Tool Steel Supplier

Metal shafts used in high-speed applications require a large amount of precision. If the shafts have rough finishes or lack concentricity and straightness, premature wearing of either the shaft or bearing being used can occur. In order to achieve the high level of precision required, steel shaft manufacturers often use a process called turned, ground and polished. This process involves – as the name implies – three important steps that converts a coarse, roughly dimensioned metal rod to a shaft with a straight and smooth finish. Turned: First, oversized steel rods are placed into a lathe chuck and tightened, and a cutting tool is placed in the tool holder on the lathe. The lathe is then started and the rod begins to spin. Once the steel rod reaches the desired speed, the cutting tool is fed into the rod which begins the process. The turning continues until the steel rod is brought down to the desired size. Multiple passes may have to be made with the cutting tool depending on h...

What is Cold Work Tool Steel? & What is Hot Work Tool Steel? Cold Work Tool Steel Cold work tool steel basically is high carbon steel, the alloy content contains tungsten, manganese, chromium and molybdenum relatively low alloy steel. These alloys added to improve hardenability, allowing less distortion than the W series of quenching oil. These are relatively cheap steel, high carbon content they will produce sufficient wear resistance, used for short-term operation. It is used for all types of blanking and forming dies, gauges, fixtures, etc. In ASTM Steel standard Cold Work Tool Steel main include the “W” (Water Hardening), “O”(Oil Hardening), “A” (Medium Alloy Air Hardening), “D” (High Carbon, High Chromium) Tool Steel Series. Typical Steel Grade like: W1, W2, W5 tool Steel; O1, O2, O6, O7 Oil Steel; A2, A4, A6,A7,A8, A9,A10, A11 Cold work Steel; D2,D3, D4,D5,D7 Steel; etc. Hot Work Tool Steel Hot working tool steel to make iron and nonferrous metals as well as hot for...

In this article, we would like to discuss the elements that make up tool & high speed steels. What do these elements do to provide the mechanical and physical properties we need for our applications? The most common elements are the following: CARBON (C): this is the most basic alloying element which enables steel to harden. Carbon combines with the other elements to form hard, wear-resistant carbides. MANGANESE (Mn): controls hardenability in alloy cold work steels. SILICON (Si): improves toughness in the shock resisting steels group. Added to hot work steels to raise critical points and reduce scaling tendencies. Added to O-6 & A-10 to form graphite. CHROMIUM (Cr): controls hardenability and is added for abrasion resistance and hot hardness. TUNGSTEN (W): provides red hardness and hard wear resistant carbides that are harder than chrome and iron carbides. Also used to improve hardenability in tool & high speed steels. Combines very well with molybdenu...

Alloying elements are used to alter the mechanical and chemical properties of steel to give them advantages over standard  carbon steel . While there are many alloying elements used to achieve various enhanced properties, certain elements are much more common than others. These are 5 common alloying elements: 1. Chromium Chromium Chromium added to carbon steel in percentages usually greater than 11% creates stainless steel. At this percentage and greater, the corrosion resistance of a steel vastly increases and oxidation of the iron is prevented in many conditions. The iron does not oxidize because the chromium will oxidize first and form a protective layer over the steel. Chromium also helps to improve mechanical properties, even in smaller amounts. It will increase the steel’s strength, hardness, and ability to be heat treated. Common steels with high amounts of chromium include grades 439, 309, 2205 stainless steels. Grade D2 tool steel also has significant...

AISI/ASTM T1 tool steel is one of the original tungsten high speed steels, although all tungsten steel grades are used to a limited extent because of the cost and questionable availability of tungsten. Of the T group steels, the general purpose T1 tool steels and the high-vanadium-cobalt T15 are most commonly used. T1 high speed steel is an air or oil hardening tool steel which has good comprehensive performance.  HSS  T1 tool steel has a high hardness (HRC62~66), strength, toughness and heat resistance, which is an excellent cutting tool material. T-1 tool steel grade is on the whole used for turning, planning & slotting instruments, tapes, twist drill, threading dies, profile slicing instruments, broaching instruments & reamers. Generally, high speed steels are divided into  three groups : Those bearing the symbol T where tungsten is the major alloying element; Those bearing the symbol M indicating that molybdenum are the principal alloying element; ...