General Information

The tool steels are high-quality steels used for machined or un-machined production and shaped by using one or more of the cutting, forging and pressing methods in hot or cold condition. They can be examined under three main categories.

-Cold-work tool steels:
These are the steels used for the production of the tolls, where the surface temperature does not exceed 200°C in general. Can be used for machined or un-machined production.

- Hot-work tool steels:
In general, used for the tools with a surface temperature above 200°C and subject to 300-600°C temperatures.

- High-speed steels:
Those are the tool steels used for progressing the materials at high speed. They are resistant to the high cutting speeds and are utilized for shaved production usually.
The tool steels generally alloyed (even highly alloyed) and are named according to their tempering medium.

-OIL STEELS:
Although the term means tempering in oil, referring to the number 2842-25 10 steels would be more appropriate. As the 2080-2601 steels can be hardened both in oil and air, those are called oil steel and air steel at random

The actual type referred to by the term air steel is the high-speed steel. This group of steels is denoted as HSS or tool cutting bit steel.
Although there many different types, those are generally imported and expensive and difficult to obtain, hence the variety No. 3343 is found in the market in general.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TOOL STEELS

Explanation of the characteristics:
Temperability: Achieving a certain hardness after tempering,
Wear resistance: The resistance against wear at room or higher temperatures,
Density: The resistance against breaking when forced,
Hot Hardness and Resistance: The property of not changing at the room temperatures and retaining the Resistance and Hardness to a substantial degree at higher (red-hot) temperatures,
Annealing permanency: Losing very little hardness at the high annealing temperatures.
Dimensional stability: Absence of the uncontrollable dimensional changes during the tempering process.

The utilization areas of the cold-work tool steels:

The cold-work tool steels can be used for the following purposes:
* Cutting tools:
- Column or flat-bed cutting lathes,
- Scraping knives
- Precision drilling tools
- Paper and plastic knives
- Hole punches

* Drawing tools
- Deep drawing tools (sheet metal shaping)
- Wire, bar and pipe drawing tools

* Embossing tools
* Shaved production tools (For machining ferrous and non-ferrous metals)
* Gear tools
- Rollers and grips for non-machined gear production
- Drills and cutters for the production of gears by machining.
* Machine cutters
* Cold process tools for bolts, rivets and nuts
* Cold spurting press tools
* Sintered press tools
* Wood saws
* Compressed air tools
* Plastic work tools
* Measuring equipment
* Stretching housings
* Hand tools
* Conditioning materials

AREAS OF APPLICATION

The cold-work tool steels are used for:
* Cutting
* Drilling
* Punching
* Shearing
* Printing
* Pressing
* Cold pressing
Cold spurting
Cold shaping.