STEEL TYPES

//steeltypes

Plain-Carbon
Although called plane carbon actually the iron and carbon alloy contains
manganese, phosphorus, sulfur, and silicon. Its strength is primarily a function of its
carbon content, increasing with carbon amount. The ductility of plain carbon steels
decreases as the carbon content increases. Some disadvantages of plain carbon steel are as
follows:
Disadvantages of Plain Carbon
The hardenability is low.
The physical properties (Loss of strength and embrittlement)
are decreased by both high and low temps
Subject to corrosion in most environments
Low Carbon Steel
Has less than 0.3% carbon. Usually ferrite and pearlite, and the material is
generally used as it comes from the hot forming or cold forming processes. Lacks
hardenability because carbon content helps this.
Advantages
Posses good formability
Posses good weldability: best of all metals : Note: as
carbon % increases there is a tendency for the metal to
harden and crack.
Lowest cost and should be considered first
Rated at 55-60% machinability (soft and drags which
builds up heat on the tool.
AISI (American Institute of Iron and Steel AISI rating compares ability to machine with 100% basis. Considers turning,
reaming threading drilling, etc. Ex Al=260 and stainless steel is 60)

Typical Uses
0.1%-0.2%: chain, stampings, rivets, nails, wire, pipe, and where
very soft, plastic steel is needed.
0.2-0.3%: structural steels, machine parts, soft and tough steels.
Use for case hardened machine parts and screws.
Medium Carbon Steel - have between .3 and .8% carbon.
Special Advantages
Machinability is 60-70%; therefore cut slightly better
than low carbon steels. Both hot and cold rolled steels
machine better when annealed. Less machinable than
high carbon steel since that is very hard steel. [When
welding, there may be some martensite when extreme
rapid cooling. So preheat (500-600F) and postheat at
100-1200F will help remove brittle structure.]
Good toughness and ductility. Enough carbon to be
quenched to form martensite and bainite (if the section
size is small)
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A goodbalance of properties can be found. That is optimum carbon

level where high toughness and ductility (of the low carbon steels) is
compromised with the strength and hardness of the increased carbon.

Extremely popular and have numerous applications.

Fair formability
Responds to heat treatment but is often used in the
natural condition.

0.3-0.4: lead screws, gears, worms, spindles, shafts, and machine parts.

0.4-0.5: crankshafts, gears, axles, mandrels, tool

shanks, and heat-treated machine parts.
0.6-0.7: called low carbon tool steel and is used
where a keen edge is not necessary, but where shock
strength is wanted. Drop hammers dies, set screws,
screwdrivers, and arbors.
0.7-0.8: tough and hard steel. Anvil faces, band saws,
hammers, wrenches, cable wire, etc.

Typical Uses

High Carbon Steels - over 0.8% carbon and less than 2.11% carbon
Disadvantages

Toughness and formability and hardenability are quite low.

Not recommended for welding.
Usually joined by brazing with low temperature silver alloy
making it possible to repair or fabricate tool-steel parts
without affecting their heat treated condition.

Hardness is high
Wear resistence is high
Quench cracking is often a problem with severe
quenching
Fair formability

Advantages

Uses:

0.8-0.9: punches for metal, rock drills, shear blades, cold

chisels, rivet sets, and many hand tools.
0.9-1.0: used for hardness and high tensile strength,
springs, cutting tools,
press tools, and striking dies.
1.0-1.1: drills, taps, milling cutters, knives
1.1-1.2: drills, taps, knives, cold cutting dies, wood working tools
1.2-1.3: files, reamers, knives, tools for cutting wood
and brass
1.3-1.4 used where a keen cutting edge is necessary,
razors, saws, and where wear resistance is important
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like boring and finishing tools.

ALLOY STEELS
These are usually heat treated to develop specific properties ; quenched and
tempered. The difference between plain carbon and alloy steels is ambiguous.
Both contain carbon, manganese, and silicon. Copper and boron are additives to
both classes. Usually high allow steels contain more than 1.65% manganese, 0.6%
silicon, and 0,6% copper. In addition there are specified amounts of chromium,
nickel, molybdenum, vanadium, tungsten, cobalt, and boron.
EFFECTS OF ALLOYING ELEMENTS
Usually only a small amount of alloying element are added to
steels (usually less than 5%). Mostly the purpose is to improve the
hardenability and strength corrosion resistance, stability at high/low
temperatures, control grain size
Manganese - increases ductility, hardenability, high strain
hardening capacity, slightly strengthens, excellent wear
resistance
Sulfur - if carefully proportioned can add machinability without
imparting embrittlement.
Nickel - increases toughness and impact resistance, good
properties at low temperatures. With other alloys imparts
excellent corrosion resistance.
With certain alloys it has a small thermal expansion and
used for sensitive measuring devices. Increase strength with
little loss of ductility.
Chromium - if added in large enough amounts can impart
corrosion resistance and heat resistance and wear resistance
and hardenability. Otherwise for amounts (less than
2.11%) it is used to slightly increase hardenability and
strength.
Molybdenum - improves hardenability and increases strength
primarily under dynamic and high temperature conditions.
Extremely stable at elevated temperatures. It helps to
retains fine grain sizes which provides strength and creep
resistance at elevated temperatures. Molybdenum carbides
are used in hot work tool steels and forging dies to impart
hardness even at red heat.
Vanadium - like molybdenum, forms strong carbides at elevated
temperatures. Also limits grain size.
Tungsten- used in tool steels to maintain their hardness at elevated
temperatures.
Copper - increases the corrosion resistence. Limits have to be
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controlled or itll sacrifice surface quality and hot-working

behavior.
Silicon - increases strength without limiting grain size* Used to
promote large grain sizes used in magnetic applications.
Used in spring steels.
Boron - very important hardenability agent being several hundred
times better than nickel, molybdenum and chromium. Used
more for low carbon steels. Also improve machinability
and cold forming.
*Limits on grain size can effectively increase strength properties like elastic limit,
yield point, and impact strength (toughness) with little loss of ductility.
CLASSIFICATIONS
AISI - American Iron and Steel Institute - general
SAE - Society of Automotive Engineers - cars
ASTM American Society for Testing Materials base specs on
specific applications
Many low carbon and structural steels
AISI use a four digit number. The first is the class of alloy specified.
1XXX Carbon steels
2XXX Nickel chromium
3XXX Moybdenum
4XXX Chromium..............etc
2nd number designates the subgroup of the alloy
Last two numbers designate the amount of carbon in 0.01%; therefore a
1080 steel has 0.8% carbon.

STAINLESS STEELS- contain sufficient amounts of chromium that they are

NOT considered low alloy steels. These require reduced cutting speeds
(approx ), finer feeds, lighter cuts, and sharp carbide tooling.
Because the thermal conductivity of stainless steel is 1/3 that of carbon
steel, the heat is held in a localized area when welding. This tends to
localize the stress. The metal that is hot wants to expand but is hemmed in
by the cold adjacent metal. When the material cools and contracts, the
cooler metal does not move, with the result that cracks form during the
solidification. Methods of dealing with these problems are available.
The corrosion resistance is imparted by the formation of a strong adherent
chromium oxide on the surface of the metal. Good resistance to corrosive
media encountered in the chemical industry can be obtained by the
addition of 4 to 6% chromium to low carbon steel.
AISI classes these with a three digit number for Stainless
200 series = chromium, nickel, manganese (structure is austenitic)
300 series = chromium and nickel
(structure is austenitic)
400 series = chromium only
(Structure is ferritic or
martensitic)
500 series = low chromium (<12%)
Martensitic
TYPES OF STAINLESS STEELS
1. Ferritic - When chromium is added an increase in temperature range is
seen by which ferrite is the stable structure. That is, ferrite is at all
temperatures below solidification. Has low amount of carbon to
chromium ratio; therefore hardening by heat-treating is not
done. Used for trim moldings and decorative applications and
where buffing to a mirror finish is important.
Advantages:

Readily weldable (no martensite can form at the welds because

chromium retards the bcc martensite.
Cheapest of the stainless steels.
Magnetic
Easiest of all to machine.

Disadvantages :

Poor ductility
Poor formability because of the bcc crystal structure.

2. Martensitic
High amount of carbon to chromium ratio therefore can be
heat treated. More corrosive resistant than ferrite, but still corrosive.
This material can be austenitic (see next type) at high temperatures. At
the high temperature, carbon can be dissolved in the fcc austenite,
which in turn is quenched to form a bcc martenitic structure. So the
steel is austenitized, quenched, then stress relief tempered.
Advantages:
Increase in strength
more corrosive resistant than Ferritic
ability to hold an edge
good for impact
good up to 300 ksi when hardened.
Disadvantages: May be susceptible to red rust when annealed for
machining or fabrication. Cost 1 times more than the
Ferritic stainless steels.
3. Austenitic stainless steels - Best corrosive resistance, but
hardenable only by cold working. Not heat treatable, but cold
workable.With both nickel and chromium, the fcc austenite is
stabilized at room temperature to produce a stainless steel.
Advantages:
Best corrosive resistance,
Highest of all for strength at high temperatures,
Best of all for ductility at low temperatures.
Nonmagnetic,
Highly resistant to chemical corrosion (except one),
mirror polish,
Attractive appearance.
Formability is outstanding characteristic of the fcc.
Strengthen drastically when cold worked
Disadvantages:
Corrosive in hydrochloric acid and other halide acids
and salts.
Most expensive of three.
Water Quench
Yield Strength
Tensile Strength
Elongation in 2"

38ksi
90 ksi
68%

Cold Rolled
117ksi
140 ksi
11%

TOOL STEELS
These are high carbon steel alloys that have been designed to provide wear
resistance and toughness combined with high strength.
Water Hardened tool steel - (W grade)high carbon plain carbon steels
Advantages:

Account for a large percentage of all the tool steels

Least expensive.

Disadvantages

Usually the parts are quite small

Not used in severe usage or elevated temperatures.
Because their hardenability is low, they should be used only for
thin sections.
They are brittle, especially at their higher hardness.
Prolonged exposure to temperatures over 300F usually results in
undesired softening.

Typical uses depending on the carbon content

0.60-0.75% carbon: medium hardness with good toughness and

shock resistance. Examples: machine parts, chisels, setscrew
0.75-0.90%- forging dies, hammers, sledges
0.90-1.1% - general purpose tooling - good wear resistance and
toughness. Examples of drills, cutters, shear blades, heavy duty
cutting edges.
1.10-1.30% extremely hard, but little toughness. Examples are
small drills, lathe tools, razor blades, and other light duty
applications.

Cold worked tool steels (O for Oil, A for Air, D for diffused) these contain certain
alloys to help hardenability without severe quenching.
Advantages
for larger parts because the quench is not as severe
better dimensional stability
cracking tendency is reduced
Disadvantage
generally require annealing treatment before they can
be machined. After machining, they are hardened and
tempered and can retain full hardness at temperatures
up to 800F
Typical Uses
forging dies, die casting die blocks, drawing dies

Shock resisting Tool Steel (S)

Advantages

Low carbon content for toughness, but the alloys have carbide for
good abrasion resistance, hardenability, and hot-work.

Typical Uses

Hot and cold impact use

High-Speed Tool Steel (T for tungsten based and M for molybdenum

based)
Advantages

Can be used for red-hot (1400F) applications

Good shock resistance
Good abrasion resistance

Disadvantage
Typical Uses
wide variety of cutting applications
Hot-Worked Tool Steels (H)
Advantages

Strength at elevated temperatures

Hardness at elevated temperatures

Plastic Mold Tool Steels - (P)

Designed to meet plastic injection molding dies.

CAST IRONS
Iron carbon with more than 2.11% carbon experience the eutectic reaction
during cooling and are known as cast irons. Class 80-50 means tensile strength is
80ksi and yield is 50ksi
Advantages include in part
Low liquidus temperature
Readily cast
Inexpensive
High applications
1. GRAY IRON - is the least expensive and the most common variety. Typical
ranges of carbon are 2.5% to 4% . with 91-94% iron elongation is around 1%
elongation in 2"The microstructure has micoflakes of graphite dispersed in a
matrix of ferrite. Flakes have no strength so they act as voids in the
structure. The pointed ends of the flakes act as notches and crack initiation
sites. Therefore the material is very brittle and extremely low in ductility.
Generally sold by class (20, 30, 40 up to 80 relating to its tensile or
ultimate strength)
Applications
include large machinery parts with intricate shapes.
Characteristics of Gray Iron
Bhn= 150
E = 10 to 20 E6 psi
Tensile is 20-60 ksi
Abrasion wear is poor
Corrosion is poor
Weldability is poor but can be welded. Oxyacetylene torch or
lectric arc, but because so brittle preheat and cool slowly
Machinability is good
Castability is excellent
Low cost
2. MALLEABLE IRON - cooling rate is increased. Irregular spheroidal graphite
particles in ferrite or pearlite matrix. Applications are axle housings, pipe fittings,
brake drums.
Typical Designation
325010 means 32500 yield stress and 10% elongation in 2"

Characteristics of Malleable Iron

Elongations range from 10 to 25% in 2"
Bhn is 110-150
modulus is 24E6
tensile stress is 50-56 ksi
wear resistance is poor
corrosion is poor
welding is not done - heat of the weld would ruin the malleable
properties, only a long term annealing will restore them. Brazing can
be done at 1700F so it is a preferred method of repair.
machinability is fair
castability is good
more shock resistant than ductile iron
3. DUCTILE IRON - add magnesium (but only 1 pound per ton!!!)
Spheroidal graphite particles in ferrite or pearlite matrix.
Applications include valves, pump bodies, crankshafts, gears.
Characteristics of Ductile Iron
Can be heat treated
Elongation from 10 to 25%
Bhn 140-300
Modulus = 24E6 psi
Tensile 65-150 ksi
Wear is poor
Corrosion is poor
Weldability is poor, but can be welded with nickel and iron
electrodes.
Machinability if fair to excellent
Castability is good to excellent.

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