HIGH SPEED STEEL

High-speed steel (HSS or HS) is a subset of tool steels, commonly used in tool
bits and cutting tools.

It is often used in power-saw blades and drill bits. It is superior to the older
high-carbon steel tools used extensively through the 1940s in that it can
withstand higher temperatures without losing its temper (hardness).

This property allows HSS to cut faster than high carbon steel, hence the
name high-speed steel. At room temperature, in their generally recommended
heat treatment, HSS grades generally display high hardness (above Rockwell
hardness 60) and abrasion resistance (generally linked
to tungsten and vanadium content often used in HSS) compared with
common carbon and tool steels.

APPILCATION

The main use of high-speed steels continues to be in the manufacture of

various cutting tools:
drills, taps, milling cutters, tool bits, gear cutters, saw blades, planer and
jointer blades, router bits, etc., although usage for punches and dies is
increasing.
High speed steels also found a market in fine hand tools where their
relatively good toughness at high hardness, coupled with high abrasion
resistance, made them suitable for low speed applications requiring a
durable keen (sharp) edge, such as files, chisels, hand plane blades, and
high quality kitchen, pocket knives, and swords.
 High speed steel tools are the most popular for use in woodturning, as the
speed of movement of the work past the edge is relatively high for
handheld tools, and HSS holds its edge far longer than high carbon steel
tools can.

HIGH SPEED STEEL

High speed steels are used for machine tools such as drills, taps, hobs and
broaching tools and in some cold forming applications. The properties required
here are wear resistance, hot hardness and toughness which prevent breakage of
cutting edges. This guarantees high tool life and low maintenance, and ensures a
reproducible production process. Our high performance powder metallurgical
high speed steels are a specialty. They are the mainstay in this demanding
market segment. The characteristic properties of all high speed steel grades
include:

High working hardness

High wear resistance
Excellent toughness
Compressive strength
High retention of hardness and red hardness
Strength to prevent breakage on the cutting edge
For modern industrial production, in particular mass production, machining is
one of the most important shaping and forming processes. Almost all tools
employed for this purpose are made from high speed steels. The characteristic
properties of all high speed steels grades include.

Influence of alloying elements on the steel properties:

CARBON:

Forms carbides, increases wear resistance, is responsible for the basic matrix
hardness.

TUNGSTEN AND MOLYBDENUM:

Improves red hardness, retention of hardness and high temperature strength of

the matrix, form special carbides of great hardness.

VANADIUM:

Forms special carbides of supreme hardness, increase high temperature wear

resistance, retention of hardness and high temperature strength of the matrix.

CHROMIUM:

Promotes deep hardening, produces readily soluble carbides.

COBALT:

Improves red hardness and retention of hardness of the matrix.

ALUMINIUM:

Improves retention of hardness and red hardness. Since it is possible to achieve

specific properties by careful adjustment of these alloying elements, we are able
to offer the most suitable high speed steel grade for virtually all kinds of
application.
CARBON & ALLOY STEEL

Carbon steel is an alloy consisting of iron and carbon. Several other elements
are allowed in carbon steel, with low maximum percentages. These elements are
manganese, with 1.65% maximum, silicon, with a 0.60% maximum, and
copper, with a 0.60% maximum. Other elements may be present in quantities
too small to affect its properties.

GRADES OF CARBON & ALLOY STEEL WE SUPPLY

There are four types of carbon steel based on the amount of carbon present in
the alloy. Lower carbon steels are softer and more easily formed, and steels with
higher carbon content are harder and stronger, but less ductile, and they become
more difficult to machine and weld. Below are the properties of the grades of
carbon steel we supply:
Low Carbon Steel

Composition of 0.05%-0.25% carbon and up to 0.4% manganese. Also known

as mild steel, it is a low-cost material that is easy to shape. While not as hard as
higher-carbon steels, carburizing can increase its surface hardness.

Medium Carbon Steel

Composition of 0.29%-0.54% carbon, with 0.60%-1.65% manganese. Medium

carbon steel is ductile and strong, with long-wearing properties.

High Carbon Steel

Composition of 0.55%-0.95% carbon, with 0.30%-0.90% manganese. It is very

strong and holds shape memory well, making it ideal for springs and wire.

Very High Carbon Steel

Composition of 0.96%-2.1% carbon. Its high carbon content makes it an

extremely strong material. Due to its brittleness, this grade requires special
handling.
TUNGSTEN

IMAGE EXPLANATION

The symbol used reflects the once common use of the element in light bulbs.

APPEARANCE

A shiny, silvery-white metal.

USES

Tungsten was used extensively for the filaments of old-style incandescent

light bulbs, but these have been phased out in many countries.
This is because they are not very energy efficient; they produce much
more heat than light.
Tungsten has the highest melting point of all metals and is alloyed with
other metals to strengthen them.
Tungsten and its alloys are used in many high-temperature applications,
such as arc-welding electrodes and heating elements in high-temperature
furnaces.
Tungsten carbide is immensely hard and is very important to the metal-
working, mining and petroleum industries.
It is made by mixing tungsten powder and carbon powder and heating to
2200C.
It makes excellent cutting and drilling tools, including a new painless
dental drill which spins at ultra-high speeds.
Calcium and magnesium tungstates are widely used in fluorescent
lighting.

Tungsten is a very hard, dense, silvery-white, lustrous metal that tarnishes in air,
forming a protective oxide coating. In powder form tungsten is gray in color.

The metal has the highest melting point of all metals, and at temperatures over
1650 oC also has the highest tensile strength. Pure tungsten is ductile, and
tungsten wires, even of a very small diameter, have a very high tensile strength.

Tungsten is highly resistant to corrosion. It forms tungstic acid (H2WO4), or

wolframic acid from the hydrated oxide (WO3) and its salts are called
tungstates, or wolframates.
Tungsten is one of the five major refractory metals (metals with very high
resistance to heat and wear). The other refactory metals are molybdenum,
tantalum, rhenium and niobium.

USES:

Tungsten and its alloys are widely used for filaments in older style (not
energy saving) electric bulbs and electronic tubes
It is used for making heavy metal alloys because of its hardness.
Tungsten is used for high-temperature applications such as welding.
High speed steel (which can cut material at higher speeds than carbon
steel), contains up to 18% tungsten.
Tungsten carbide (WC or W2C) is extremely hard and is used to make
drills. It is also used for jewelry because of its hardness and wear
resistance.

APPLICATIONS

Hard metal is the most important usage of tungsten. Its main constituent
is tungsten monocarbide (WC), which has hardness close to diamond.
Tungsten mill products are tungsten metal products such as lighting
filaments, electrical and electronic contacts, wire, rods, etc.
Other applications include chemical uses, mainly in the form of catalysts.
Cemented carbide and high speed steel tools
Television sets,
Magnetrons for microwave ovens

VANADIUM

CHARACTERISTICS:

Vanadium is a bright white, soft, ductile metal with good structural strength.
Vanadium is resistant to attack by alkalis, hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, and
salt water. The metal oxidizes in air at around 660 C to the pentoxide (V2O5).
USES:

The main use of vanadium is in alloys, especially with steel. A small

amount of vanadium adds strength, toughness, and heat resistance.
It is usually added in the form of ferrovanadium, a vanadium-iron alloy.
Vanadium steel alloys are used in gears, axles and crankshafts.
Titanium-aluminium-vanadium alloy is used in jet engines and for high-
speed aircraft.
Vanadium foil is used in cladding titanium to steel.
Vanadium-gallium tape is used in superconducting magnets.
Vanadium pen oxide is used in ceramics and as a catalyst.

APPLICATIONS

The most important use of vanadium is as an additive for steel, with

approximately 80% of vanadium going into ferrovanadium, a steel
additive.
It is used for the production of rust resistant, spring and high speed tool
steels. It is also added to steels to stabilise carbides.
Vanadium foil is also used to bond titanium to steel.
Due to its low fission neutron cross section vanadium is also used in
nuclear applications.
Vanadium pentoxide as a catalyst in the ceramics industry
As a mordent in the printing and dyeing of fabrics
In the manufacture of aniline black

COBALT

HIGH SPEED STEEL

Not all high-speed steels contain cobalt, but possibly the newest and the best
ones do.

High-speed steels are also steel but with large additions of refractory metals
tungsten, chromium, molybdenum, vanadium and, in specialised cases, cobalt.
The other element in steel, namely carbon, forms carbides in carbon steels
with just iron and in high-speed steels, with all the alloying additions except
cobalt which has other functions. So, in essence, a high speed steel is a steel
containing large amounts of refractory carbides which proved hardness, high
temperature strength, wear resistance to tempering, with cobalt enhancing high
temperature strength.

Structure is of paramount importance in tools steels and the aim is to get a very
fine distribution of carbides. To this end, complex heat treatment schedules
have been devised, often with two or even three tempering stages.

Three current methods of manufacture have evolved: i) air melt cast and work,
ii) vacuum melt cast and work, iii) atomise cold isostatic press sinter hot
isostatic press and work.

The newer ASP alloys made by method (iii) are superior to other grades and
the best of these contain high levels of cobalt (8-10%).

The benefit of the powder route is in the structure. Casting produces

segregation by its very nature and further work and heat do little to change it.
Atomising a homogeneous molten metal gives such rapid cooling that each
mini-ingot (powder particle) is homogeneous unlike its large cast brethren.
The rest of the process is to stick these little ingots back together into a pore-
free, homogeneous form.

WHY IS COBALT IN HIGH-SPEED STEELS

A good question as it doesnt form carbides.

The reasons that have brought cobalt to prominence in these latest alloys are
the same as they always were.
Cobalt dissolves in iron (ferrite and austenite) and strengthens it whilst at the
same time imparting high temperature strength (temperature on cutting
surfaces can be 850C) During solution heat treatment (to dissolve the
carbides), cobalt helps to resist grain growth so that higher solution
temperatures can be used which ensures a higher percentage of carbides being
dissolved. Steels are quenched after solution annealing and the structure is then
very hard martensite, plus the retained high temperature phase austenite plus
carbides peppered throughout the structure.

Tempering will precipitate the ultrafine carbides still in solution and maximum
hardness will be attained. Here, cobalt plays another important role, in that it
delays their coalescence. This is important as it means that during cutting, the
structure is stable up to higher temperatures. Thus, cobalt-containing tool
steels are capable of retaining strength to higher temperatures They cut faster
for longer.

Tools, however, are not longer as simple as they were. The surface can be
modified by coating with TiN or TiC for example, put on by plasma or
vapour deposition. These coatings increase cutting life by large factors (4 or 5
times) and do so even after regrinding.

COBALT IN CEMENTED CARBIDES

The ability to cut metal faster and faster is to a great extent at the heart of the
economic growth in the 20th Century. Up until World War I, cutting tools
were made from high carbon steels and cutting speeds of 25 ft/min were the
norm. 1896 saw the start of tungsten carbide manufacture when Moissan in
France melted/fused tungsten and carbon together to make diamonds. He
didnt but WC resulted. Although mixtures of WC and MoC did get used for
cutting, the great leap forward came when Schroeter and Osram produced a
carbide material consisting of crushed tungsten carbide in cobalt. Iron was the
first choice but it was cobalt for reasons which only became clear
subsequently, which was the most successful binding material. The need for a
binder is paramount as carbide alone is brittle and has little impact strength.
The actual driving force however was not for cutting tools but as wire drawing
dies.

Osram was cut off by a blockade from its sources of diamonds for dies and the
carbide route was the alternative they developed. The cutting properties
however were quickly exploited and by the 1920s, 150 ft/min cutting speeds
were commonplace.

Although nickel has also been used as a binder, cobalt reigns supreme. Why
should this be?

There are several criteria which govern the performance of a binder for
carbides:

a) It must have a high melting point Cobalt: 1493C

b) It must have high temperature strength Cobalt does
c) It must form a liquid phase with WC at a suitable temperature
Cobalt does at 1275C. This pulls the sintered part together by surface
tension and eliminates voids.
d) It must dissolve WC Cobalt forms a eutectic with WC at
1275C/1350C and at that temperature dissolves 10% WC.
e) On cooling, WC should reprecipitate in the bond in cobalt it does,
giving hardness combined with toughness.
f) The binding agent should be capable of being ground very finely to
mix with the hard carbide particles cobalt can be produced very finely
and grinds down to << 1.
 b) On grinding, it reverts to the close packed form which is brittle although
in the carbide product, it retains the more ductile cubic form at room
temperature.
c) Cobalt fulfils all the needs of a binder whilst others, like Ni, Fe, etc.,
only fulfil some. It is this fact that has kept it irreplaceable in carbides.

APPLICATIONS

Co is used in a series of magnetic steels; It is an important constituent of

the 18 % Ni managing steels and several other ultrahigh strength steels
and is added to one grade of austenitic stainless steel.
In order of decreasing tonnage usage, primary applications of Co are in
non-ferrous (super)alloys, magnets, high speed tool steels, ultrahigh
strength alloy steels, abrasion-resistant cemented carbides for cutting
tools and stainless steels.
Magnetic steels containing from 9 % to 40 % Co have been used for
compass needles, hysteresis motors and electrical instrumentation.
Cobalt is added to high speed steels to improve hot hardness. It is found
in both Mo and tungsten (W) grades of tool steels.
Co bearing high speed steels have a somewhat greater tendency to
decarburization and are more sensitive to cracking when exposed to
abrupt temperature changes.
They are also somewhat more brittle than non Co grades. However, their
increasing popularity is due to their excellent red hardness property.
The addition of Co to cold work die steels (as in steels with 3 % Co)
increases hardness and promotes greater wear resistance than grades
where it is not used.

ALUMINIUM

The basic structure of aluminized steel is a thin aluminium oxide layer

outside, then an intermetallic layer that is a mix of aluminium, silicon,
and steel, and finally a steel core.
 Both Type 1 and Type 2 show excellent high reflectivity characteristics.
At temperatures up to 842 C (1,548 F), aluminized steel reflects up to
80% of heat projected onto it.[3] Aluminized steel has the ability to
maintain its strength at temperatures up to 677 C (1,251 F).
Although stainless steel is the stronger of the two, aluminized steel has a
greater electrostatic surface, and can therefore reflect heat better.

Aluminized steel is highly resistant to corrosion because of the thin layers

of aluminium and silicon, which keep the underlying steel
from oxidizing.

These thin layers also keep pit corrosion from occurring, especially
during exposure to salts that affect most other metals.

However, despite the good corrosion resistance of aluminized steel, if the

aluminium layer is disrupted and the steel is exposed, then the steel may
oxidize and corrosion may occur.

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF ALUMINIUM

DENSITY OF ALUMINIUM

Aluminium has a density around one third that of steel or copper making it one
of the lightest commercially available metals. The resultant high strength to
weight ratio makes it an important structural material allowing increased
payloads or fuel savings for transport industries in particular.

STRENGTH OF ALUMINIUM

Pure aluminium doesnt have a high tensile strength. However, the addition of
alloying elements like manganese, silicon, copper and magnesium can increase
the strength properties of aluminium and produce an alloy with properties
tailored to particular applications.
Aluminium is well suited to cold environments. It has the advantage over steel
in that its tensile strength increases with decreasing temperature while retaining
its toughness. Steel on the other hand becomes brittle at low temperatures.

CORROSION RESISTANCE OF ALUMINIUM

When exposed to air, a layer of aluminium oxide forms almost instantaneously

on the surface of aluminium. This layer has excellent resistance to corrosion. It
is fairly resistant to most acids but less resistant to alkalis.

THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY OF ALUMINIUM

The thermal conductivity of aluminium is about three times greater than that of
steel. This makes aluminium an important material for both cooling and heating
applications such as heat-exchangers. Combined with it being non-toxic this
property means aluminium is used extensively in cooking utensils and
kitchenware.

ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY OF ALUMINIUM

Along with copper, aluminium has an electrical conductivity high enough for
use as an electrical conductor. Although the conductivity of the commonly used
conducting alloy (1350) is only around 62% of annealed copper, it is only one
third the weight and can therefore conduct twice as much electricity when
compared with copper of the same weight.

REFLECTIVITY OF ALUMINIUM

From UV to infra-red, aluminium is an excellent reflector of radiant energy.

Visible light reflectivity of around 80% means it is widely used in light fixtures.
The same properties of reflectivity makes aluminium ideal as an insulating
material to protect against the suns rays in summer, while insulating against
heat loss in winter.

PROPERTIES FOR ALUMINIUM.

Property Value

Atomic Number 13

Atomic Weight (g/mol) 26.98

Valency 3

Crystal Structure FCC

Melting Point (C) 660.2

Boiling Point (C) 2480

Mean Specific Heat (0-100C) (cal/g.C) 0.219

Thermal Conductivity (0-100C) (cal/cms. C) 0.57

Co-Efficient of Linear Expansion (0-100C) (x10-6/C) 23.5

Electrical Resistivity at 20C (.cm) 2.69

Density (g/cm3) 2.6898

Modulus of Elasticity (GPa) 68.3

Poisson Ratio 0.34

MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF ALUMINIUM

 Aluminium can be severely deformed without failure. This allows
aluminium to be formed by rolling, extruding, drawing, machining and
other mechanical processes. It can also be cast to a high tolerance.

Alloying, cold working and heat-treating can all be utilised to tailor the
properties of aluminium.

The tensile strength of pure aluminium is around 90 MPa but this can be
increased to over 690 MPa for some heat-treatable alloys.

APPLICATIONS OF ALUMINIUM

Pure aluminium is soft, ductile, and corrosion resistant and has a high
electrical conductivity.

It is widely used for foil and conductor cables, but alloying with other
elements is necessary to provide the higher strengths needed for other
applications.

Aluminium is one of the lightest engineering metals, having a strength to

weight ratio superior to steel.

By utilising various combinations of its advantageous properties such as

strength, lightness, corrosion resistance, recyclability and
formability, aluminium is being employed in an ever-increasing number
of applications.
 This array of products ranges from structural materials through to thin
packaging foil

CHROMIUM

USES

Chromium is used to harden steel, to manufacture stainless steel (named

as it wont rust) and to produce several alloys.

Chromium plating can be used to give a polished mirror finish to steel

Chromium-plated car and lorry parts, such as bumpers, were once very
common. I

t is also possible to chromium plate plastics, which are often used in

bathroom fittings.

About 90% of all leather is tanned using chrome.

However, the waste effluent is toxic so alternatives are being

investigated.

Chromium compounds are used as industrial catalysts and pigments (in

bright green, yellow, red and orange colours).

Rubies get their red colour from chromium, and glass treated with
chromium has an emerald green colour.