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LEED STEEL'S TEAM EFFORT ON TOOLING PRESENTS

"A Tool & Die Troubleshooter Seminar"


A basic tool and die metallurgical / technical seminar discussion.

228 Sawyer Avenue Tonawanda, NY 14150 (716) 8742554

E-mail: rleed@leed steel.com

Contents

The Tool & Die Facts of Life ........................................................................ A Tool & Die Proverb ................................................................................... Single Melt vs Special Refining and/or Remelting .......................................

1 2 3

Alloy Elements in Steels . .................... . . . ......................... .. .. . . . ... ................... 4 Tool Steel Crystal Structures ...................................................................... Carbides in Tool Steels ............................................................................... Retained Austenite ..................................................................................... Tool Design: "More Than Making Prints" ..................................................... Tool Designs and Stress Raisers That Cause Failures ................................. Grinding Cracks: Cause and Effects ......................................................... Effects of EDM on Tool Steels .................................................................... Wire Burning Hardened Tool Steel ............................................................ Heat Treat Goals: More Than Hardness ..................................................... Stress Relieving Tool Steels ....................................................................... Too Much Hardness May Cause Cracking ................................................. Tempering of Tool Steels ........................................................................... 5 6 7 8 9 12 13 14 16 17 18 20

The Tool & Die Facts of Life


The following Tool and Die Facts of Life focus on areas that must be kept in mind if premature tool & die failures are to be avoided. 1. The cost of tooling steels is insignificant when compared to the overall tooling investment. Select the right steel grade to do the job. 2. Engineers, machinists, tool makers, heat treaters and production personnel need to work together as a team to properly design, build, use and maintain production worthy tools and dies. 3. There is more to tool design than making prints. Today's design engineers should be proactive, experienced tool & die troubleshooters, knowing all the facets of the tool making process and tool usage. 4. Machining tooling to finished dimensions before hardening is a dangerous practice. The resultant combination of size change and/or distortion that occur during hardening may make it impossible to true up the part to required dimensions during final machining.

5. Every year thousands of valuable tools, dies, and molds are carefully designed and machined, only to be sent to the heat treater with inadequate specifications. Heat treaters would prefer to receive instruction and comments that define and outline specific goals and requirements.

6. Too much emphasis is placed on heat treating for hardness alone. The hardening operation should be used a means to develop and fine tune working hardness levels with the different engineering and physical properties that combine to guarantee optimum tool performance.

7. Sufficient tempering of as-quenched tooling is necessary to achieve specific hardness levels, for stress relief, to develop desired physical properties and to promote dimensional stability. Never short cycle the tempering operation.

8. Tooling personnel must be aware that heat generated during grinding, welding and EDM frequently causes metallurgical and physical property changes that adversely affect the service life of tooling. 9. Short-cycling and speedup frequently cause problems. The labor-hours that are supposed to be saved by short-cycling and speedup of established procedures are all too often lost when tools and dies fail prematurely due to less than optimum manufacturing/ construction practices.

10. Tools that are handled properly in service last longer and produce better parts. Clearances between mating tools and dies, press maintenance and alignment, material feeds, magnetism, lubrication and residual stresses are all concerns that effect the service life of tool and dies. Leed Steel - Team Effort On Tooling Investment 1

A Tool & Die Proverb


"There is never enough time to do it right, but there is always enough time to do it over!"

The M4 high steel milling cutter pictured in Figure 1-1 exemplifies the tool & die proverb "There is never enough time to do it right, but there is always enough time to do it over!" Six of these parts cracked before they could be put into service. In order to meet production schedules all of the parts were subjected to short-cycling and speedup in heat treat processing. After hardening, the tempering operation was short cycled in order to save more time. The labor-hours that were supposed to be saved by short-cycling and rushing the heat treatment were only a fraction of the hours required to remake these parts after they cracked. There is no substitute for care and thorough proactive planning.

Figure l-1 Top and side view of one of six M4 high speed steel milling cutters that cracked prematurely due to a combination of improper tempering after heat treatment.

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Single Melt vs Special Refining and/or Remelting


The two steel photographs shown below dramatically show the type of metallurgical improvement that can be achieved through the use of special refirming and/or remelting techniques. Both pictures were taken from identical cross-sections of a 4 inch thick AISI S7 tool steel plate. Each sample was cut from direct center locations. Figure 2-7 is a sample of conventional single melt material. Figure 2-8 is a sample of ESR quality. Note the absence of inclusions in the ESR material. It is not difficult to see that the cleaner, more uniform, sound ESR material will have significantly improved mechanical properties due to the reduced inclusion levels. The use of special refining and/or remelting techniques for tool, highspeed, stainless, and other highalloy steels is becoming increasingly popular. Argon-oxygen decarburization (AOD) and/or vacuum degassing, are used separately or at times in combination following conventional electric arc furnace melting. These processes may be used to provide a finished product or in preparation for additional refining operations such as electroslag refining (ESR) as shown in Figure 2-6, vacuum arc refining (VAR) and vacuum induction melting (VIM).

Figure 2-7is a photograph of a hot acid etched, conventional single melt tool steel. Note the center line inclusions and porosity.

Figure 2-8 is a photograph of a hot acid etched, ESR remelted tool steel. Note the absence of center line inclusions and porosity.

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Alloy Elements in Steels


The characteristics of tool steels are controlled by slight variations in the alloying elements which are carefully added to each melt. These elements work in combination to impart unique physical properties and characteristics to each different steel grade. The following information is abbreviated and generalized. ALUMINUM (Al) is used as a deoxidizer. It controls grain growth promoting finegrained steels. It is used in nitriding steels because of its strong tendency to form aluminum nitrides, which contribute to wear resistance. BORON (B) is used to increase the hardenability of carbon and alloy steels. Its greatest effect is in low-carbon varieties of both. CARBON (C) is the principle hardening element in steel. It increases hardness, tensile strength, and wear resistance, but reduces ductility. CHROMIUM (Cr) improves hardenability, wear, corrosion and oxidation resistance, polishability, and high-temperature properties. It is an excellent carbide former and raises hardening temperatures. COBALT (Co) increases the red hardness/high temperature properties in steel. COPPER (Cu) improves steel's resistance to corrosion. HYDROGEN (H) causes embrittlement. It is never added to steel intentionally LEAD (Pb) is sometimes added to improve machining characteristics. MANGANESE (Mn) is a deoxidizer. It adds to hardenability. MOLYBDENUM (Mo) is a carbide former. It increases wear, hardenability, and red hardness. NICKEL (Ni) provides increased hardenability and toughness. NITROGEN (N) is inherently present in all steels. In amounts over 0.004% and in combination with other elements, it forms hard, abrasion-resistant nitrides. PHOSPHORUS (P) usually a residual, but is added to some free-machining steels. SILICON (Si) a deoxidizer. It adds to strength, toughness, and hardenability. SULFUR (S) is sometimes added to improve the machinability in steel. Sulfur reduces ductility, toughness, and weldability. TITANIUM (Ti) is an excellent carbide former and grain refiner. TUNGSTEN (W) promotes red hardness and a dense, fine-grain. It promotes wear resistance and high-temperature strength and is an excellent carbide former. VANADIUM (V) improves strength and toughness because of its ability to inhibit grain growth during heat treatment. It is an excellent carbide former. It is often used to improve hightemperature properties. Leed Steel - Team Effort On Tooling Investment 4

Tool Steel Crystal Structures


The microstructure of tool steel, in the solid condition, is made up of a number of specific crystal structures, or lattices, with atoms arranged in regular geometric patterns. Metals are allotropic compounds, which means that they can change from one crystalline state to another without a phase change. Compare this to water, which can go from a solid to a liquid to a gas phase. Figure 4-3 describes three of the most common crystal structure arrangements that tool steels go through and their unique properties and characteristics.

ANNEALED AUSTENITE MARTENSITE Body-centered Facecentered Body-centered cubic cubic, BCC cubic, FCC tetragonal, BCCT Figure 4-3 Crystal structures for tool steels in annealed, austenitic, and martensitic conditions

ANNEALED STEEL: Body-centered cubic (BCC) In the annealed condition, tool steel consists of crystal structures, or space lattices, made up of a continuous series of BCC cells. When they are heated to temperatures above approximately 1300 F their lattices rearrange themselves. The steel transforms to austenite, which has an FCC crystal structure. AUSTENITIC STEEL: Face-centered cubic (FCC) When the tool steel is heated to the austenitic temperature range for a particular chemistry during annealing or hardening, the crystal structure changes to FCC. The steel will become nonmagnetic. The FCC atoms also become more densely packed, and the steel shrinks as a result. MARTENSITIC STEEL: Body-centered cubic tetragonal (BCCT) Martensite develops when a tool steel is properly quenched to a low temperature from its austenitic temperature range. Untempered martensite is unstable. As martensite begins to develop, the crystal structure of the steel changes from FCC to a less dense BCCT structure. This causes the steel to "grow." This growth creates stress and makes the steel hard. The change to martensite also causes the steel to regain its magnetic properties.

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Carbides in Tool Steels


Carbides in tool steels are microscopic compounds of carbon and one or more metallic elements. Carbides are very hard compared to the matrix or cross section of the steel in which they are embedded. It is their high level of hardness (see Table 4-3), in combination with their homogeneous dispersion throughout the structure of steel, that greatly adds to abrasion and/or wear resistance.

Figure 4-4 M2 High-speed steel (500x) Massive, clustered, banded carbides Carbides that are too large and/or segregated may have an embrittling effect on steel. Excessive carbide segregation in the form of heavy banding and/or clusters, such as shown in Figure 4-4, may contribute to machining problems and brittle failures of tooling in service. These types of carbides and carbide formations will more likely be present in high-carbon, highchromium tool steels and in the more highly alloyed types, such as high-speed steel. Carbide segregation at the grain boundaries of tooling steels is particularly objectionable because of its embrittling effect.

Tool steel manufacturers must have considerable experience in order to know what to expect with regard to carbide uniformity and what is objectionable in terms of carbide segregation in bar stock and plate sections. Table 4-3 Relative hardness of carbides typically found in tool steels Carbide Element Iron (Fe) Chromium (Cr) Molybdenum (Mo) Vanadium (V) Titanium (Ti) Rockwell "C" 64-68 75-80 75-80 85-90 90-100 Leed Steel - Team Effort On Tooling Investment 6

Retained Austenite
Austenite is a metallurgical term defining the crystal structure to which hardenable steels transform as they are being heated to their quenching temperature. After transformation to austenite, the steels must be quenched to transform to martensite (hard steel).

In carbon and low-alloy steels, austenite transforms fairly completely to martensite or other lowtemperature transformation products. However, as the alloy content of the steel increases, increasing amounts of austenite do not transform to martensite during the quench, frequently leaving a dangerously high percentage of unstable austenite retained in the structure of the as-quenched steel. This is especially true of high-carbon, high-chromium air-hardening and high-speed steels. If proper measures are not taken to transform the unstable retained austenite, dimensional shrinkage will occur. Also, if a tool with retained austenite is placed in service, the austenite will transform upon application of service stresses. Stress associated with the newly formed martensite can cause chipping or cracking of the tool.

Table 4-8 shows test results developed from the testing of 2" x 2" x 2" M2 high-speed steel samples for retained austenite. They clearly show how difficult it can be to transform retained austenite to martensite and the benefit of multiple tempering cycles.

Table 4-8 Effect of tempering on austenite retention Credit: High Speed Steels, Teledyne Vasco Tempers at 965 F - As-quenched - Single 2-hour temper - Double temper, 2 + 2 hrs - Triple temper, 2 + 2 + 2 hrs % Retained Austenite 24.0 16.1 4.7 2.7

TIPS FOR CONTROLLING PROBLEMS RELATED TO AUSTENITE RETENTION 1. Avoid higher than recommended austenitizing temperatures. 2. Do not over soak at the austenitizing temperature. 3. Use the highest tempering temperatures possible, consistent with desired hardness. 4. Use double and triple tempering cycles, especially with air-hardening steels. 5. Subzero treatment is another way to guard against austenite retention.

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Tool Design: "More Than Making Prints"


The construction of quality tools and dies begins with tool design. The advent of CAD (computer-aided design) and CAM (computer-aided manufacturing) has revolutionized tool design and construction procedures. Tool design engineers, in the old-fashioned sense, were "jacks of all trades." Their experience with all phases of tool and die construction, use and maintenance made them invaluable, not only as a source for accurate drawings, but also for proactive troubleshooting and problem solving.

These "jacks of all trades" understood and could address concerns related to tool steel, grade selection, basic tool steel metallurgy, heat treating, finish machining, and tool and die failure analysis. Today's design engineers must work to combine their computer skills with hands-on tool and die experience in order to successfully design tools and dies.

TOOL DESIGN ENGINEERS SHOULD UNDERSTAND THE FUNDAMENTALS OF: 1. Basic tool steel properties, characteristics, and metallurgy 2. Heat treat processes and related concerns 3. The effect of stress on tools and dies 4. The production operation and related requirements 5. Tool and die maintenance and repair

CHECKLIST FOR TOOL DESIGN Plan ahead! Don't wait for problems to develop! 1. Minimize design factors that act as stress raisers. 2. Tools with massive cross sections and/or intricate designs require special consideration, especially in heat treat. 3. Plan ahead. Leave enough time to thoroughly stress relieve, preheat, harden, quench, and temper. 4. Avoid excessively high hardness levels. Select a range of hardness that best combines requirements for wear resistance and needed toughness. 5. Develop a working relationship with the heat treater.

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Tool Designs and Stress Raisers That Cause Failures

Tooling cannot be designed on the basis of tool dimensions alone. Tool design engineers must consider the steel to be used as well as its capabilities and limitations. Factors such as (1) whether the tool must be quenched in water, oil, or air, (2) part geometry, i.e., light sections adjacent to heavy sections, (3) how the tool is to be machined before and after hardening, and (4) expected dimensional stability should be considered to avoid manufacturing and production problems that can result in expensive repair, production delays, and downtime. The importance of good design cannot be overemphasized. Improperly designed tools may crack in heat treatment, in which case, service life will be zero; or they may fail prematurely at a time when only a portion of the anticipated production has been realized. Many tools that crack during heat treatment should be considered as failures of design. The heat treater is sometimes asked to harden tools so designed that they cannot possibly be heat treated successfully.

COMMON DESIGN FAULTS SHARP CORNERS (internal and external): Sharp corners and sharp cornered key ways in tooling act as stress intensifiers. It is a good machining practice to always leave a well-rounded radius in all corners. LIGHT SECTIONS ADJACENT TO HEAVY SECTIONS: During quenching, light sections cool rapidly and harden before their adjacent heavier sections. This sets up differential cooling and transformation stresses which may exceed the ultimate strength of the steel. Distortion and/or cracking can result. If such design is necessary, heat- treating problems can be minimized by the use of air-hardening steels. Keep in mind that problems related to chipping and cracking of tooling in service can also be minimized with the use of shockresisting steels.

IMPROPERLY PLACED HOLES, BLIND HOLES AND/OR THREADED HOLES: Holes should be designed into tooling, not simply placed. Hole placement can result in areas with thin and weak walls. Furthermore, thin walls adjacent to heavier sections facilitate the developement of differential cooling and transformation stresses in heat treating. Thus hole placement resulting in thin walls may lead to premature cracking in heat treatment or in service. STAMP MARKS: Stamped impressions introduce sharp section changes that serve to intensify stresses. If stamping identification is necessary, it must be kept it to a minimum. Avoid bunching stamp impressions together. Whenever possible, use lowstress stamps (with rounded characters). SURFACE FINISH: Rough machining operations produce built-in surface notches and sharp corners, which concentrate stress. The photos in Figure 6-1 through 6-10 illustrate common stress raisers and design faults.

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HOLES, SHARP CORNERS AND THIN WALL SECTIONS CREATE AREAS OF WEAKNESS
Holes, sharp corners and thin wall sections all worked in combination to weaken the S7 tool steel plastic injection mold insert shown below in Figure 6-1. Sharp corners (internal and external) are natural stress raisers. The large center hole is designed so that only a very thin weak wall section exists adjacent to it. The thin wall section pictured was simply too weak withstand the stress of production.

Figure 6-1 S7 tool steel plastic injection mold insert. Note the fine, tight crack radiating from the top,

Magnified picture of the above. Note the sharp corners, thin wall sections.

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SHARP CORNERS (INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL) ARE STRESS RAISERS


Figure 6-2 and 6-3 pictures a A2 tool steel punch and a D2 tool steel crimping die. Both of these parts, are representative of many that failed after very light service. The overall design of both parts with thin wall sections, numerous sharp corners, section changes and cut out areas represent dangerous design configurations. This is due to numerous stress raisers in close proximity that severely weaken the parts. Note the fine, tight cracks radiating out from the sharp internal corners.

Figure 6-2 A2 tool steel punch with sharp corners, and thin wall sections.

Figure 6-3 D2 tool steel crimping die with sharp corners and thin walls in very close proximity.

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Grinding Cracks: Cause and Effects


Problems related to the development of grinding cracks on hardened tool steels are due to either abusive grinding practice, improper heat treatment, or a combination of both. It is obvious that considerable energy is required to grind steels in the hardened condition. The heat from friction and tearing frequently exceeds the hardening temperature of the steel. The development of high surface temperatures during grinding causes two undesirable effects on hardened tool steels: (1) changes in hardness and/or metallurgical structure, and (2) the development of high internal stresses from which surface cracks can form.

Figure 7-17 A2 tool steel die plate with small, tight grinding cracks. Grinding cracks like the ones shown in Figure 7-17 are initiated as tiny notches that cannot be seen by the naked eye. Under continued heat and stress loads, these notches propagate into larger cracks that become visible and damage the service life of the tool or die.

Grinding Cracks Can Result From Poor Grinding Practices and/or Heat Treat Factors: 1. Poor grinding practices are: a. Scorching by removing metal too rapidly b. Grinding with a dull or a loaded wheel c. Grinding with a wheel of grit size too fine for the job d. Ineffective use of coolant 2. Heat treatment related factors are: a. Leaving the tool in the as-quenched condition b. Quenching the tool from an excessively high hardening temperature c. Producing a high-carbon carburized case during the hardening operation d. Improper tempering procedures, which leave either untempered martensite or an Leed Steel - Team Effort On Tooling Investment 12

Effects of EDM on Tool Steels


EDM (electric discharge machining) is a metal removal process making use of a controlled short circuit. Electric current crosses the gap between an electrode and the tool through a dielectric fluid in which the tool and electrode are submerged. The result is an intense spark that is directed to erode and/or melt away metal particles. The amount of melted metal and the depth of the heataffected zone (HAZ) on a tool's surface are directly proportional to the electrical input. The advantage of EDM is that tooling steels in the hardened condition (HRC 60 and higher) can be easily machined to very close tolerances and very intricate configurations. The tool and die maker must keep in mind that the HAZ created during the EDM process can adversely affect the performance of tools and dies.

1. Brittle white layer, 70 HRC 2. Rehardened zone, 65 HRC 3. Gradiently tempered zone,46-48 HRC

Figure 7-19 Computer-enhanced photomicrograph of an S7 tool steel punch that underwent EDM (500x) The following is a description of the HAZ (and pictured at 500x on the photomicrograph in Figure 7-19) found on EDM surfaces: On the surface: A brittle white layer of as-cast steel, 0.0002 to 0.005" deep, will develop. This layer is characterized by: High carbon, coarse and granular, 70 HRC or higher in hardness. 2. Microcracks from 0.0001" to 0.0003" deep.

Subsurface: Brittle rehardened, untempered zone, 0.0002 to 0.005" deep. 3. This as-quenched martensite will vary in hardness depending on the steel. Hardness of HRC 65 in steels containing 1% carbon or more is common. Subsurface: 4. Soft, gradiently tempered zone, 0.0002 to 0.030" deep. This gradiently tempered zone, HRC 46 to 48, will gradually increase in hardness as unaffected base metal is reached. Precautionary measures: Use a roughing cut followed by a low-powered finishing cut to minimize the depth of the white layer. Leed Steel - Team Effort On Tooling Investment 13 -

Wire Burning Hardened Tool Steel


Large capacity, close tolerance EDM machines are increasingly being used to wire burn tool and die components out of tool steel bar and plate sections. It is not uncommon for tool and die makers to cut mating punches and dies out of one prehardened tool steel blank. This writer has investigated a number of concerns relating to the premature cracking of parts either during or subsequent to being wire burned in this way. The result of these investigations has shown that a very high percentage of the cracking can be minimized if a more careful and deliberate focus were placed on optimizing heat treatment. Tool and die personnel must keep in mind that it is easier to control the quality of hardening, quenching and tempering in a relatively small rough machined tool steel punch for example than it is in a relatively large tool steel blank from which numerous punches may be wire burned. Figure 720 below illustrates this point. As blanks like this increase in size and mass, concerns relating to transforming retained austenite, tempering and stress relieving become more critical.

Figure 7-20 A large 3" x 15" x 22" long S7 tool steel plate hardened to HRC 56/58. One important factor to be considered is the late transformation of unstable retained austenite after heat treatment. This transformation triggers the development of Leed Steel - Team Effort On Tooling Investment 14

significant critical stress. These stresses alone and/or working in combination with other residual stresses can be a major cause of premature cracking. The possibility of this kind of cracking will increase as prehardened die sections being wire burned increase in size and mass.

Figure 7-21

Figure 7-22

Figure 7-21 shows a punch that cracked subsequent to being wire burned out of a 3" x 15" x 22" long S7 tool steel plate hardened to HRC 56/58. Note that the crack shown in Figure 7-22 propagated close to a set of bushings that were inserted with a press fit into holes located close to the outside diameter of the part. This hole placement in terms of design creates relatively thin, wall sections that are relatively weak and more susceptible to cracking.

The following tips are offered as a check list for minimizing these concerns: 1. Avoid higher than recommended austenitizing temperatures. 2. Do not over soak at the austenitizing (hardening) temperature. 3. Use the highest tempering temperatures possible, consistent with the desired hardness. 4. Use double and triple tempering cycles, especially with air hardened steels. 5. A stress relief temper is a must for all hardened tool steels that have been EDM'd. Select a temperature 25 to 50 F lower than the last tempering temperature used. 6. Remove via abrasive lapping the hard, brittle as-cast EDM white layer and any small micro cracks associated with it. Note: It must also be mentioned that a punch design that would either eliminate holes or place holes so that they did not create relatively thin wall sections would work to strengthen parts like this.

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Heat Treat Goals: More Than Hardness


Heat treating is the focal point of the tool manufacturing process. Too much emphasis is placed on heat treating of tooling for hardness alone. The hardening operation should be used as a means to develop and to fine-tune working hardness levels with the many different engineering and physical properties that combine to guarantee optimum tool performance. All toolingrelated personnel should have a basic understanding of the fundamentals, metallurgy, common problems, and techniques related to hardening the tooling steels. They should also be familiar with the fundamentals of heat treating represented in the thermal cycling diagram in Figure 81.

Anneal Stress Harden Temper Relief

Temper

Water, Oil & Air Quench Figure 8-1 Fundamental heat treating steps for tool steels

QUALITY HARDENING MUST ENSURE THAT 1. 2. 3. 4. Stable, uniform microstructures are developed. Stress levels are minimized and controlled. Uniform, fine-grained structures are achieved. Reasonable, uniform hardness levels are reached.

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Stress Relieving Tool Steels


Stress relieving steels prior to hardening is frequently a good practice. If done properly, a large percentage of the mechanical stresses imparted to the steel from cold working, saw cutting, machining, etc., can be removed. Stress relieving after heavy machining helps to minimize problems related to the size change and to the distortion of machine parts, weldments, and tools that often develop upon hardening. The long thin die components pictured in Figure 8-5 had to be scraped due to excessive distortion after being hardened. Replacement parts that were stress relieved after being machined and before hardening finished to dimension without difficulty.

Figure 8-5 D2 die sections scarpped due to excessive distortion after being hardened. STRESS RELIEF CYCLE FOR ANNEALED ALLOY, TOOL AND HIGH SPEED STEELS 1. Heat slowly and uniformly to 1200 to 1250 F. 2. Soak at heat for 1 to 2 hours per inch of thickness. 3. Slow cool in the furnace to room temperature. 4. Caution must be taken to heat and cool uniformly, especially when a part being stress relieved has a complicated design. If the rate of cooling is not uniform, new stresses can develop which could be equal to or even greater than those that the stress relief cycle was intended to remove. TIPS FOR STRESS RELIEVING 1. Stress relieving is becoming more important as the trend increases toward taking faster and heavier machine cuts, employing complicated design configurations, and machining closer to finished dimensions before hardening. 2. Stresses imparted to tooling during machining and heat treatment may combine to cause severe distortion. This dangerous combination of stresses frequently causes bending, bowing, twisting, and/or cracking of the steel. The procedure for stress relieving tool steels is simple. Problems related to stress relief are most often due to shortcuts taken to reduce the overall time needed to heat and cool the steel uniformly and slowly. 3. After stress relieving, it is important that the tools be remeasured. Any dimensions that have changed, as a result of the stress relief operation, can be corrected with additional light machining. Plan ahead in the rough machining operation and leave sufficient stock for the aforementioned correction to be made after stress relieving.

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Too Much Hardness May Cause Cracking


Heat treating tooling components to maximum hardness levels is a frequent cause of premature tool & die failure. The mistaken belief, that the higher the hardness the longer and better a part will perform in service, is an over simplification. For most tooling applications wear resistance and toughness requirements must be considered and a hardness range selected to produce these properties. Figure 8-6 pictures a S7 tool steel punch that cracked after very lite service. This part was hardened and tempered to HRC 60/61. Hardening this punch to HRC 56/58 would have dramatically increased its service life as the toughness of S7 drops significantly with hardness higher than HRC 58.

Figure 8-6 S7 tool steel punch which cracked after very lite service. Tool and die personnel must keep in mind that as the hardness of the steel increases, its overall toughness and ductility will decrease. In order to develop maximum hardness levels, heat treaters are often required to increase hardening temperatures, lenghten soak times at the hardening temperature and increase the speed of the quench. After hardening they may be required to short cycle tempering in order to avoid temper softening. Any one of these adjustments to secure higher hardness may result in brittle parts. Alone or in combination they almost always result in premature service failures from chipping and cracking.

Whenever heat treat specifications call for hardness levels that exceed normal working hardness ranges, a flag of caution should be raised. The entire hardening process should be reviewed. Careful processing should follow that insures an optimum balance of hardness, toughness and minimal residual stresses. The following table lists the maximum and normal working hardness for many of the popular tool steels used today.

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Figure 8-7 pictures a M2 high speed steel punch that cracked after very lite service. This part was hardened and tempered to HRC 63/65 in order to provide maximum wear resistance. A lower hardness in the range of 60/62 would have dramatically increased its ductility, toughness and production performance.

Figure 8-7 M2 HIGH SPEED punch which cracked after very lite service The following table lists the maximum obtainable hardness, normal working hardness and recommended tempering temperatures for 6 of the most populat tool and die steels used today.

TABLE 8-7 working hardness for some popular tool steels AISI Tool Steel A2 D2 H13 M2 01 S7 Maximum Obtainable HRC* 64 64 54 65 64 60 Normal Working HRC 58/60 58/60 40/48 62/64 58/60 56/58 Recommended . Tempering Temp. F 400/450 900/960 1050/1150 1000/1050 400/450 400/450

* as-quenched hardness

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Tempering of Tool Steels


Tooling must be tempered immediately following quenching during the hardening process to relieve residual quenching stresses that can be the cause of cracking. Tempering also is performed to achieve specific hardness levels, and especially in the case of air-hardening steels, to promote transformation of any austenite retained after quenching to martensite. To get the maximum benefit of tempering, the operation should never be short cycled. Figure 8-9 presents the tempering versus hardness curves for AISI D2 and S7 tool steels.

Figure 8-9 Tempering curve versus hardness for AISI D2 and S7 tool steels R 0 c k w e 1 C H a r d n e s 400 600 800 900 925 950 1000 BENEFITS OF GOOD TEMPERING PRACTICE 1. Relief of stresses that develop during quenching. 2. Aids in the transformation of retained austenite especially in air-hardening steels upon 3. cooling from the temper. Improved dimensional stability of tooling. TIPS FOR PROPER TEMPERING 1. Never allow as-quenched tooling to be cooled to room temperature. Air-hardening tool 2. steels should be cooled to a minimum of 150 F. Liquid quenched tools should be cooled to 150 to 200 F. Then both should be tempered immediately. Always charge the as-quenched tooling into a preheated tempering furnace. Soaking times for the tempering should not be less than 2 hours per inch of thickness at heat for 3. temperatures up to 1000 F, and 1 hour per inch of thickness at heat for steels tempered at 4. 1000 F or higher.

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5. High-carbon, high-chromium, air-hardening, and high-speed tool steels should always be double tempered, and sometimes triple tempered. Whenever possible, temper these steels in the range of secondary hardness (note curve above for D2), as these temperatures are best for promoting transformation of retained austenite to martensite upon cooling from the temper. The true benefits of proper tempering after hardening should never be underestimated. There is no substitute for proper planning especially to eliminate the time restraints and scheduling pressures that frequently result in Short Cycling of the tempering operation.

All tool and die related personnel must remember while some of the benefits of tempering such as stress relief, and thorough transformation are invisible to the naked eye, they are just as important as resulting hardness ranges in terms of the service performance of tools and dies. The D2 tool steel "Die" pictured below as Figure 8-10 cracked after very little service. Review of the heat treating procedure revealed that it was tempered well below the range of secondary hardness (925 to 950 F), and for too short a time.

Figure 8-10 AISI D2 tool steel die (7-1'2" dia, 6" lg.). Note the crack (both pictures) radiating across the face and down the outside diameter.

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