Tool Steel Supplier

What is heat treating?  Simply defined, it is the controlled heating and cooling of steel in order to enhance certain mechanical and physical properties.  We could go into a deep metallurgical explanation, but you would probably fall asleep, or get easily distracted by all the extra research you would do on tempered martensite or retained austenite.   Heat treating is a commonly misunderstood topic, we hope to guide you in understanding some of the basic processes that will hopefully lead you to ask the right questions about the materials you select and the processes you specify in order to build the best tool you can build. The following is a list of some basic processes that should be considered with any tool steel heat treatment: Stress relief… Why? It reduces dimensional distortion Preheating… Why? Minimizes thermal shock Hardening temperatures and times… Why? Proper temperature and times are critical in producing the desired properties. Quench m...

Basic properties that cutting must posses are: Tool material must be at least 30 to 50% harder than the work piece material. Tool material must have high hot hardness temperature. High toughness High wear resistance High thermal conductivity Lower  coefficient of friction Easiness in fabrication and cheap Different elements used in cutting tool materials and their properties are Element Properties Tungsten Increases hot hardness Hard carbides formed Abrasion resistance Molybdenum Increases hot hardness Hard carbides formed Improving resistance Chromium Depth hardenability during heat treat hard carbides are formed improving abrasion resistance some corrosion resistance Vanadium combines with carbon for wear resistance retards grain growth for better toughness Cobalt Increases hot hardness, toughness Carbon Hardening element forms carbides Different cutting tool materials used for cutting operations in practice are high carbon steel, high speed steel, non -f...