The Process
Advantages
Production Capabilities

Introduction

There are numerous industrial applications where improved material performance would significantly impact manufacturing efficiency. Dynaforge is a proprietary CPP process for manufacturing high performance products that can be used to reduce manufacturing costs.

A prime example is tooling that has been used in warm or hot forming of automotive components. Tool steels used for dies, punches and other forging tools begin to soften and deform due to prolonged exposure to elevated temperatures. The steels and processes used to manufacture these tools have changed little over the last 50 years. Dynaforge tooling products which use customized alloys have exceptional hot strength and resistance to thermal softening. These performance enhancements result in longer tool life and lower overall net costs to the user.

Other Dynaforge applications have involved the production of aerospace and medical components, which frequently involve expensive raw materials, high cost manufacturing operations and long cycle times. Processes used to manufacture these components generally require large quantities of starting material, high tooling costs for forging or casting operations, and extensive machining operations resulting in low material utilization. Dynaforge components can be produced to a near-net shape with minimal tooling cost, improved utilization of expensive input materials, and better quality than cast/wrought or investment-cast alternatives. Benefits for the user are reduced cycle time, superior quality and lower net costs.

The Process

Dynaforge is a powder metallurgy rapid consolidation process that makes fully-dense, near-net-shape components from tailored high performance alloys and other specialty materials. The components can be manufactured from a single alloy or from multiple metal compositions. Gas-atomized metal alloy powder is loaded into a container, degassed and sealed, heated to a suitable temperature, transferred to a hydraulic press and densified with very high quasi-isostatic pressures. Full-density consolidation occurs within a matter of seconds, after which the component is ejected from the hydraulic press. Densification occurs at higher pressures and more rapidly than in any other commercial P/M consolidation process.

Additionally, the Dynaforge process often results in unique mechanical properties not attainable with other processes. This capability comes from the fact that the Dynaforge process does not rely on a diffusion reaction, but rather on shear deformation at powder particle interfaces. This deformation, created by exceptionally high forging pressures, yields fresh material surfaces that readily bond during the consolidation cycle. Equally important is the fact that consolidation is a solid-state process (no melting) which allows many metal powders to retain unique as-atomized microstructures in the densified component.

Advantages

Dynaforge products provide improved performance and/or lower overall net costs to the user. Prototype trials on tooling produced by Dynaforge have demonstrated superior performance in hot forging automotive parts. In a variety of initial applications, tool lives have increased 3X to 20X that of conventional tooling materials, while maintaining better dimensional tolerances on forged parts. These significant improvements in tool life create additional advantages, including increased manufacturing capacity without further capital investment by the user, and increased labor utilization. The ultimate value to the user is lower tooling cost per part produced.

Another advantage of manufacturing components via Dynaforge is that tailored metal alloys, as well as composite metal components, can be fully densified into near-net shapes. Alloys with unique chemical compositions can be consolidated into components for a specific application. Custom designed components in varying shapes can economically be produced in small lot sizes. There is no need to carry large inventories of generic materials or semi-finished products. Significant cost reductions can be obtained by utilizing the shape-making capability of the process. Near-net shapes reduce the amount of expensive raw material required and also reduce post-consolidation costs such as machining. Quality improvements in high performance components - consistent and isotropic properties, no segregation, controllable grain size - are added advantages.

Production Capabilities

The Dynaforge process utilizes simple, reliable equipment and low-cost consumable supplies. Standard loading and degassing equipment is used to fill shaped containers with metal powder. Only a hydraulic press (modified specifically for this process by CPP) and a heating furnace are required to densify the components. Most starting raw materials in the form of high cleanliness gas-atomized powders are manufactured by CPP, utilizing both air and vacuum melting technologies.

CPP has the largest gas atomizing metal powder production capacity in the world. The newly installed hydraulic press for manufacturing Dynaforged products has the capacity to manufacture thousands of components annually. The limitation at the current time is a component maximum size of approximately five inches in diameter by eight inches long.

The Dynaforge process has been used to consolidate a number of powder metallurgy alloys, including nickel base alloys, cobalt-chromium alloys, high-speed steels, titanium alloys and pure rhenium. Results indicate that other powder metallurgy compositions or composites could also be consolidated to full density by this process. CPP recognizes the resistance to change associated with the introduction of new technology, particularly for engineered products. And, we have the technical resources to work with customers to overcome barriers to acceptance, and to achieve substantial cost reduction for the customer.

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