What is copper alloy 110?

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110 Copper is UNS commercial pure grade number and its full name is C11000, also known as electrolytic tough pitch copper(ECP).  It offers excellent electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity and good processability. Usually speaking, copper 110 contains 99.99% copper and oxygen-free, because the trace oxygen is likely to cause “hydrogen embrittlement” and should not be processed (annealed, welded, etc.) and used in a reductive environment when heated (e.g. high temperature >370℃), but sometimes the content of oxygen is less strict and can be o.o4%  at most by agreement. C110 copper is readily cold worked and has much tighter limits on impurities than other grades.

Equivalent Materials:

  • ISO: Cu- ETP
  • EN: Cu- ETP; CW004A
  • DIN: ECu-58; 2.0065
  • BS: C101
  • JIS: C1100
  • GB: T2

 

Physical Properties

  • Tensile Strength:  32,000 psi
  • Yield Strength:   10,000 psi
  • Elongation:   55% (in 2″)
  • Melting Point (Solidus):  1949°F
  • Density (C110 Copper Alloy):   0.321-.323 lbs/cu in
  • Electrical Resistivity (Annealed):  10.3 Ω⋅cmil/ft @ 68°F
  • Electrical Conductivity (Annealed):  101 % IACS @ 68°F
  • Coefficient of Thermal Expansion:   0.0000098°F (68-572°F)

 

C110 Copper has a wide range of applications, specified for electronic applications such as components for vacuum devices, switches, interrupters, deposition units; components for superconductive magnets; electron tubes including anodes, glass-to-metal seals and linear accelerators. To learn more or to buy or C110 bar, contact us now!

What’s the difference between cold work tool steel and hot work tool steel?

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Tool steel can be divided into these six groups: water-hardening, cold work, shock resisting, high-speed, hot work and special purpose according to its chemical composition and different applications. Cold work tool steel refers to the die steel used to deform or shape metal in cold conditions. It has high wear resistance, strength and toughness, strong bite resistance, softening ability under heat, etc. When cold working die steel is working, its working part is under great pressure, bending force, impact force and friction force due to great deformation resistance, so the failure of cold working die is usually because of the wear as well as the fracture, collapse force and deformation out of tolerance and failure in advance. Cold working tool steel includes die for cutting (blanking die, trimming die, punch, scissors), cold heading die and cold extrusion die, bending die and drawing die etc.

Hot work tool steel refers to the alloy tool steel maintain strength and hardness while exposed to prolonged elevated temperatures, such as hammer forging dies, hot extrusion dies and die-casting dies. Because the hot mold contact with hot metal directly, so there is a more severe demand requirement such as high strength, hardness and thermal stability, especially high thermal strength, thermal fatigue, toughness and wear resistance is required to ensure that the mold is enough to have a long service life. This is the main difference with cold mold working conditions. In addition, they differ from:

  • Different operating temperature.

Cold working tool steel works at room temperature (below 100℃). Hot work tool steel is in contact with hot metal or even liquid metal, so the surface temperature of the mold is very high, generally 350 ~ 700℃.

  • Different carbon and alloying elements

Cold tool steel usually has higher carbon content (1.45% ~ 2.30%) to meet the requirements of high hardenability and wear resistance. Medium carbon steel is sometimes used to improve the impact resistance and toughness of the die. Alloying elements such as Cr (11% ~ 13%), Mo, W, V are added to cold working die steels mainly to improve hardenability and wear resistance.

Hot-working die steel is medium carbon (0.3% ~ 0.6%). It has more requirements on red hardness, thermal conductivity and wear resistance, and the general requirements for hardness. Alloying elements such as Cr, Mn, Si, Ni, W, Mo, V can increase hardenability, oxidation resistance, wear-resistance and red hardness.

  • Different applications

Cold working tool steel is mainly used for making blanking die (blanking die, trimming die, punch, scissors), cold heading die and cold extrusion die, bending die and drawing dies.  Hot-working tool steel is mainly used in die casting.

4.Different tool steel codes

The series “A”, “O”, “D” belong to cold working tool steel, while the “H” series(H13) is the hot worked tool steel.

H13 tool steel heat treatment

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Hot-working AISI H13 tool steel offers high hardenability, excellent wear resistance and hot toughness, has been widely used in hot forging dies, pressure dies casting tools, extrusion tools, hot shear blades, stamping dies, plastic mold and aluminum alloy die casting dies, is the most commonly used hot-worked die steel. The H13 steel made by electroslag remelting (ESR) process can effectively improve the low microstructure and densification of steel, and improve the isotropy of die steel. Compared with ESR process, the furnace refining H13 can save 20% ~ 30% of the production cost, is still the mainstream smelting method. Reasonable forging process and heat treatment process can improve the quality, performance and service life of H13 steel.

The heat treatment temperature and cooling method depend on the critical transition point and isothermal transition of the H13 tool steel. The following data you should know before the heat treatment of H13 steel:

1) Critical point: Ac1, 850~885 ℃, Ac3:910 ℃.

2) Cooling transition point: Ar1, 700℃; Ar3, 820 ℃; Ms, 335 ℃.

3) Austenitization temperature: 1 010 ℃

Annealing

In order to eliminate the stress of H13 steel forging, improve the structure, refine the grain, reduce the hardness for machining, annealing is a necessary process, generally is performed high temperature/isothermal spheroidization annealing: 860 ~ 890℃, heating and holding for 2h, cooling to 740 ~ 760℃ isothermal 4h, furnace cold to about 500℃ out of the furnace.

(1) the complete annealing process of H13 steel is :850~900℃, 3~4h.

(2) the isothermal spheroidizing annealing process: 845 ~ 900 ℃ by 2 ~ 4 h/furnace cooling + 700 ~ 740 ℃ by 3 ~ 4 h/furnace cooling, [40 ℃ / h, 500 ℃ from air cooling];

(3) H13 steel dies with higher quality requirements shall also be annealed to prevent white spot and the process cycle shall be longer;

(4) for molds with complex shapes, a stress-free annealing shall be conducted after rough machining :600~650℃, 2h/ furnace cooling; The carbide structure of large H13 steel forgings treated by conventional spheroidization annealing is extremely uneven, and the existence of severe intergranular carbide chains can be realized by multiple spheroidization annealing or austenitizing fast cooling (normalizing) respheroidization annealing

Quenching

H13 steel has good hardenability, for H13 forging thickness less than 150 mm, oil quenching can achieve uniform hardness, but it’s  easy to cause oxidation and decarburization and other defects deo to Mn, Si elements in the steel. It is recommended to use salt bath, controlled atmosphere heat treatment, vacuum heat treatment or coating to prevent decarburization.

The hardness of 54~55 HRC can be obtained by quenching at 1 030 ℃, and the grains begin to grow beyond 1 040 ℃. Therefore, the heat treatment temperature range of 1 030~1 040 ℃ is recommended. At the same time, special attention should be paid to pre-cooling to 20~30 ℃(950~980 ℃) above Ac3 when coming out of the oven to reduce stress concentration and avoid cracking.

Heating temperature 1020 ~ 1050℃, oil cold or air cold, hardness 54 ~ 58HRC;It is required that the quenching process specification of the die mainly hot and hard, the heating temperature is 1050 ~ 1080℃, the oil is cold, and the hardness is 56 ~ 58HRC.

Tempering

In order to eliminate the stress and improve the high temp toughness of H13 forgings must be tempered at high temperatures, secondary tempering can be used to improve the life of the die due to the good fire resistance and secondary hardening of the alloy elements in the steel. The tempering temperature (580±20 ℃) was used to obtain the hardness of 47~52 HRC. The microstructure after tempering is tempered martensite and a small amount of granular carbides.

Tempering should be done twice. When tempering at 500℃, the secondary hardening peak appears, with the highest tempering hardness and peak value around 55HRC, but the worst toughness. Therefore, according to the use of the mold needs 540 ~ 620℃ tempering is better. Quenching heating shall be preheated twice (600 ~ 650℃, 800 ~ 850℃) to reduce the thermal stress generated during heating.

 

Advantages of H13 tool steel made by ESR process

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For high-quality tool steel, steel mills generally adopt the smelting processes such as furnace refining, vacuum treatment, vacuum smelting, powder spraying and electro slag re-melting to reduce the content of harmful elements such as oxygen, hydrogen and inclusions in steel. Hot-working AISI H13 tool steel offers High hardenability, excellent wear resistance and hot toughness, has been widely used in hot forging dies, pressure dies casting tools, extrusion tools, hot shear blades, stamping dies, plastic mold and aluminum alloy die casting dies.

The common smelting methods of AISI H13 tool steel include electric furnace smelting + electroslag remelting, ladle refining(LF) and electric furnace smelting + vacuum degassing(VD). As the name implies, electric furnace steel is the steel made by furnace including VD type ladle refining furnace, vacuum induction furnace and electric arc furnace and etc. Electroslag remelting (ESR) process can effectively improve the low microstructure and densification of steel, and improve the isotropy of die steel. The principle of ESR is: when the consumable electrode, slag and bottom water tank form a supply loop with the transformer through the short net, a current is sent from the transformer through the liquid slag. Because the slag resistance in the power supply circuit is relatively large, a large amount of heat is generated in the slag pool, making it in the molten state of high temperature. The slag pool’s temperature is much higher than the melting point of the metal, which gradually heats the end of the consumable electrode and melts it. The molten metal falls off the end of the electrode and enters the molten metal pool under the action of gravity. Due to the forced cooling of the water-cooled crystallizer, the liquid metal gradually forms an ingot.

Electroslag smelting process can effectively control the cleanliness and microstructure uniformity of H13 steel, which is an important link in the production of high-quality H13 steel. Relatively speaking, the cost of electric furnace smelting is low, and such refining methods as package LF+ VD can also produce H13 steel with low S and P content (≤0.003%S, ≤0.015%P). Except for some advanced special steel mills, the H13 steel produced by electric furnace smelting has low transverse toughness and cannot meet the standard of NADCA 207-2003 “north American die casting association H13 microstructure rating chart”. Compared with H13 electroslag steel, H13 furnace steel mainly has the following defects:

  1. Poor density and low purity;
  2. Severe annealing banding segregation and uneven annealing structure;
  3. After quenching and tempering, many liquid carbides remained unchanged; In the impact test, the place where the chain-like liquid carbide accumulates is easy to crack, and the fracture is characterized by horizontal streaks and low toughness.

Steel mill test results: ESR H13 tool steel has greater homogeneity and an exceptionally fine structure, resulting in improved machinability, polishability and high-temperature tensile strength. The transverse impact toughness of EAF H13 steel is equivalent to only 31% of the longitudinal, while the transverse impact toughness of ESR H13 steel is equivalent to 70% of the longitudinal. For the tool steels with special requirements, powder high-speed steels and high alloy die steels produced by powder metallurgy process can better improve the microstructure and properties of the steels.

Titanium and its alloy polishing methods

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Titanium and its alloy have low density and excellent strength and weight ratio, good corrosion resistance and high mechanical strength, but expensive production cost. Titanium and titanium alloy grinding and polishing’s low efficiency make its microscopic structure change because the excessive severe cutting and polishing process will create a mechanical twin in the alpha phase.

At present, the methods of free abrasive grinding and chemical mechanical polishing are mainly used in the precision machining of titanium alloys. Grinding fluid is made by free silicon carbide or alumina abrasives, polishing fluid is a mainly strong acid, strong alkali or toxic chemical reagents, the free abrasives are difficult to control its movement trajectory, easy to leave deep scratches on the surface of the processing, reducing the processing accuracy. The handling of strong acids, strong bases and toxic chemicals is cumbersome, time-consuming and potentially hazardous to operators and the environment.

Early mechanical polishing processes were time-consuming, and almost all mechanical polishing methods used a polishing fluid containing an erosive agent in the final or two-step process. The electrolytic polishing methods can often get a better polishing surface, but the electrolyte brings a certain risk. This article here discusses the methods of grinding and chemical mechanical polishing to achieve super precision polishing of titanium alloys.

In the 1970s and 1980s, engineers Springer and Ahmed first published a paper on the polishing method of titanium and titanium alloys in 1984. This is the three-step sample polishing method. It is assumed that 320 grit paper is used to finish the sample grinding process, but this may not always be the case. If the sample is cut with an ultra-thin cutting piece or a grinding wheel cutting piece with appropriate bonding strength, the cutting surface is smooth and the damaged layer is minimal, 320grit is the ideal choice. If the cut surface is rough and the damaged layer is large, for example, if a band saw is used, then rougher sandpaper must be used and a certain amount of time must be spent to remove the damaged layer.

 

Springer, Ahmed titanium 3-steps polishing methods

  1. Grind, water cool with 320grit paper, grind for 2-3 minutes, remove the damage layer caused by cutting and make the surface of the sample flat. 320grit SiC sandpaper, water-cooled, rotate at 240 RPM, turn in the same direction, pressure: 27N (6lbs)/each sample until the sample is smooth. Note: removal of cut damage layer is the foundation of polishing, incomplete removal can directly affect the experimental results.
  2. Rough polishing, pre-apply 9 mm METADI® diamond polishing paste on TEXMET® polishing cloth with holes, use distilled water as cooling lubricant, and polish for 10~15 minutes. Rough polishing process: 9 mm METADI diamond polishing fluid + METADI polishing lubricant, polishing surface with ultra-pad ™, 120 RPM, reverse rotation, pressure: 27N (6lbs)/each sample, time: 10min.
  3. Finish polishing, using MICROCLOTH® or MASTERTEX® polishing cloth, adding MASTERMET® silica suspension polishing fluid and polishing for 10-15 minutes. Final polishing process: on the polished surface of MICROCLOTH, use MASTERMET silica polishing fluid, rotate at 120 RPM, reverse rotate, pressure: 27N (6lbs)/sample, time: 10min.

 

Müller titanium 3-steps polishing methods

  1. P500 sandpaper, water-cooled, rotating speed 300 RPM, pressure 16.7n (3.75lb) on each sample, preparation time until all samples are smooth.
  2. P1200 sandpaper was water-cooled at a speed of 300 RPM, a pressure of 16.7n (3.75lb) on each sample, and a 30S preparation time. Note: the specific time is determined according to the actual polishing situation, and the time parameters are only for reference. Usually, manual polishing is used for polishing, so the parameters may vary depending on the equipment.
  3. Synthetic non-pile polishing cloth + silica suspension polishing fluid containing chemical etchant, polishing machine speed is 150 RPM, polishing time: pressure on each sample is 33N (7.5lb) for 10 minutes, pressure on each sample is 16.7n (3.75lb) for 2 minutes, and pressure on each sample is 8N (2lb) for 1 minute.
  4. Polishing agent: 260ml SiO2+40ml H2O2 (concentration 30%),1mlHNO3 + 0.5ml HF.The P500 and P1200 grit sizes of FEPA correspond to ANSI/CAMI 320/360 and 600 grit, respectively.

Steel introduction: PM ASP® 2030 Steel

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The ASP® is a range of powder metallurgy high-speed steel brands form Erasteel, a subsidiary of France Eichmann group. The ASP® steels are suitable for a wide range of tooling and component applications like cutting tools, cold work tools, saws & knives, automotive components and wear-resistant components. The steel mainly includes: ASP®2005, ASP®2017, ASP®2023, ASP®2030, ASP®2052 and ect, they can be good at different applications such as ASP®2055 with cobalt for gear cutting, ASP®2030 for taps and ASP®2005 for the cold work. Today we will introduce ASP® 2030 steel for you, if interested in, please read on.

 

Features

HSS ASP2030 is characterized by good high wear resistance, high compressive strength and high hardness, overall hardening and heat treatment dimensional stability and resistance to reignition, especially suitable for use in high load forming dies and multi-blade tools.

 

Standards and Equivalent Brands

AISI EN W.Nr.
M3:2+Co HS 6-5-3-8 1.3244
Erasteel ASP®2030
ASSAB VANADIS 30
Böhler S590
Crucible CPM Rex 45
Hitachi HAP40
DAIDO DAP 540，DEX40
Sanyo SPM30

 

Chemical Composition

C Cr Mo W Co V
1.28 4.2 5.0 6.4 8.5 3.1

 

Hardness of delivery

Delivery Soft annealing Cold draw Cold rolled
Hardness, HB ≤300 ≤320 ≤320

 

Physical property

Temperature 20℃ 400℃ 600℃
Density, g/cm3  [1] 8.1 7.9 7.9
Elasticity modulus, kN/mm2  [2] 240 214 192
Thermal expansivity, per℃ [2] — 11.8×10-6 12.3×10-6
Thermal conductivity, W/m℃ [2] 24 28 27
Specific heat, J/kg℃ [2] 420 510 600

Note: [1]: Soft annealing; [2]: Quenching at 1180℃, tempering at 560℃, 3×1H

 

Heat treatment

  • Soft annealing in shield gas in the temperature of 850 ~ 900℃ for 3 hours, then slow cooling 10℃ to 700℃ per hour, followed by air cooling.
  • De-stress is between 600℃ and 700℃ for about 2 hours, then slowly cool to 500℃.
  • Quenching in the shielding gas, preheating at 450 ~ 500℃ and 850 ~ 900℃ respectively, austenitizing at the required hardness suitable temperature, slow cooling to 40 ~ 50℃.
  • It is recommended to temper 3 times at 560℃ for at least 1 hour each time, cool to room temperature (25℃) in the process of tempering.

 

Surface treatment

ASP2030 is a good substrate material for PVD (physical coating) and CVD (chemical coating). If nitriding is required, 2 to 15 m thick permeable layer or steam tempering is recommended.

 

S7 High toughness shock-resisting tool steel

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AISI S7 steel was originally derived from the United States commercial brand Finkl DRX, is a kind of medium carbon chromium molybdenum alloy shock resisting tool steel. It’s characterized by a good comprehensive property like hardenability, high strength, toughness, tempering stability and oxidation resistance of temperature, is suitable for load tools or dies working under high temperature and high impact and hammer forging die manufacturing. This steel has a high hardness after forging, so it needs softening and annealing to reduce the hardness and facilitate cutting. The available forms of S7 steel including round bar, drill rod, rectangular bar, ground flat bar, square bar and plate

 

Equivalent Material

USA GERMAN CHINA
ASTM A681 T41907 DIN 1.2357 GB/T 1299 5Cr3MnSiMo1

 

S7 Chemical Composition

C Si Mn P S Cr Mo V
0.45~0.55 0.20~1.00 0.20~0.90 ≤0.030 ≤0.030 3.00~3.50 1.30~1.80 ≤0.35

 

S7 Mechanical Property

Density 0.283 lb/in3 (7833 kg/m3)
Modulus of Elasticity 30 x 106 psi (207GPa)
Thermal Conductivity 16.5 BTU/hr-ft-°F (28.5 W/m/°K)
Machinability 70-75% of a 1% carbon steel

 

Comparison with  A2 and H13

According to the analysis of hardness, wear-resistance and toughness (see the figure below), the performance of S7 is between A2 and H13, which can make up for the deficiency of both.

Hardness

The applied hardness of S7 is between 52~58HRC. Another 1~2HRC can be raised if proper heat treatment is applied.

 

Applications

S7 has high strength, toughness and wear resistance， making it a tool steel used for pneumatic tools and cutting tools such as punch, forging die, hammer, chisel, jig die, cutting tool and various cold and hot dies that require high hardness.

 

For more information about the S7 tool steel, contact us now!

What is the use of vanadium in steel?

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Vanadium(V) has been widely used in metallurgy, chemistry, aerospace industry, agriculture, medicine and other fields due to its characteristics of vanadium added in steel can improve the strength, toughness and plasticity of steel, improve the hardness,  abrasion resistance in steel products, among which the metallurgical industry accounts for almost one third of its consumption. At present, V has been added in high-strength hot-rolled ribbed steel, high-carbon low-alloy steel, spring steel, bearing steel, mold steel, high-speed steel, Martensite heat-resistant steel and other steel as an important alloying element to improve the performance of steel. In the last article, we introduce the effect of V in steel, here we will continue the use of vanadium in steel, if interested, please read on!

For high carbon and low alloy, V is mainly used to refine grain, improve the strength, yield ratio and low-temperature toughness after normalizing, and improve the welding performance of steel. V will reduce the hardenability of steel in general heat treatment conditions, usually added with one or two kinds of alloy elements like manganese, chromium, molybdenum and tungsten. High strength low alloy steel contains 0.04% ~ 0.12% V, and special steel can up to 0.16% ~ 0.25%.

Vanadium is an indispensable alloy element in high-speed tool steel(HSS). It can prevent grain growth, improve red hardness and cutting ability of steel, increase wear resistance and prolong service life in high-speed tool steel containing tungsten. Almost all-alloy mold steel like cold work tool steel, hot work tool steel, plastic mold steel contains 1% ~ 3% vanadium, a few special requirements can be up to 5%. Vanadium is the main secondary hardening element that is commonly used hot mold steel (H13) and cold mold steel (D2). The content of V in mold steel is usually 0.1% ~ 5%, the United States developed A11 cold tool steel of which vanadium content up to 9.75%. In Germany, V consumption in tool steel and high-speed steel accounts for about 1/3 of the total V consumption. These steel products made by HSS can reach to 60HRC hardness, has been widely used surgical instruments and tools and various cutting tools: drills, taps, milling cutters, tool bits, gear cutters, saw blades, planer and jointer blades, router bits; sharp tools like files, chisels, hand plane blades, knives

In addition, V has a place in heat resistant steel, stainless steel, bearing steel and spring steel, Nickel-based alloys. Vanadium addition of 0.15% ~ 0.40% can form highly dispersed carbide and nitrite particles in heat-resistant steel, which polymerizes and grows very slowly at a high temperature, which can improve the thermal strength and creep resistance of heat-resistant steel and be applied in power station systems such as T91 and P92 steel.

For spring steel and bearing steel, V can improve the elastic limit, strength and yield ratio, reduce the decarburization sensitivity of the steel during heat treatment, thereby improving the metallurgical and surface quality of the steel. Vanadium has also been used in Hastelloy corrosion-resistant alloy, for example, Hastelloy B alloy contains V≤0.60%, Hastelloy C22, Hastelloy C 276 alloy ≤0.35%, Hastelloy N ≤0.50% V, Hastelloy W ≤0.60% V.

What is the effect of vanadium in steel?

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Vanadium is a common rare metal used to refine grain size, improve the strength, toughness and plasticity of steel, and improve the service performance of vanadium steel products. Steel contains a certain amount of carbon and nitrogen, which can be precipitated with vanadium in the form of carbide, nitride, or carbonitride in the steel, affecting the microstructure evolution. Vanadium content in steel is generally no more than 0.5% (except high-speed tool steel), which is widely used in alloy structural steel, spring steel, bearing steel, alloy tool steel, high-speed tool steel, heat resistant steel, hydrogen resistant steel and low-temperature steel.

The features of Vanadium in steel

(1) Refine the structure and grain size of the steel, improve the grain coarsening temperature, thereby reducing the sensitivity of overheating and improving the strength and toughness of the steel.

(2) When dissolved into austenite at high temperature, the hardenability of steel can be increased; In contrast, the presence of carbides will reduce the hardenability of steel.

(3) Increase the hardenability and tempering stability of hardened steel, refine grain and produce secondary hardening effect.

(4) The solid solubility of vanadium carbide and vanadium nitride in austenite is high, so it is not easy to produce the crack caused by precipitation. At high temperature, the tendency of cracks in steel billet during solidification is small.

(5) The low precipitation temperature of carbon/vanadium nitride, leading the low drag force of solid solution migration in grain boundary in austenite, which is favorable for austenite recrystallization and crystallization controlled rolling. Uniform recrystallized grains can be obtained over a wide temperature range. Compared with other microalloy steel and alloy steel, vanadium steel has less rolling resistance, which is roughly equivalent to carbon manganese steel.

(6) Vanadium is precipitated and strengthened in Ferrite or Martensite, generally at 50MPa ~ 100MPa. The precipitation of vanadium can be promoted by increasing the nitrogen content in steel, and the precipitation strengthening effect can be obtained. The use of vanadium can be saved in the production of high strength hot rolled steel bar.

(7) The strong binding force between vanadium and nitrogen can form vanadium nitride, which is conducive to reducing the strain aging of steel, which is very important in the service process of steel bar that has experienced cold deformation.

(8) Vanadium addition in Martensitic steel can increase the tempering and softening properties of the steel, so that the steel can maintain the shape of Martensitic slab in the tempering process, or release vanadium carbide in the tempering process, resulting in secondary hardening effect.