Customer case

Toolox® 44 helps rev up productivity in the automotive industry

March 01, 2022 6 min read

Case details

Product Toolox® 44

Country Austria

Company Krenhof Schmiedetechnik AG

Industry Automotive

A specialist in the manufacture of forged parts for the automotive industry, Krenhof Schmiedetechnik AG produces its own tools to make batch production parts. The tools are mostly surface engineered to give them the high wear resistance and durability they need.

Case details

Product Toolox® 44

Country Austria

Company Krenhof Schmiedetechnik AG

Industry Automotive

The challenge

Even when surface engineering is performed properly, cracking can pose a problem. Material can get caught on the edges of the cracks during the forging process, leaving scar-like marks on the forged items. This results in more rejects than good parts, especially in smaller production batches.

The solution

“With SSAB’s Toolox® 44, we’ve finally found the material we had long been searching for – a material that isn’t surface engineered, yet still has the same properties,”

says CEO Matthias Hartmann.

The first success of the new tool steel has been achieved with the construction of prototypes. Every year, the company manufactures 100 different components for new vehicle models – and these are now produced exclusively using tools made of Toolox^® engineering and tool steel.

Customer benefits

“You normally need to compromise on hardness if you want to achieve a high level of crack resistance, yet Toolox^® enables us to achieve the right balance between hardness, toughness, and heat resistance,” adds Hartmann.

Krenhof has also started using Toolox^® 44 in the shear blades used for rod cutting. Breakages have almost been eliminated and the blades’ lifetime has increased tenfold.