Where can I purchase 17-4PH in the H1150 condition?

[jgrady]

Hi,

Does anyone have a source for this? I am located in western Canada and everybody seems to only supply it in condition A.

Thanks in advance

 

[3DDave]

You may have to ask the supplier to heat treat it for you or find a heat treater.

I expect the reason is that there are many possible conditions and the suppliers just keep it in the condition the mill supplies.

 

[EdStainless]

If you are doing any cutting or machining then do it to the "A" material and send out for heat treatment.

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P.E. Metallurgy, Plymouth Tube

 

[BiPolarMoment]

McMaster-Carr sells Rod in H1150 but it's a limited selection.

Link

 

[JNieman]

I disagree strongly with EdStainless on the machining strategy, FWIW.

I'd almost always rather machine it somewhat hardened over the "A" condition. Easier on tooling, cuts consistently and much better, and you don't have to do any post-heat-treat machining for precise surfaces that may move out of tolerance from heat treating. H1150 puts it in the high 20s to mid 30s HRC which it beautiful to machine.

We typically either get it "A" or a heat treated state I cannot recall. We typically source steels from Alro or EMJ.

I believe you can get H1150 from EMJ if they are in your area. (

http://www.emjmetals.com/

)

 

[EdStainless]

Going to H1150 you can machine either before or after, but since most people use 17-4 in the 900-950 condition machining after is not really an option.

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P.E. Metallurgy, Plymouth Tube

 

[JNieman]

I believe the hardened 17-4 we use in the hardened state is 900 or 950 and we absolutely machine after hardening. Mid-to-upper-40s HRC is no big deal. It machines like a hardened 4140 steel or some mold steels. It's nice.

Honestly, we do hard-machining of steels up to about 58 HRC depending on material without having to switch to ceramic tooling.

 

[tbuelna]

17-4PH H1150 is only Rc 28-37 according to AMS 2759/3, and even 17-4PH H900 at Rc 40-47 is still within the capabilities of conventional machining process. I believe 17-4PH actually machines best in an H1150 condition. If no post machining stress relief is required, it is usually best to machine in the age hardened condition. For 17-4PH, AMS 2759/11 requires a stress relief temperature 100degF below the aging temperature. Also remember that if you are age hardening after machining, you need to allow for up to .0009 in./in. of material dimensional contraction.

To get an idea of heat treat costs, a few weeks back I purchased 24' of 3/8" diameter 17-4PH (AMS 5643) cond A cold finished bar and then had it heat treated to cond H1025. The material cost was $88 including shipping. My local aerospace heat treat vendor charged $130 for the lot, including paperwork. That works out to $23.90/lb total for a relatively small amount of material. The material was delivered to my house within 2 days after ordering, and the heat treater had the material ready for pick-up within 3 days after I dropped it off.

Here's a tip. If you are making multiple parts from a long length of bar stock, before sending the raw material to the heat treater it is best to cut the bar stock into pieces just long enough to machine a part from. Heat treaters typically have many different sizes of furnaces, and they usually prefer using small ones since they are cheaper to operate. Sending cut pieces of material to the heat treater will reduce your lot charge, and will ensure your job is not delayed waiting for a larger furnace to become available.