Metallife and Thermallife extend die casting die life, stopping soldering and improving performance of die casting dies and other molds.

Decreases Die Casting Die Soldering and Galling

Recent studies, from 2006 and continuing into 2008 by various labs and organizations, have found that one of the many causes of soldering is due to the impingement of aluminum to the die steel. Soldering effectively weakens the steel. Other contributing factors are temperature, wettability, and metal velocity. To make a bad situation even worse, aluminum (Al) and iron (Fe) have a natural chemical affinity to one another because of their makeup and electron imbalance. When contacting each other, they want to form intermetallic compounds as shown in the photos below and drawings at the right. When the soldered area is removed, iron from the steel is also decreased and affected.

ThermaLLife forms a compound layer barrier that prevents the interaction of the aluminum (Al) with the iron (Fe) component of the tool steel. Thus the stages of destructive soldering are stopped before further damage to the tooling can occur.

Stage	Description	Cause
I	Erosion of grain boundaries	Weak regions - cavitation
II	Pitting of die surface	Loose grain - cavitation
III	Formation of iron-aluminum compounds	Chemical - electron imbalance
IV	Formation of pyramid shapes	Rapid diffusion of iron
V	Adherence of Aluminum	Cracks in surface at pyramids
VI	Erosion pits	Cavitation loss of yield strength

Intermetallic elements of soldering

Loss of the tool's protective surface or lubrication barrier between the die and cast molten metal allows the creation of intermetallic compounds that cause a chemical adhesion or soldering of the metal to the die's surface.