Uses:

Punches, dies, plastic molds, chisels, gripper dies, engraving dies, bending dies, shear blades, slitter knives, rivet sets.

Forging/Rolling:

Preheat to 1200° F - 1300° F and soak thoroughly.  Then raise to 2000° F - 2050° F.  Do not forge or roll below 1700° F, cool slowly from the forging or rolling temperature.  Do not normalize.

Annealing:

Heat in the 1500° F - 1550° F range, and hold for uniformity.  Furnace cool slowly to 1000° F and air cool.  Expected Brinell hardness 197 max.

Hardening:

Preheat to 1200° F - 1300° F, soak until uniformly heated, and either transfer or raise furnace temperature to 1725° F, and hold 1 hour per inch of greatest thickness.  Sections 2-1/2" or less should be quenched in still air to 150° F.  Section sizes 2-1/2" to 6" can be oil quenched to black, but section sizes over 6" should not be full oil quenched..

Tempering:

Temper immediately after quenching, before parts have cooled to below 150° F.  Parts should always be held a minimum of 2 hours per inch of greatest thickness.  Double tempering is recommended.  For cold work and similar applications a tempering temperature of 400° F - 500° F is suggested and 900° F - 1000° F for hot work applications.  The above tempering table may be used as a guide.  However, since 1/2" dia. specimens were used for this test, it may be found that heavier sections are several points lower.