What is SLD-MAGIC?

SLD-MAGIC High-Performance Cold Work Tool Steel Overview

SLD-MAGIC is a high-performance cold work tool steel developed by Hitachi Metals, designed to significantly improve tool life and reduce overall production costs. It offers outstanding wear resistance, machinability, and dimensional stability. With its innovative alloy design, SLD-MAGIC ensures optimal performance in demanding tooling applications, making it ideal for improving productivity and resource efficiency across various industries.

Key Features:

1. Improved Wear Resistance: With a hardness of 62 HRC, SLD-MAGIC increases wear resistance by approximately 35% compared to conventional steels. This feature makes it particularly effective in applications such as bending and drawing of high-strength steels, where enhanced durability is essential.

2. Superior Surface Treatment: The steel’s optimized alloy composition ensures that surface treatment adhesion, such as CVD coatings, improves by approximately 30%. This leads to a longer-lasting surface finish, providing better protection for the tooling even in harsh operating conditions.

3. Heat Treatment Stability: SLD-MAGIC minimizes dimensional deformation during heat treatment, reducing changes by around 40%. This ensures better precision and accuracy in tooling, decreasing the likelihood of defects in finished products.

4. Enhanced Machinability: Machinability is improved by about 35%, which leads to shorter processing times and lower production costs. This also extends the lifespan of cutting tools, contributing to more efficient operations, particularly in industries where precise machining is required.

Comparative Advantages:

Compared to traditional tool steels like SKD11 and various Cr-based steels, SLD-MAGIC offers several competitive advantages:

• Hardness: With a hardness range of 60-62 HRC, SLD-MAGIC maintains high hardness while minimizing dimensional changes, ensuring long-lasting durability under heavy workloads.
• Wear Resistance: Rated as A in wear resistance, SLD-MAGIC performs better than 8% and 10% Cr steels, making it the ideal choice for applications requiring superior resistance to wear.
• Machinability: SLD-MAGIC significantly outperforms SKD11 and other Cr steels in machinability, allowing for faster production cycles and reduced tool wear.

Environmental Certification:

SLD-MAGIC has earned recognition as a "Super Eco-product," meeting strict environmental standards that focus on reducing CO₂ emissions and maximizing resource efficiency. This certification highlights the product’s commitment to sustainability, making it an attractive choice for companies looking to reduce their environmental impact while maintaining high-performance standards.

Additional Technical Features:

1. Scuffing Resistance: SLD-MAGIC exhibits superior resistance to scuffing during wear simulations, such as the Ogoshi-method wear test. In practical die applications, it outperforms SKD11 in maintaining surface integrity, which reduces downtime and maintenance costs for tooling.

2. Toughness: The material has been tested for toughness using the 10R-notched Charpy impact test and demonstrates better toughness compared to other steels like SKD11 and Cr steels. This toughness reduces the risk of cracking and chipping during operations, particularly when subjected to low-temperature tempering.

3. Heat Treatment Flexibility: SLD-MAGIC allows for highly stable heat treatment, with a hardening range of 1020-1030°C. It can also undergo combined subzero and low-temperature tempering treatments, reducing long-term dimensional distortions. This flexibility makes it easier to achieve both high hardness and minimal dimensional changes in complex tooling applications.

4. Weldability: SLD-MAGIC shows reduced susceptibility to cracking during welding compared to SKD11 and other Cr steels, especially when preheated at higher temperatures (above 300°C). This makes it suitable for complex welding processes where durability and precision are crucial.

Processing Performance:

SLD-MAGIC stands out in its exceptional machinability and resistance to tool wear across a range of cutting processes:

• Face Milling: When using a 125 face mill, SLD-MAGIC demonstrates more than twice the tool life of SKD11 and approximately 35% better performance than 8% Cr steel. Tool wear is significantly reduced, leading to lower production costs and improved efficiency.
• Drilling and End Milling: SLD-MAGIC outperforms SKD11 in both drilling and end milling tests. With reduced tool wear and lower cutting temperatures, the lifespan of cutting tools is extended, making it ideal for high-precision machining tasks.
• Lower Cutting Tool Temperatures: The steel’s thermal properties result in lower cutting tool temperatures compared to SKD11 and Cr steels, further extending tool life and reducing the risk of overheating during intensive machining operations.

Surface Treatment and Fatigue Strength:

SLD-MAGIC can be coated using standard hard coating techniques, such as CVD, and shows superior adhesion between the coating layer and steel. Its fatigue strength is also higher than that of SKD11, due to better control over carbide morphology. This means that the steel maintains its strength and durability under repetitive stress, reducing the likelihood of fatigue failure.

Thermal and Physical Properties:

• Thermal Expansion Coefficient:
  • 20°C–100°C: 11.7 x 10^-6 /°C
  • 20°C–200°C: 12.2 x 10^-6 /°C
• Thermal Conductivity:
  • Room temperature: 16.5 W/m·K
• Young’s Modulus:
  • 209 GPa
• Transformation Temperature:
  • Ac1: 850°C
  • Ms: 166°C

Conclusion:
SLD-MAGIC's exceptional properties make it a leading choice for cold work tool steel applications. Its superior wear resistance, machinability, toughness, and stability—combined with environmentally friendly certifications—position it as an ideal material for industries requiring high-precision tooling. Whether for bending, drawing, or complex machining tasks, SLD-MAGIC provides reliable performance, contributing to cost reduction and enhanced productivity.