Technical Assistance

Our Mission is clear:  Every day, for every customer, we dedicate the resources and energy necessary to provide unsurpassed quality of products and service.  Our engineers and technical support staff with their many years of industry experience will provide you with the information necessary to make a choice that offers the greatest value to your organization.  For technical assistance click here or call 1-800-325-7593.

Tool Steel Comparisons

The characteristics and qualities of a particular tool steel is determined by adding selective alloy(s) with an appropriate amount of carbon.  The choice of a particular alloy(s) and the percentage of these alloy elements in the steel will determine the WEAR and TOUGHNESS of the tool. 

Wear is the resistance of a tool to abrasion or corrosion by contact with other material, tools or grit.  Wear resistance is influenced by the hardness and the various alloy elements in the tool.

Toughness is the resistance of a tool to breaking, chipping and cracking while being impacted or under stress.  Toughness is influenced by the manufacturing process (PM, Particle Metallurgy process can enhance toughness over conventional processes), hardness and the content of alloy elements in the tool. 

Relative Toughness and Wear Properties for Tool Steels

Stainless Steel(s)

Stainless steel is a low carbon steel with at least 10.5% chromium.  The chromium is responsible for the higher resistance to oxidation (rust) and corrosion.  Precision Punch manufactures parts in 300 series, 400 series, 17-4 and 15-5 stainless steels, many of which are typically in stock.

Heat Treatment

Precision Punch utilizes Molten Salt Bath heat treatment for the majority of our high speed tool steel.  The superior controllability and heat transfer efficiency of Molten Salt Bath heat treatment provide unsurpassed metallurgical characteristics and properties necessary for optimum performance of high speed tools.  We also have state of the art Vacuum Furnace technology available for certain applications and when specified by a customer.

To learn more about Molten Salt Bath Heat Treatment click here

Surface Treatments

To improve surface hardness, reduce galling and improve wear and / or corrosion resistance a coating may be added with the goal of improving tool life. 

Nitride is a surface hardening treatment that introduces nitrogen into the surface of the steel.  Nitriding provides high surface hardness, increased wear resistance and increases corrosion resistance of tool steels.  Nitriding is accomplished with minimal distortion and very good dimensional control.

TiN (Titanium Nitride) provides protection against abrasive and adhesive wear.  Provides better wear resistance than nitride. 

TiCN (Titanium Carbonitride) enhanced hardness and toughness (wear resistnace) over TiN.

CrN (Chromium Nitride) high toughness (wear resistance), resistance to corrosion and oxidation.

Nickel Teflon coatings.  Teflon is evenly disbursed throughout the entire nickel plated deposit resulting in good wear properties, enhanced corrosion resistance and a very low coefficient of friction. 
(Teflon is a registered trademark of Dupont)

For additional Surface Treatments click here www.oerlikon.com/balzers to view the Oerlikon Balzers website

Technical Publications

The Hole Story - Perforating Technology

Molten Salt Bath Heat Treatment