Hardening and Tempering of Tool

Steels
Abstract:
The cost of the steel and its heat treatment amounts generally to less than a quarter of the total cost of the
whole tool. A wrong choice of steel or faulty heat treatment may give rise to serious disruption of production
and higher costs. In this text, an example is tool steel W1, designated only by the type letter and numeral as
used in the !A and the " for standardi#ed tool steels.
$ec%oned on a tonnage basis, tool steel represents only a few percent of the total
quantity of steel produced but its importance to the industry as a whole is immense.
$egrettably this fact is seldom sufficiently appreciated. &erhaps in greatest measure
this applies to the heat treatment of tool steel.
The cost of the steel and its heat treatment amounts generally to less than a quarter
of the total cost of the whole tool. A wrong choice of steel or faulty heat treatment
may give rise to serious disruption of production and higher costs.
In this text, an example is tool steel W1, designated only by the type letter and
numeral as used in the !A and the " for standardi#ed tool steels. This designation
system is so well %nown by steel consumers all over the world that no qualifying
institutional designations are necessary.
Carbon steels and vanadium-alloyed steels
The hardening of these steels, which are made with carbon contents between ',(')
and 1,*'), is quite straightforward+ !ince the rate of carbide dissolution proceeds
rapidly, the holding time, as a consequence, is short and therefore the heating of small
tools can often ta%e place without any extra precautions against atmospheric
oxidation.
The hardening temperature is about ,('-.. /uenching is carried out direct into brine
with tempering following immediately. The quenching operation is the most critical part
of the heat treatment since too slow a rate of cooling might give rise to either soft
spots or quenching crac%s.
If the tool is designed to contain hardened areas around holes or reentrant angles the
cooling effect must be very intensive at these areas. 0anual stirring will often suffice
but in many cases the coolant must be sprayed on to the tool. 1or sections heavier
than *' mm the depth of hardening, i.e. the distance from the surface to the 22' 34
level, is about 5 mm. !ections less than about ( mm in thic%ness will harden through.
1or aw%ward tools, hardenability may be a crucial factor and under such circumstances
the composition of the steel must be ad6usted in accordance herewith, in particular as
regards the alloying elements 0n and .r, which have a powerful influence on
hardenability.
The diagram in 1igure 1 shows how the hardening temperature affects the depth of
hardening and fracture number on Wl7type steel of conventional composition. The 47
content is only ','5), which implies that the steel starts to be coarse7grained when
the hardening temperature exceeds (12-..
1
Figure 1. 8epth of hardening for carbon steel, *2 mm in
diameter, corresponding to W1. /uenched in water
from various temperatures
In 1igure * are shown the results of corresponding trials with steel containing
somewhat larger amounts of alloying elements. The depth of hardening is considerably
greater. 9wing to the high content of 4 the steel remains fine7grained even when
hardened from exceptionally high temperatures.
The very considerable toughness inherent in plain7carbon steel, due to its shallow7
hardening properties, is forfeited if the tool through7hardens locally at some sections
because the cross7sectional area there is too small. 1or shearing tools or small tools
generally, such as scissors, %nives or letter die punches, which are not sub6ected to
heavy impact blows, this drawbac% is of less importance. Tools operating under heavy
blows, e.g. upsetting dies for cold7heading of bolts, must not be through7hardened.
.oining and stri%ing punches are other examples of carbon tool steels that require high
wear resistance. !uch tools may also be sub6ected to bending stresses and should
therefore not be through7hardened. The tempering temperature normally used for
tools belonging to this group lies in the range 1,'-., the hardness being generally
about :'7:5 3$.. $epresentative examples of tools made from grade W1 are shown in
1igure ;.
2
Figure 2. 8epth of hardening for carbon steel, *2 mm in
diameter, corresponding to W1. /uenched in water
from various temperatures
Figure 3. &unches made from steel W1
3