MetaLL ifeÒ is not a coating or plating but a molecular stress change to the surface of the steel. Penetration depth is .010" to .018" of an inch subsurface. Since it is performed at room ambient conditions with no heat involved, the initial heat treat specifications cannot be compromised or changed.  There is also no danger of distortion, size or tolerance changes.  Applications include all type of hot & cold work steels including: Hot Work  (H-13 , P-20, and Maraging) and Cold Work (D2, A2, O2 and others) steels. The process may be applied as often as required or desired with no build up on the tool since only the base metal surface is affected with nothing being deposited to the die's surface.

The below macro photo shows a treated and untreated specimen of H-13 steel.  Note how well the surface inclusions and polish marks have been removed by the MetaLL ifeÒ process.  The evident topography is inversely proportional to the hardness of the material.  H-13 will show more topography (which is desired in die casting to reduce cavitation effect) because of its relative softness (44-48Rc) as compared to Cold Work steel's hardness of 58-62Rc.  For Cold Work steels the topography is not readily evident to the naked eye but can be seen if the surface is magnified (10x lupe).