The document discusses different types of tool steels, their properties, microstructure, and applications. It describes shock resisting, hot worked, cold worked, high speed, and water hardened tool steels. Their chemical compositions, heat treatments, and microstructures are discussed in detail. Tool steels derive their properties like hardness, strength, and wear resistance from precise control of carbon content and alloying elements, as well as heat treatments. They are critical for manufacturing tools and dies used for shaping materials.

1. Malaviya National Institute of Technology Jaipur
Rajasthan
REPORT ON
Microstructure and Properties of tool steel

2. Presented by:
Ved Prakash Mayank, III Year
Metallurgy and materials Engineering
Id:-2018umt1803

3. Abstract :-
Selecting and correctly heat treating an
appropriate carbon content and alloying
element for production of tool steel is not a
simple task. properties of tool steel depend
on their chemical composition & heat
treatment process. They are use for making
tools because of their good toughness ,
hardness ,machinability , strength & wear
resistance.

4. 1.INTRODUCTION :-
Almost everything we use in our daily lives that is man
made came into existence by using some kind of tool or
die. Most likely , that tool or die in turn was made from
a type of tool steel because of its hardness , resistance
to abrasion and ability to withstand high pressure.
Tool steels are the alloy used to manufacture the tools,
dies , and molds that shape , form , and cut other
materials . tool steels are high quality steels and
processed to develop properties useful for working and
shaping of other materials. The carbon content is
between 0.1 – 1.6% and also contain of alloying
elements like chromium, molybdenum and vanadium.

5. Type of tool steel :-
Shock resisting tool steel
Hot worked tool steel
Cold worked tool steel
High speed tool steel
Water hardened tool steel

6. 1.1 SHOCK RESISTING
TOOL STEEL
 In this type of tool steel Carbon content is 0.5-0.6% and alloying
elements are Cr , W ,Mo. These are characterized by good
toughness, hardness and improved hardenability. These steels
are generally, water or oil-hardened. “Low temperature
Tempering” is carried out where, toughness and hardness of the
tool steel are of prime importance, otherwise “High temperature
Tempering” is preferred. Silicon-manganese steels (0.55% C,
2.0% Si, 1.0 % Mn) are included in this group. Due to their high
Si-content, decarburization and grain coarsening takes place in
these type of steels.
 Hardening : Preheating – warming to about 650°C & holding
for 20 minutes/ 25mm.
 Austenitizing - heating to 900-950°C & holding again for
20minutes/25mm. Tempering : Heating to 205-650°C, holding for
30 minutes/25mm and then, air cooling.

7. 1.1.3 PROPERTIES :-
 High strength, High toughness, High hardness
,Resistance to shock loading, Wear resistance.

8. 1.1.4 Microstructure :-
 Figure 1 :- The microstructure of the quenched and tempered
resistence tool steel. (“ Mohammadi ,H.;Ketabchi,M. investigation of
microstructural and mechanical properties of tool steel. Iran. J.Mater
.sci.Eng. 2013,10,32-43”)

9. 1.2 HOT WORKED TOOL
STEEL
 Carbon content = 0.3-0.5% . These steels are used for high
temperature metal forming operation (except cutting),
where the temperature is around 200-800°C. These are
characterized by high hot yield strength, high red hardness
, wear resistance, toughness, erosion resistance, resistance
to softening at elevated temperatures, good thermal
conductivity.
 These are divided into 3 groups depending on the principle
alloying elements:
 - Chromium based [H11- H19]
 - Tungsten based [H20- H26]
 - Molybdenum based [H41- H43]

10. 1.2.1 Chromium based :-
 Contains Chromium (>=3.25%), and small amounts of
Vanadium, Tungsten and Molybdenum. These are
characterized by high red hardness & high
hardenability. Oil quenching is reqd. when
dimensional stability is not of prime importance.
Tempering temperature for these steels varies from
550-675°C.
 Applications: Hot dies for extrusion, forging,
mandrels, punches. Highly stressed structural parts of
supersonic aircrafts. Hot work steels.

11. 1.2.2 Tungsten based 2.:-
 Contains tungsten (=9.00%) & Chromium (2.0 -
12.0%), and low Carbon %. These are characterized
by resistance to high temperature softening.
Tempering temperature for these steels varies from
550- 675°C.
 Applications: Punches ,Mandrels, Extrusion dies for
Brass, Steel & Nickel alloys.

12. 1.2.3 Molybdenum based :-
 Contains Molybdenum (8.00%) & Chromium (4.0 -
12.0%), and some tungsten and Vanadium. These are
characterized by high toughness & high heat check
resistance. Tempering temperature for these steels
varies from 550- 650°C.

13. Properties:-
 High hardness & toughness, Resistance to shock,
Resistance to deformation at the working temperature
,Good machinability in the annealed condition.

14. 1.2.5Microstructre:-
 Fig 2 :-Microstructure at different heat treatment that is shown in
fig.(“M.N.;omar,M.Z.;syarif,J.;sajuri,z.;salleh,M.S.;Alhawari,k.s.
microstructural evolution during DPRM process of tool steel”)

15. 1.3 COLD WORKED TOOL
STEEL
 These steels are used for making tools for cold work
applications, when the tool surface temperature does not
rise more than 200°c. These are characterized by high
abrasion & wear resistance, higher toughness and high
impact resistance. These steels are also called “Non-
distorting Steels”, as they show little change in dimension
during heat treatment.
 These are divided into 3 groups:
 -Oil hardening Steels [GRADE ‘O’]
 -Air hardening Steels [GRADE ‘A’]
 -High Carbon, High Chromium Steels [GRADE ‘D’]

16. 1.3.1 Oil hardening steel :-
 These are hardened by oil-quenching & contain high
carbon with manganese, chromium & molybdenum.
These are characterized by high machinability, wear
resistance & non-distorting properties. Tempering
temperature for these steels varies from 100- 425°C.

17. Applications :-
 Taps , Blanking & forging dies, Threading dies,
Expansion reamers.

18. 1.3.2 hardening steel
 These are hardened by air-quenching and contain
Carbon (1.0%) with manganese, chromium &
molybdenum & tungsten. These are characterized
by high wear resistance & high hardenability, fair
red hardness, good toughness & resistance to
decarburization. Tempering temperature for
these steels varies from 150- 425°C.

19. Applications:-
 Knives , Blanking & trimming dies, Coining dies.

20. 1.3.3 High carbon ,High
chromium steel :-
 These are hardened by oil- or air- hardening &
contain Carbon (1.4-2.3%) & Chromium (12-14%),
with molybdenum, cobalt, vanadium. Vanadium
prevents these steels form showing Grain
coarsening (upto 1040°C). Chromium imparts
non-deforming properties. Tempering of these
steels results in high hardness, wear & abrasion
resistance. Tempering temperature for these
steels varies from 150- 375°C.

21. 1.3.4 Application :-
 Mandrel for tube rolling by Pilger rolls . Blanking &
piercing dies, Coining dies, Drawing dies.

22. 1.3.5 Properties :-
 They have good dimensional stability and
hardenability.

23. 1.3.6 Microstructure:-
 fig 3 :- Microstructure of cold worked tool steel.( “Lima ,
J.G;Avila,R.F;Abrao,A.M;Faustino,microstructural &
properties of tool steel, 2014,26,31-34”)

24. 1.4 HIGH SPEED TOOL STEEL
 These are divided into two groups depending upon the
principal alloying elements & the composition :-
 Molybdenum High speed steel [GRADE ‘M’]
 (contain Molybdenum, Tungsten, Chromium,
Vanadium & sometimes cobalt).
 Tungsten High Speed steels [GRADE ‘T’]
 (contain high amount of tungsten with chromium,
vanadium and some cobalt.)

25. 1.4.1Applications :-
 End mills, drills, lathe tools, planar tools. Punches,
reamers, Routers, taps, saws. Broaches, chasers, and
hobs.

26. 1.4.2 Properties :-
 High strength , wear resistance, toughness & hardness.

27. 1.4.3 Microstructure :-
 Fig 4 :- (a) rolled annealed , (b) holding at 1320 C, (c) holding at
1365 C.(“ Roberts, G.;Krauss,G.;Kennedy,R. Tool steel,5th ed.;ASM
international: Geauga county,OH,USA,1998.”)

28. 1.5 WATER HARDENED TOOL
STEEL
 These steels contain carbon in the range of 0.9-1.0%
along with Cr, V, Mo. These are characterized by high
tensile strength & hardness levels but low ductility &
toughness values. In order to improve machinability,
these steels are given “Spheroidizing annealing
treatment”. Presence of Cr improves both hardness &
hardenability and Vanadium checks the tendency of
grain coarsening. Tempering temperatures are in the
range 170-220°C.

29. 1.5.1 Applications :-
 Heavy forging hammers, hand hammers. Forging dies,
bending dies, cutting dies. Large blanking tools, boring
tools. Chisels, scissors, knife blades. Milling cutters,
lathe centre. Watch maker’s tools. Engraving tools.

30. 1.5.2 Properties :-
 High wear resistance & hardenability ,Ultimate tensile
strength (1680 MPa),yield tensile strength (1500 MPa),
Elongation at break ( 3.5% ).

31. 1.5.3 Microstructure :-
 Fig 5 :- (a) commercial condition at 50X. (b) commercial condition at 100X (c) water
quenched at 50X (d) water quenched at 100X (e) quenched and tempered at 50X (f)
quenched and tempered at 100X. (“ GA Roberts , G. Krauss, R.L. kennedy(eds.),tool
steel, fifth ed, ASM international metals park,ohio,1998”)

32. 2. Conclusion :-
 At present , we observe the development and optimization of
manufacturing techniques throughout the industrial scale. There
is an attempt to maximize the potential of production tools. This
applies, of course, to the problems of cutting tools, which are
subject to ever higher demands. Tool steel known for its extreme
hardness , tool steel has good abrasion resistance and can hold a
cutting edge at high temperatures. Different grades of tool steel
are made by adding different amounts of carbon , as well as
other elements such as chromium , tungsten and molybdenum.
They are mostly used for making tools because tool steel are
notable for their hardness , resistance to abrasion and
deformation. They can retain a cutting edge at very high
temperature which is why they are often use in the shaping of
other materials through cutting, pressing , coining or extruding.

33. 3. Reference
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material research station” Vol 118 ( 2006 ) pp 9-14.
 [3] Bullens, D. et al. Steel and its Heat Treatment vol. 3 5th edit. John
wiley and Sons/Chapmann and Hall, 1949.
 [4] Pippels, E. et al. Microstructure and Nanochemistry of carbide
Precipitates in High-Speed Steel S 6-5-2-5, Materials Characterization
43:41-55 (99).
 [6] Barnard, S et al. Influence of Silicon on the tempering of Steel,
Advance in the physical metallurgy and applications of steels,
Whistable Litho Ltd. 1982.
 [7]Hayden, W. et al. Structure and Properties of Materials Vol. 3, John
Wiley & Sons Inc. 1964.
 [8]Pickering, F. Physical Metallurgy and the Design of Steels, applied
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