Weld spatter restant tooling

[Tvolpe]

Here's a mystery for everyone to ponder. We have this tooling made from D2 tool steel. It over ten years old. Well it is finally starting to wear so we looked at the print and ordered new tooling which was made and put into use. The feedback we got from the operators was that the weld spatter is sticking to the new tooling and doesn't stick to the old tooling. Ok so I figure the old tooling is not the D2 called out on the print. We had it analyzed along with the new tooling and they are both D2 tool steel. Only difference is that the old isn't heat treated and the new tooling was. So we remade the tools and didn't heat treat them. That didn't change anything. We tried oxidizing the new tooling in a furnace to give it a coating figuring the old tooling had 10 years of oxidation on it. didn't help. Checked the old tooling for a coating that maybe we didn't know about. It's not coated. So now I'm stumped. Why is the old tooling resistant to weld spatter and the new tooling isn't? Can I use a different material like Chrome copper or tungsten copper instead? Anyone see anything I might be missing?

Thanks

 

[Compositepro]

I would expect that a little red rust powder and other dust like soot is a fairly good release agent for weld spatter. Oxidation in a furnace will not give you a loose, dusty type of oxidation. Try rubbing the tools with graphite or white boron nitride powder.

 

[EdStainless]

There are ceramic based washes (paints) that do this very well (I like Boron Nitride).
My experience is that you need to use them regularly for new tooling, and as the tooling ages you need less.

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