Don’t assume that just because a customer calls you five times, they’re going to place an order. They’re not calling to buy your die steel; they’re just calling to confirm whether their understanding is correct.
On May 26, Mr. Long called me and asked what kind of die steel he should use for cold extrusion of red copper to prevent cracking.
After a detailed discussion, I learned that he is cold extruding red copper. He is currently using AB 88 die steel with a hardness of 60–62 HRC, but the die cracked during the trial run, and mass production is now impossible. He asked me what die steel he should use.
Copper has good fluidity but tends to penetrate the die, seeping into the fillet corners and eventually causing the die to split. In the cracked dies he has now, copper powder adhesion is clearly visible in the fillet corners. Cold extrusion dies for red copper place particularly high demands on toughness. When selecting a die steel, we must prioritize toughness. As long as the toughness is sufficient, copper powder will not adhere to the die, and die cracking will be prevented. Based on my past experience, I recommended that he use the high-toughness LG die steel.
This is because LG is a proprietary high-toughness mold steel developed by our company, Yuhui. LG’s toughness is 8 to 9 times that of DC53, with a hardness of HRC 54–58. Its toughness is so exceptional that it won’t break even if bent by hand. Aside from LG, there are no other steel grades I can recommend that offer both high hardness and excellent toughness.
When Mr. Tan used H13 steel for his copper-aluminum composite cold extrusion dies, they were prone to deformation; when he used DC53, the dies were prone to cracking. The dies were constantly oscillating between cracking and collapsing, resulting in a short service life. However, when he switched to Yuhui’s high-toughness LG die steel, he was able to extrude over 20,000 products. The service life was stable, there was no cracking, and it worked very well.
On May 26, we spoke on the phone four times—it was always one problem or another, and in the end, the sale didn’t go through. No matter how I explained things, he had all sorts of reservations and concerns.
Since the deal fell through, I thought the matter was closed.
But unexpectedly, this past Wednesday, the evening of June 3rd, he called me again, asking if there was a solution for that set of molds. He’d already tried ASP23 and another steel with a name he couldn’t recall—both with a hardness of HRC 52—and they’d cracked. Now the molds couldn’t handle mass production, so he asked if there were any other mold steels with good toughness that could guarantee no cracking.
Hearing him say that, I knew right away that he didn’t trust me.
So I told him, “During our last phone call, your engineer also mentioned that lower hardness leads to warping, while higher hardness causes cracking. That’s why the high-toughness LG steel I recommended—with a hardness of 54–56 HRC—definitely wouldn’t work. There’s no point in even testing it. Yet you’ve already tried the even harder ASP23, which caused the mold to crack, and the softer 52 HRC, which also caused it to crack. Calling me is pointless now—no matter which mold steel I recommend, he’ll just argue against it. Have your engineer optimize the process further, or buy a few more grades of mold steel to test. After all, aside from LG, there are 749 other grades of die steel. As long as you’re persistent, you’ll eventually find the right one.
After hanging up, it dawned on me: as long as a client doesn’t trust you from the bottom of their heart, nothing you say will make a difference. They call you merely to confirm whether their assumptions are correct and to see if you have any insights to offer.
I’ve resolved complex issues related to mold material selection, manufacturing, and usage for over 4,000 companies. For certain operating conditions, I can predict the outcome; for certain people, I have a premonition.
*************
Wu Dejian’s tool steel, the chief of staff of the user, bought everything he had used.