Surface analysis of industrial gate of a die-casting process mould retired from manufacturing site

Due to high heating and cooling casting cycles, the gate part, a crucial part of the mould, suffers from different casting problems. Therefore in the present study, an industrial gate surface of mould retired from a pressure die-casting industry after 60,000 casting cycles has thoroughly been analysed before and after being subjected to a novel enhancement heat treatment (EHT) by oil quenching technique. Here, the surface of different gate parts such as the die-block, runner, gate and casting area, of the industrial gate (IG) of a mould was precisely characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), by Fourier transforms infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, microstructures, density, nanoindentation, hardness and magnetic measurement. This study predicted microstructures for the EHT samples. The novel EHT significantly recovered the mechanical and physical properties of the retired IG mould, particularly the nanohardness at die-block (from 6.83 to 12.89 GPa), gate (from 7.03 to 7.10 GPa) and casting (from 5.77 to 6.74 GPa) regions. After EHT, the internal stresses of the die material decreased and thus, its magnetic coercivity enhanced up to 223%. Therefore, the present study would help the mould manufacturer in predicting the mould's life and condition during production.