A few days ago, I received samples of hydraulic directional control valves produced by other manufacturer from my old customer Ahmik. Ahmik is from Israel and started purchasing hydraulic directional control valves from AAK 2 years ago.
In August of the previous year, they developed a high-pressure hydraulic manifold and needed to purchase a hydraulic directional control valve. Ahmik purchased the hydraulic directional control valve from a manufacturer that has been cooperating for 3 years. After 6 months, there was leakage in the valve, especially severe wear and tear. The original hydraulic valve manufacturer stated that the high-pressure hydraulic directional control valve can only hold a service life of 6 months at present. Ahmik didn't quite believe it, so he sent me a sample to see if it could achieve a service life of over 1 year.
We disassembled the original manufacturer's hydraulic directional control valve sample and frankly, the manufacturing quality is not poor. Why not wear resistant? Based on the hydraulic schematic and operating instructions provided by Ahmik, we understand that the problem lies in the material selection of the valve body. The original manufacturer used 45 Cr material to produce valve bodies, which is not a big mistake, because this is a commonly used material for valve bodies. AAK never follows industry trend in material selection and strictly selects materials according to the working conditions.
If the service life of this hydraulic directional control valve needs to be over 1 year without any damage, while ensuring machining accuracy, efforts need to be made on the material of the hydraulic directional control valve, especially the wear resistance of the valve body. I recommended Ahmik to use 3Cr3Mo3W2V hot working die steel to produce the valve body of this hydraulic directional control valve. If the original manufacturer was unwilling to use this material or if the processing is difficult, AAK can complete it. 3 days later, Ahmik asked me to copy the original hydraulic directional control valve sample, because the original hydraulic valve manufacturer is not confident in achieving a service life of more than 1 year.
Indeed, the processing difficulty of 3Cr3Mo3W2V hot work mold steel is higher than that of 45 Cr, and the accuracy error is large. However, AAK has already had multiple factual cases of processing this material. The hardness and wear resistance of 3Cr3Mo3W2V hot working die steel are the preferred choice for producing high-pressure hydraulic valve bodies, but most hydraulic valve manufacturers in China choose 45 Cr. This material also has one characteristic, the entire cross-section and mechanical properties of the material are very consistent, ensuring that the valve body is more resistant to impact and corrosion during the system operation process, and is safe for 1 year.
AAK hydraulic directional control valve, under high pressure, is still safe for 1 year, you can also give it a try!
AAK HYDRAULIC VALVES (590) 2023-05-23