What grade of steel do I need to use?
A customer is building a tool/part and wants to know what grade of steel do I need to use? Here are some good starting questions to ask. This list doesn’t cover everything, but it will help to get the conversation started and help narrow down your options more quickly: What performance do I want from the part/tool: form, punch, strike, pierce, wear, etc. a. Based on the function and performance of the part we can talk about options that will meet your performance requirements. Having this conversation is key, the more we know, the better we can assist with giving some options. Ultimately the choice is yours. Do I need wear, toughness, heat resistance or a combination of some or all of them? a. In most applications, a combination of these factors are needed. Increasing wear resistance may decrease toughness and vice versa, you’ll need to determine which one is more important or if both are important. b. Wear, in the most general sense, improves as the hardness increases. Toughn...