Which mill can produce Custom 465 beside Cartech?

[eric3589]

Hi Everyone

I have a question about Custom 465® Stainless.

Currently only Cartech can provide this material due to patent protection.

But I still want to find out are there any other mills in North America or Euro can produce it?

Thanks in advance

 

[EdStainless]

no one.
there are some other similar proprietary PH SS grades made by other mills.
If you need SS and those strength levels you really have no options.

though it makes beautify tubing.

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Plymouth Tube

 

[tbuelna]

eric3589-

While Custom 465 is good stuff, there are other cres alloys that you can substitute for it if you are willing to make some minor modifications to your part design. On the other hand, if you are required to use Custom 465 by a customer, then you have no choice in where your material ultimately comes from other than Carpenter. One thing I would suggest is if your problem is securing the Custom 465 in a certain raw material size, you might consider buying a smaller/larger bar size and having it reworked into whatever size/shape you need.

I'm sure a minimum mill run of Custom 465 from Carpenter would be around 50,000lbs, would cost close to $2M, and would take around 18 months to deliver. So I understand your problem. But there are probably lots of small aerospace material distributors with supplies of Custom 465 bar in various sizes. It would be much cheaper to have a forging house rework this material to the form you need than paying Carpenter for a mill run.

 

[EdStainless]

The actual run sizes are not huge, but yes lead times can be an issue.
The real problem is lack of various product forms/sizes.

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Plymouth Tube

 

[MagBen]

1000-1500 lbs order is probably fine. Carpenter supplies solution annealed/cold treated condition, ready for the one-step hardening treatment. Billet product will be provided in the hot finished condition.

 

[EdStainless]

If you have to much forming or welding work you may want the material in the over-aged condition.
You will then need to have it annealed before you can harden it.
It is more processing, but much easier to work with.

What product form do you need?
What strength level do you require?

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Plymouth Tube

 

[tbuelna]

The actual run sizes are not huge, but yes lead times can be an issue.
The real problem is lack of various product forms/sizes.

Here's a somewhat related experience I had a couple years back. I needed some large diameter ring forgings which required raw bar stock in the 16-20 inch diameter range, and the material was Nitralloy N VAC-ARC (AMS 6475). A few days after the order was placed with a forging house I got a call from them saying that they could not locate enough bar stock to fill my order. I don't believe the alloy is proprietary, but I was told there was only one US steel company producing the alloy at that time. The forging house was told by the steel company they would need to pay for a mill run of at least 40,000lbs and the anticipated lead time would be 12-14 months. They were also warned that since this particular alloy is commonly used for manufacturing defense related products, and given the ongoing military deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan at the time, there was a real possibility that the order could be diverted to meet the needs of a defense contractor producing spares. So the steel company could provide no guarantee on when the material might actually be delivered. To make a long story short, I decided to reduce the quantity of my order to match the amount of existing raw material the forging house was able to procure.

I did a quick check and it appears Carpenter will deliver development quantities (up to 400lbs) of specialty alloys from their R&D facility. While the lead time will not likely be excessive, the cost per pound will probably be many times typical market price.

Regards,
Terry