Hi and welcome to Metal Supermarkets
the convenience stores for metal.
I'm Jason Jackson, Operations and Development Manager.
In our past four video blogs we've been looking
at the main types of Steel using our
acronym C.A.S.T. which stands for
carbon steel, alloy steel, stainless steel
and tool steel.
In the final part of this series
we will look at the "T"
Tool Steel
Tool steel can be divided into six groups
water hardening, cold working,
shock resisting, high speed,
hot working, and special purpose.
Under the AISI and SAE systems
Tool steel grades are classified by the following letter codes:
W is for water hardened steels
This grade is essentially plain high carbon steel
that has been water quenched.
Added vanadium helps to increase the toughness.
O is for cold worked steels that have been oil hardened.
A is for cold work steels that have been air hardened.
And D is for cold worked steels that have
high carbon and high chromium.
These cold work grades typically have
high hardenability and wear resistance
with average toughness.
Both the oil and air hardened grades
reduce the distortion caused by quick water quenching
and are less likely to crack.
The D grade class contains approximately 10% - 13% chromium
and typically retains its hardness at increased temperatures.
S is for shock resisting steels
which are designed to resist shocked
at both low and high temperatures.
They also have high impact toughness
and relatively low abrasion resistance.
H is for hot working steels
and depending on the grade number are
either chromium based,
tungsten based,
or molybdenum based.
These steels are developed to maintain strength and hardness
while exposed to prolonged elevated temperatures.
M is for high-speed molybdenum based steels.
T is for for high-speed tungsten based steels.
These high-speed grades are used for cutting tools
where strength and hardness must be retained
at high temperatures.
P is for plastic mold steel
which are designed to meet the needs of
zinc die casting and
the special requirements of plastic injection molding dies.
L is for low alloy, special purpose steels.
and F is for carbon tungsten based special purpose steels
which are water hardenable
and more wear resistance than W type tool steel.
Hopefully this video has given you a better idea
of common classifications of tool steel.
Don't forget to check out the other videos
from this series for more details on the
four main types of steel.
If you need tool steel for your next project
Metal Supermarkets is the world's largest supplier of small-quantity metals
carrying over 8,000 types, shapes and grades of metal
including various tool steel grades
cut the size and ready fast!
