I have been looking for chemical specifications for steel grades from the early 20th century. Specifically, I want to know what the chemical analysis limits for 1020 steel were in about 1920. Same as today, or not? ASTM only lists old standards going back to about the '90s. I have found all...
I have been using saturated aqueous picric acid with sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate as the wetting agent to reveal prior austenite grain boundaries in heat treated steel. I have found that the addition of copper chloride is helpful (as described in Vander Voort's Metallography Principles and...
My company makes specialty hand tools. When possible, we weld together parts of standard tools. Most of the time, the material is 4140 and we heat treat it to somewhere between 40 and 50 HRC after welding. In the past, post-weld subcritical annealing has been done, probably due to a generic...
Can anyone explain why so many Chinese products such as hand tools use CrV steels (variations of 6150)? There are less expensive alloys that are far superior when heat treated in the range of 45 HRC to 55 HRC. Is chromium less expensive in China?
Really, why does anyone use 6150 for anything?
