Material
Tool Steel
Tool steel is a specialized category of steel engineered for hardness, wear resistance, dimensional stability, and performance under demanding mechanical or thermal conditions. It is commonly used for cutting tools, dies, molds, punches, fixtures, and precision tooling components requiring controlled heat treatment.
Material overview
Tool steels are formulated to provide specific combinations of hardness, toughness, wear resistance, and resistance to deformation. Their performance depends on chemical composition, manufacturing condition, and heat treatment.
Common tool steel grades include:
- D2 / 1.2379: A high-carbon, high-chromium cold-work tool steel used for cutting dies, punches, and wear-resistant tooling.
- H13 / 1.2344: A hot-work tool steel frequently selected for die casting dies, extrusion tooling, and high-temperature applications.
- O1 / 1.2510: An oil-hardening tool steel used for gauges, cutting tools, and precision tooling.
- A2 / 1.2363: An air-hardening cold-work steel offering a balance of wear resistance and toughness.
- P20 / 1.2311: A prehardened mold steel commonly used for plastic injection mold components.
Manufacturing methods include CNC milling, turning, grinding, wire EDM, sinker EDM, and precision finishing.
Tool steel components frequently require controlled hardening, tempering, stress relieving, or specialized surface treatments. Heat treatment can influence dimensions, so machining allowances and final grinding requirements should be considered during process planning.
Typical applications include injection molds, stamping dies, cutting tools, precision punches, forming dies, and industrial fixtures.
Buyers should specify the exact steel grade, supplied condition, target hardness, heat treatment requirements, dimensional tolerances, surface finish, and inspection expectations.
Quality documentation may include hardness reports, dimensional inspection, material certificates, and verification of critical geometric tolerances.
Metraxio enables structured RFQs for custom tool steel components, including machining, heat treatment, and finishing requirements.