of the metal mold. In addition, although metal carbides, metal nitrides, metal carbo-nitrides and the like are used as ceramics in the present invention, in particular TiC, TiN and TiCN give the best result. In addition, in the case of for example a metal mold colored in gold by TiN, if it is required to control the micro wear which is difficult to be checked by the measurement of size, it is also possible to carry out the check by observing the changing condition of color. The preferred embodiments of the present invention will be below described with reference to the drawings. EXAMPLE 1 An inside surface 1 of a metal mold A for use in an involute gear (a pitch circle diameter: ⊘80, a module: 2, a number of teeth: 40) formed of a high-speed steel (SKH-9) and having a shape as shown in Fig. 1 showing a perspective view was coated with a TiN film of 3 µm thick at 500°C by the PVD method. An involute gear was molded by the use of the thus obtained metal mold, the inside surface of which was coated with TiN. The life of the metal mold could be increased about 5 times, that is, from 30,000 pieces by the conventional metal mold to 150,000 pieces. EXAMPLE 2 Referring to Fig. 2, an outside surface of a blade portion 3 of a blade type thin-walled core B formed of a high-speed steel (SKH-9) having a width of 2 mm and a length of 30 mm was coated with a TiCN film of 2.5 µm thick by the PBD method in the same manner as in EXAMPLE 1 at 350°C. The life of the resulting metal mold could be increased about 6 times or more, that is, from 25,000 pieces by the conventional metal mold to 150,000 pieces or more. EXAMPLE 3 An outside surface of 200 mm long of a pointed end portion D of a core C for use in a pipe formed of a high-speed steel (SKH-9) having a diameter of 6 mm and a length of 500 mm, as shown in Fig. 3, was coated with a TiC film of 3 µm thickness by the PVD method in the same manner as in EXAMPLE 1 at 500°C. The use of the resulting core for use in a pipe led to the possibility of compacting or coining or sizing in a pipe-like shape. In addition, even those having a whole length outside diameter ratio of 5 or more became easy to eject and the molded product did not generate abnormal cracks and did not exhibit any large variation of the length. EXAMPLE 4 An uneven end face 4 of a punch E made of carbide alloys was coated with a TiC film of 2.5 µm thick by the PVD method In the same manner as in EXAMPLE 1 at 550°C. The use of the resulting punch in compacting or coining led to the unnecessity of the micro correction, such as the repeated lapping, which has been required for the conventional punch, and gave remarkably excellent releasability. As above described in detail, the inside and outside wall surfaces and the end faces of a die, punch, core and the like made of alloyed tool steels, high-speed steels or carbide alloys are coated with a ceramic film in the present invention, so that the following great effects can be exhibited; (1) A metal mold complicated in shape is apt to exhibit sticking between the product and the walls thereof when compacted or coined or sized from in particular iron series of powder also in view of the engagement thereof, and the higher the density of the product is, the shorter the sticking time becomes. And, this acts as a trigger to lead to the wear, whereby leading to the wear and tear of the metal mold. However, the use of the metal mold coated with ceramics according to the present invention did not lead to sticking. Accordingly, the time of turning from the sticking to the wear was remarkably prolonged. That is to say, the life of the metal mold was increased 5 times or more in comparison with that of the conventional metal mold. (2) In the case where the end faces of the upper and lower punches are uneven, the releasability of the product from the punches was remarkably inferior but the use of the punch according to the present invention led to a remarkable improvement of releasability. (3) The ejection force for the cylindrical product having a whole length/outside diameter ratio of 5 or more, for which the ejection force is remarkably high, could be reduced. (4) The sticking wear of the blade provided with a narrow groove when compacted or coined or sized could be remarkably reduced, and the like.

Claims: A metal mold for use in compacting or in coining or sizing a sintered part, the metal mold (A) being formed of alloyed tool steels, high-speed steels or carbide alloys, inner and outer surfaces (1,3) and end corners of said metal mold being coated with ceramics formed of metal carbide, metal nitride or metal carbo-nitride by the PVD method to improve the abrasion resistance, characterized in that in order to maintain an adherence strength of the metal mold to the ceramic film, a finishing surface roughness of the uncoated metal mold is selected at 1µm or less, and a small radius of curvature of at least 0.1mm is given to the end corners of the metal mold. A metal mold as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the ceramics are formed of Ti carbide, Ti nitride or Ti carbo-nitride. A metal mold as claimed in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the radius of curvature of each end corner is from 0.1 to 0.3mm. A metal mold as claimed in claim 1,2 or 3, characterized in that the inner and outer surfaces of the mold are substantially concentric. A metal mold as claimed in any preceding claim, characterized in that the mold has a castellated top surface connecting the inner and outer surfaces, said castellated top surface including protrusions defining said end corners.

Inventors: KATSURA, AKIO
Applicants: SUMITOMO ELECTRIC INDUSTRIES LIMITED
Application year: 1988
Main classification: B22C3
IPC codes: B22C9, B22F3, B21D37, B21J13