Alro Steel stocks tool steel bar in round, square and flat stock. Common grades are A2 tool steel, D2 tool steel, DC-53 tool steel, H13, M2, M4, O1, O6, S5, S7, Viscount 44, and W1.
Tool steel bars refer to a variety of carbon and alloy steels that are particularly well-suited to be made into tools. Their suitability comes from their distinctive hardness, resistance to abrasion, ability to hold a cutting edge, and/or their resistance to deformation at elevated temperatures (red-hardness). Tool steel is generally used in a heat-treated state.
With a carbon content between 0.7% and 1.5%, tool steels are manufactured under carefully controlled conditions to produce the required quality. The manganese content is often kept low to minimize the possibility of cracking during water quenching. However, proper heat treating of these steels is important for adequate performance, and there are many suppliers who provide tooling blanks intended for oil quenching.
Tool steel grades are made specifically for different applications. Choice of grade depends on, among other things, whether a keen cutting edge is necessary, as in stamping dies, or whether the tool has to withstand impact loading and service conditions encountered with such hand tools as axes, pickaxes, and quarrying implements. In general, the edge temperature under expected use is an important determinant of both composition and required heat treatment. The higher carbon grades are typically used for such applications as stamping dies, metal cutting tools, etc.
Tool steel can be used for special applications like injection molding because the resistance to abrasion is an important criterion for a mold that will be used to produce hundreds of thousands of parts. The AISI-SAE grades of tool steel is the most common scale used to identify various grades of tool steel. Individual alloys within a grade are given a number; for example A2, O1, etc.
Tool Steel Bar Grades:
