Hello everyone,
I’m looking to run some H13 tool steel parts on the MR-1 and will be heat treating the pieces. My initial thoughts are to have a heat treat oven on site and do the parts in house as these pieces will be run several times. Researching into bench top ovens I see that some are setup for an inert atmosphere and others are not. What would dictate the need for the inert atmosphere?
Thank you
your surface finishes will have a lot to do with the atmospheric setup. if your trying to maintain a tight tolerance and prevent scale an atmospheric setup will help. A lot can be done with stainless foil and wrapping your parts in them for heat treats and is may be cheaper depending on how many parts you run. Heat treating is like a black magic art stuff to learn and control. you can get a cut sheet from your manufacturer/ supplier of recommended temperature zones and properties for your specific material and try to replicate as best as you can. If it’s critical stuff like dies that could deform and get stuck in holders or break and send material flying practice on another piece before you commit. Bad heat treats can really mess stuff up and possibly injure yourself and others.
We use H13 in the foundry industry for die castings dies and permanent mold dies, below is a good article. I would also suggest picking up ASM hand book number 4 on heat treating. There is a newer version 4a specifically for steel. Heat treating is not a black magic, it is very much a science. Hope this helps a little bit.
Thank you Hman4200 and ROC86. Strength isn’t a huge concern for these parts but rather wear resistance. I believe we are going to heat treat and then do final machining to clean up any distortions. I will be ordering a copy of ASM handbook 4 as well.
Just FYI the digital version in PDF can be downloaded here. Thanks to The Library of Congress.
ASM handbook 4