Elmax .098 x 1" - See Length Note

Elmax Stainless Steel

Uddeholm Elmax is a high chromium vanadium-
molybdenum-alloyed steel with the
following characteristics:

High wear resistance is normally connected to
low corrosion resistance and vice versa. In
Uddeholm Elmax it has however been able to
achieve this unique combination of properties
by a powder-metallurgy-based production.

Typical             C     Si     Mn     Cr     Mo     V      
analysis %     1.7     0.8     0.3     18.0     1.0     3.0      
Delivery          
condition     Soft annealed approx. 280 Brinell      

Obtain the data sheet directly from Bohler Uddeholm
http://www.bucorp.com/files/UDDEHOLM_ELMAX.pdf

Heat treatment

Soft annealing
Protect the steel and heat through to 980°C
(1800°F), holding time 2h. Then cool in furnace
20°C (40°F)/h to 850°C (1560°F). Holding
time 10h. Cool slowly to 750°C (1380°F).
Then freely in air.

Stress-relieving
After rough machining the tool should be
heated through to 650°C (1200°F), holding
time 2 hours. Cool slowly to 500°C (930°F)
then freely in air.

Hardening
Preheating temperature: 600–850°C (1110–1560°F).
Austenitizing temperature: 1050–1100°C (1920–
2010°F), normally 1080°C (1980°F).

Quenching media
• Forced air/gas
• Fluidized bed or salt bath 200–550°C
(390–1020°F), then cool in air
Note: In order to obtain optimum properties,
the cooling rate should be as fast as is concomitant
with acceptable distortion. Temper
immediately the tool reaches 50–70°C (120–
160°F).

Sub-zero treatment
Parts requiring maximum dimensional stability
should be sub-zero treated as volume changes
otherwise may arise.
Immediately after quenching the piece is subzero
treated, followed by tempering. Uddeholm
Elmax is commonly sub-zero treated
between -150°C and -196°C (-240°F and
-320°F) although occasionally -40°C (-40°F)
and lower temperatures are used due to
constraints of the sub-zero medium and equipment
available. A treatment time of 1–3 hours
at temperature will give a hardness increase of
1–3 HRC.

Tempering
Choose the tempering temperature according
to the hardness required by reference to the
tempering graph. Temper twice with intermediate
cooling to room temperature, the
preferred tempering temperature is 250°C
(480°F) (for approximately 60RC) or higher. In exceptional cases, a minimum tempering temperature of 180°C (350°F) can be used for small simple inserts
and parts where toughness is of less importance.
Holding time at tempering temperature
minimum 2 hours.

CRA means cold rolled annealed and is important to be in the description. It means the steel was pressure rolled while cold but was annealed again to relief the stress and take it to the softest state from rolling under tremendous pressure.

HR means hot rolled and this steel was rolled to thickness usually during the smelting process but maybe later. The steel generally will be half or nearly fully hard depending on the type. It may often have mill scale residue. This steel can be easily forged. It can also be ground via stock removal. Drilling a hole in the tang maybe hard to do with out a carbide bit.

HRA is the same but the steel was later annealed to relieve stress and make it as soft as possible for easier machining. Several companies produce "powder" smelted steels. This is a premium smelting process that improves the mixing of alloy content and generally produces a finer grain structure as a result. The powder steels are nearly always annealed and can be assumed to annealed unless noted otherwise.