Our business has been assisting customers with their metal needs since the 1800s. We have the experience to recognise that everyone has their own specifications. As a result, we make it a point to have a wide variety of metals available. This includes 1.2344 tool steel. Whenever you need this specific metal, you can trust us to provide it to you.
Where do the tool steel’s attributes come from?
Tool steels are considerably hard, wear-resistant, and tough alloys. Their attributes originate from their production as well as their chemistry. As the name implies, the steels are made for work striking, punching, drilling, grinding, and cutting. They are useful for other tough jobs as well.
These steels need to possess the correct material characteristics for their application. For instance, a drill bit and punch both need wear resistance and hardness. Although, the punch undergoes more impact when the drill bit undergoes more shear. Metallurgists and engineers select the kind of tool steel to match the tool’s usage.
Tool steels all come with alloying elements that are capable of generating carbides. This is a densely-packed metal lattice that holds carbon and metal. Carbides are refractory substances, meaning they endure breaking down under heat, chemicals, or pressure. Chemistry alone doesn’t make a tool steel though. Somewhere else it gets its hardness from is controlled quenching and heat treatment.
What is quenching?
If you are unfamiliar with quenching, it is a steel hardening process that functions by changing the microstructure. Firstly, you heat the steel. The heating will depend on the level of carbon in the alloy. Carbon and iron shift through different phases, where the molecules take on separate shapes. The shapes in question rely on the overall chemistry. If you are after 1.2344 tool steel products, make sure you give us a call.
Once you reach and hold the correct heat, you then cool or quench the alloy. This is done via exposure to a far cooler liquid or gas. Quenching freezes the metal rapidly. When you freeze the metal like this, many compact crystal grains of metal all start freezing at once. There is a lot of displacement in every grain and between them. Compare this to an extremely slow cooling process, where grains cool slowly over time in circular, bigger blooms. Slow-cooled metal grains are able to move past one another when the metal gets hit. This dents the metal but doesn’t block it.
Shock freezing
Shock freezing is a form of quenching that provides the molecule structure with less space to move when it is struck. This makes it harder and less likely to dent. The metal lattice in these metals is known as martensite. It is the martensite’s jagged, shocked molecular structure that supplies quenched meals with their hardness.
Water quenching
This is the quickest way to quench, with anti-quenching being the slowest. What the alloy is able to endure depends on the chemistry. Certain alloys could distort or crack if you cool them too swiftly. Yet, they will harden properly in a gentler air-quench. Others won’t produce a hard martensite layer. This is unless you shock them utilising a big temperature shift, like you find in water.
We have the 1.2344 tool steels for you
At Brindley Metals, we let our customers judge the services and products we provide. Our team aims to offer a quick delivery service too. In some instances, we can even provide same day delivery. Not to mention, we constantly supply the customers with the most competitive prices on the market.
Our main goal is to ensure it is easy to find exactly what you need. In addition to 1.2344 tool steel, we can offer you silver and aluminium products, and many others. If you would like to know more, you can get in touch with us.