Tool coating extends life of punch press tooling

Mate’s new SuperMax™ is a hard, wear-resistant, lubricious coating for punch press tooling. It acts as a barrier between the punch and sheet metal to help improve stripping, reduce galling and slug pulling, and extend tool life.

The proprietary coating outperforms currently available premium coatings by two to eight times, claims the manufacturer. Applied using nanolayer technology, it is a hard, dense film that increases wear resistance and lowers the friction coefficient.

The coating is designed for the company’s M4PM™, M2, and Durasteel™ punches in round, rectangle, oval, and square configurations. Its application effectiveness includes 3000 and 5000 series aluminum, galvanized and stainless steels, prepainted material, and vinyl-coated material.