The economic efficiency of die-casting processes is largely determined by the lifetime of the die. Such dies are exposed to high cyclical loads of thermal, mechanical, tribological and chemical loads during operation. These loads cause various types of damage, which reduce the lifetime. If the production comes to an unexpected stop due to a critical defect in the casting tool, repair welding is often the only way to return the tool to production immediately. At present, primarily manual TIG or plasma-welding processes are used for this purpose, which, however, exhibit insufficient process reliability and thus achieve an insufficient extension of lifetime. The primary objective of the research project is therefore the development of a technology for the economical regeneration of locally damaged die-casting dies with improved metallurgical properties compared with conventional repair welds. This forms an elementary basis for extending the service life of dies in series production. For this reason, electron-beam welding is to be qualified because of its possibilities for variable, need-adapted designs of the overall heat balance and the use of filler material as a welding process for industrially used hot-work steels.
